Very important to me and for those have 'a long journey' like me...

Using information sources

Using information sources in a systematic and structured manner will save you a good deal of time. Developing a search strategy is vital as it provides you with an overall structure for your search and provides a record of your search history. This is an extremely useful record to have as you find yourself needing to refine or change the focus of your searching as your research develops. It can also improve the relevancy of results obtained as you have thought about keywords and synonyms and how these relate to each other.

The following are suggested steps in retrieving information:
i. Defining the information need and stating it as a question
ii. Breaking the need into its component parts
iii. Identifying synonyms and prioritising keywords
iv. Searching specific sources
v. Evaluating the information
vi. Evaluating the search process
(adapted from Constructing a Search Strategy, Duffel, 1995).

taken from
more details for every suggested steps...

http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/tutorials/litreviewpages/search.htm#searchprocess