It's important. Getting the right Information up front can make the difference between an incredible adventure and a disaster. Drop the "I know everything about this..." attitude and ask someone who has done it before where they got their information.

If you're a good researcher, you can hop right into the resources of a great bookstore, library, the Web, or internet newsgroups that are specific to your quest.

Bookstore: sit on the floor and browse books. Flash through the table of contents first... then go to the back and look for bibliographies. take a little notepad and take notes. It would be politic at this point to buy at least one book or magazine from the bookstore you have been using. Go to the magazine rack, assuming you've gone to a great bookstore that has extensive holdings. Buy a magazine that fits your quest topic. See if there is a list of further reading in any of the articles. Look for those books. You may want to subscribe if you are going to get into this activity lot.

Library: if you have a good library or college or university in your neighborhood, they probably have a periodicals listing computer like InfoTrac in their library. Ask a librarian for help. Do some searches and printouts of magazine and newspaper articles that fit your quest, then go look for those articles in their stacks or microfilm. You may even be able to order reprints of the article from the magazine publisher.

The Internet: a great resource, and it's free. We like search engines like Google and directories like Yahoo.