Once you have a better understanding of your topic in context, use this new knowledge to search for information in the scholarly literature.
These are the catch-all databases, most useful for research of this type. Do not feel limited just to these, however. There are many more to be found on the Library's Database Page.
Academic Search Premier is a general coverage database providing full-text access to thousands of scholarly journals across a wide range of disciplines, including history, social science, library science, computer science, language and literature, art, education, and life sciences.
JSTOR is a multi-disciplinary database providing archival access to scholarly journals in the arts, language and literature, history, sciences, and social sciences. Typically, the most recent three to five years of a journal are not available through JSTOR.