Often the hardest part of the research process is getting started. Below are some quick tips to help you out.
To find out what other people have discovered and how they did it you'll have to become a skilled searcher.
Definition: An eye-witness account - i.e. results are reported for the first time by the authors/researchers.
Types: research articles, conference papers, lab notebooks, proceedings, technical reports, theses and studies.
Definition: A second-hand report - i.e. results are summarized, interpreted, or commented upon by others who were not witnesses or participants.
Types: review articles, encyclopedias, magazine articles and text-books.
The following sites have more information regarding the differences between scholarly and popular sources of information: