Research can be a real pain.  I've already given a tool to keep track of where you've been, but sometimes it seems hard to know where to go.

Web of Knowledge is not only a useful tool for searching through loads of journal articles, but it has really useful citation linking.  Once you find a relevant article can search backwards (who an article cites), as well as forwards (who cited that article after it was written).  You can also search for related articles: Articles that have shared references.

You can also do forward searches on google scholar, however you can't easily sort by date published or times cited.  Whichever you end up using, if you find a work that's key to your interest (or its your own), you can set up e-mail alerts when that article gets cited to stay on top of things.  Or, set up an RSS feed so new results get delivered to google reader.

Oh, one last thing, I think you need a .edu IP address to use Web of Knowledge, so don't forget to hop on VPN!

How do you stay on top of the literature?  Any other good tips or tricks?