1. Come up with a list of beginning list of keywords related to your problem to get started.
2. Check encyclopedias general sources, such as Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library), to find out more about your problem and update your keyword list with new phrases / words.
3. Search for ebooks on your topic to find even more information on your topic.
4. Using what you learned from encyclopedias and books, look for magazine, journal, and newspaper articles using the library's databases.
A great way to find a topic within your field is to use the Subject Guide Search function in Gale databases! Here's how to do it:
1. On the main Search screen, click on Subject Guide Search at the top of the page.
2. Type in the name of the job you are researching. Be sure to check the full text documents box beneath the search box. Choose the option from the drop-down menu that most closely matches the career you want to study and hit Search.
3. Under the career, choose Subdivisions and scroll through the list. The numbers in parentheses are the number of results you can look at with that topic, so the higher the number, the more sources are available. Click on a topic that looks interesting to see the results.
4. You can now choose between Academic Journals, Magazines, News, etc.
An important tool to finding credible sources will be identifying keywords. You will use these keywords to find credible information in the library's online databases. Watch the following video to learn more about keywords:
A database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Access Tip: Also available via 
MeL.org
Contains a large selection of multidisciplinary eBook titles representing a broad range of academic subject matter.
Access Tip: Also available via MeL.org
A collection of scholarly ebooks selected and curated by librarians on a variety of subjects.
Academic OneFile is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary database.
More than 60 databases with millions of full-text articles, from popular magazines, newspapers, academic/professional journals, and reference books covering most subject disciplines and topics.
More than 70 databases with academic journals and magazines, by discipline: Humanities, Social Sciences, Nursing (CINAHL), Science, Technology, Business, Education, Law, etc.
Designed for pro-con arguments, this database features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals and more.
Access Tip: Also available via MeL.org
When doing research online, whether you're using web sites from a Google search or one of the library's many databases, it's important that you look at the sources you find with a critical eye.
What does that mean?
It simply means that whenever you read an article, a website, a statistic, etc., you should be a little bit suspicious and use your critical thinking skills to figure out whether or not that piece of information is:
a) useful to you, and
b) high enough quality for your assignment.
For example, maybe you are writing a persuasive paper. In that case, finding essays with a viewpoint for or against a topic would be really useful for you. However, if you were writing an informational report, an essay with a biased opinion about your topic might not be useful. There's nothing wrong with that viewpoint essay; it just doesn't work for your assignment.
Another example would be using a blog post from a pharmaceutical company about a disease you are researching. Often blog posts are not written by experts; they are usually written by social media managers or salespeople. Also, if the company writing about the disease just so happens to also manufacture a drug that treats it, it's very likely the information they provide may be skewed to feel more like a sales pitch for their product. All this is to say that this might not be a high-quality source for your assignment.
A great strategy to use after finding resources for your paper is: