1 The research process

Scholarly communication is a conversation among peers.
Some "standard terminology" of the research world:

citation; abstract; peer-reviewed;
serial (usually a journal, but not always);
ISSN; database; descriptors; bibliography

2 Starting your own research

Library Research Guides

Building a research question
Developing a hypothesis

Research Rescue and Library user’s manual for other search tips

Library Online Reference Shelf
see especially Michigan Electronic Library

Political Science  
Core Articles in searchable databases; reference materials,
Recommended Web sites
Location of journals: McIntyre Periodicals is searchable by keyword/phrase

Depending on the aspect of your topic, begin with       
Academic Search Elite (multidisciplinary; good mix of scholarly journals and other types of periodicals; can limit to scholarly "peer reviewed journals)
Use the thesaurus or "index" of subjects to focus and refine your searches regardless of which database you choose

Don"t overlook the library online catalog
and your ability using the online catalog to quickly borrow items from other UW libraries