My researching strategy

Before deciding my topic, I usually like to figure out what classmates may or may not be writing on - that way, I can avoid certain topics even though a professor allows topic overlapping (It's a personal preference). I'll do some preliminary research on the topic, using Google, New York Times, etc., and "scout out" possible sources for topics. After I've narrowed down and selected a topic, I'll being my research. I'm at home without physical access to Binghamton University's libraries, so I rely on online journals and archives (e.g. JSTOR), as well as periodicals and blogs (for knowledge). For this class, it was somewhat difficult locating journal based and scholarly articles for my topic, so I began to research in a somewhat broader scope (for me, this resulted in the inclusion of the topic of social capital). I don't always like to do this, but I must if I want to have enough research material with which to write a paper (Google is my BEST friend... well not really, but you know I mean). After I've gathered my research sources, I'll read each at least once, and subsequently as many times as needed in order to gain an understanding of the topic. Then I will write my paper.

EDIT: Something I forgot to mention is: what makes a big difference when searching for materials online, is the way you phrase a search term. For example, if you want articles on the correlation between weight gain and exercise, the obvious search would be "weight gain and exercise". However, other search terms will get you just as many results, as well as other results very relevant to your research that you might not have found. An alternate search pattern for this example would be "weight loss and exercise", or "correlation weight exercise", or "body fat and exercise" or "body fat and weight gain". You get the idea.
Yesterday it hit me to use another search phrase for my research paper, and I ran into 5 sources I didn't have before. 5! That's a lot! I also used the Binghamton University's Library system in conjunction with Google Scholar. If I found an article on Google Scholar, I'd look up the journal it was published in in the BU library database, and find the PDF of the article. Piece of.... well not really.