Do some preliminary research on Google, Wikipedia, etc., just to understand the options with your topic(s)
- Look for a general survey of research on your possible topics to begin.
  Step 2: Draft your thesis or research question
   
   
This statement is the guiding principle of your whole project, what everything else is meant to prove. You will probably want to return to this step at least once during your project, to make sure the argument still makes sense after you have done more research.
Once you know what you want to argue, you will be able to start looking for information to back up your claim. Remember that you are only starting; you may have to look for more specific or different sources, as you develop your essay's structure.
Steps #3 (Finding Sources), #4 (Reading & Evaluating Sources), and #5 (Developing Structure) may cycle back-and-forth several times; that is normal and good
Start with the more general sources and sections/points of the paper that you are sure you will need, before moving on to the ones that support specific details of your argument.
Consult the citation & reference guides for the appropriate style to ensure that the references/bibliography and citations are 100% correct. In alphabetization, indenting, punctuation, fonts, etc., there is one perfectly correct way to do it.