I am lost and don't know where I am going

I feel another question I always find myself asking is " What can I put in the search engine to get it so it understands what I am looking for?" I don't find myself having trouble getting to articles cause as soon as I saw that ERIC didn't have the full text I got on the library's website and was able to get it on the first try. I think the only reason I was able to do that was because I knew what I was looking for. Leave me to pick a topic or give me a wide rang to pick from and ask me to pick what is the best information to use and then I get lost. I know how to find resources but how do I know which one is the best resource for what I am doing. The internet has to much to choose from. The one thing its good for it to get a feel for what you want to find in books or journals.

Dr. Jenson has brought up a good point students coming right out of high school aren't taught a lot on research using a library and all it has to offer. I know when I was in high school we did a lot on lap tops and web searches. Even though we used it a lot in high school the teacher would give us most of the websites we would use to find answers to a project. So we didn't worry if it was a creditable source, the teacher gave it to us. When we had to give sources we found as long as they were in MLA formate and wasn't something that looked like it was made in some ones basement it was a good source. Now that I am asked to find scholarly journal I find myself lost and not knowing what I am looking for.