When starting your research it is important to do a few things beforehand.
1. You want to identify an appropriate scope of investigation for your research. What are some related topics? What is some contextual, historical, or background information that you might need to gather? What questions do you want to answer?
2. You want to brainstorm and come up with searching language to start your research.
When thinking about your research topic, you need to take into account not only your topic but all of the research topics that feed into your topic.
For Example: If I am researching the history of the Eames Lounge Chair, I might want to also research subtopics like: Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller, and Modern Style. You can't just research the history of the chair itself. You also want to research the history of the designers, design company, and its style.
