 Academic research is different from web searching in many ways. One of the most noticeable differences is that research is an iterative process. That means it's a repetitive cycle. For example, when you search the web for an answer to a question, you can usually find one easily through Wikipedia or one of the first 10 results in your results list, and then you're done. When you are researching, you have to continually reframe the topic, try different search terms, and refine your results in order to sift through irrelevant information. And although you may find relevant information through a web search, the quality of that information is often not up to academic standards. When web content is high quality, you often have to pay to access it. The best place to begin academic research is through your campus library. The libraries can give you access to hundreds of databases and other sources for free, which you can't access through the Internet alone.