When your professor gives you an assignment, read through it thoroughly so you know what is being asked of you. You want to know what the final product should look like, what type of resources you need, and if there are certain parameters you need to meet (for example: do you need a certain number of resources, do they need to be peer-reviewed, what type of citation style do you need to use, etc.).
A good place to start is to look through an encyclopedia to get a general overview of the topic. What is the history of your topic? What are common terms associated with it? Are there multiple opinions or viewpoints to consider?
An encyclopedia is a good way to start to answer these questions. Credo Reference is a library database that provides access to a bunch of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and more. Wikipedia is also a good place to start get familiar with a new topic.
