That means just going out and researching. If you spend time creating a close outline of your presentation paper, you're most likely wasting that time, as the research you gather might not fit neatly into every slot. Instead, start with your school's library (or the local public library). Spend time collecting stacks of books and skimming them for valuable information until you've exhausted those resources. Keep an open notebook or a portable device with a notepad on hand, and copy down everything you might use verbatim.


It's generally considered more convincing to source one item from three different authors who all agree on it than it is to rely too heavily on one book. Go for quantity at least as much as quality. Be sure to check citations, end notes, and bibliographies to get more potential sources (and see whether or not all your authors are just quoting the same, older author).
Writing down your sources and any other relevant details (such as context) around your pieces of information right now will save you lots of trouble in the future.
 Once you have good information from your local resources, use whatever tools you have access to to gather more from online databases such as JSTOR. If you're a college student, chances are you've got free access to many of these resources through your school; if not, you might have to pay to subscribe to some of them. This is also the time to do general online research, at sites with reputable information such as government agencies or respected nonprofit organizations.


Use many different queries to get the database results you want. If one phrasing or particular set of words doesn't yield useful results, try rephrasing it or using synonymous terms. Online academic databases tend to be dumber than the sum of their parts, so you'll have to use tangentially related terms and inventive language to get all the results you want.
 By now, you should have more information written down (and properly sourced) than you can possibly use in one paper. This is the time to get creative and really breathe life into your project. Visit museums and historical societies for records that can't be reviewed anywhere else. Speak to respected professors for academic information you can use as a primary source; call and speak to leaders and professionals in fields related to your topic.


If it's sensible, consider heading out into the field and speaking to ordinary people for their opinions. This isn't always appropriate (or welcomed) in a research project, but in some cases, it can provide you with some excellent perspective for your research.
Review cultural artifacts as well. In many areas of study, there's useful information on attitudes, hopes, and/or concerns of people in a particular time and place contained within the art, music, and writing they produced. One has only to look at the woodblock prints of the later German Expressionists, for example, to understand that they lived in a world they felt was often dark, grotesque, and hopeless. Song lyrics and poetry can likewise express strong popular attitudes.
 By this point, you should have a lot of research on hand, well-cataloged and at least somewhat sorted. Review all of it through the lens of your research question, looking for answers or partial answers to it. Read between the lines, as well – use context, source age, and other background information to inform your quest for understanding. With any luck, you should have more than enough to suggest and support one answer over the others. Go through all your sources one more time and set aside any that won't be directly useful to your project. From here, all that's left is to put your information into a sensible format, apply your own interpretation to it, and prepare it for presentation.
Start with the basics.
Move outward.
Gather unusual sources.
Review and trim.
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