Here's the true story of how I approached your assignment:
First:
--I looked at your textbook for broad ideas and settled on learning and memory >>>
--I thought about what aspects of learning and memory are interesting to me >>>
Note: you might brainstorm different aspects of a topic using textbook material, you own experiences, or a recent news story
--I narrowed it down to concept of body memories; for example, memories created in infancy even though we don't typically think we can remember anything from time in our lives
Next:
--I googled body memories and came across this brief article >>>
I learned that body memories may be associated with a traumatic experience in very early childhood; you may not have an image in your head to correspond to the experience, but if the experience elicited a physical response at the time--like a racing heart--you may experience unexplained physical symptoms--or body memories--later in life.
--Using information from the article, I brainstormed different possible aspects of body memories:
How can they affect behavior?
Where in the brain are they stored?
Does age at the time of the memory matter?
If problematic, how can they be treated?
Then:
--I narrowed down my topic by picking one aspect of body memories that interested me >>>
--I settled on this (tentative) research question:
How can body memories created in infancy affect behavior later in life?
Note: Your research question at this point doesn't have to be set in stone! After some searching and reading, you may identify gaps or weaknesses in the current research that you want to explore.
You are interested in how body memories from infancy can affect behavior later in life?
Step 1: Break up this research question into two or three main concepts. Ignore extraneous words.
Step 2: Conduct an initial search with these words, and quickly scan the results.
Step 3: Using information from your initial search, add synonyms, acronyms, and variant spellings.
Here's the logic behind your search:
AND gives you results that include ALL of the words connected by the word 'AND'
OR gives you results that include ANY of the words connected by the word 'OR'.
Putting it all together, you are searching:
(body memories OR somatic memories) AND (affect OR impact) AND (behavior OR mental health)