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The primary purpose of "context" research is to help you understand and interpret your passage. You are not searching for mere facts, but for information that will help you gain insight into the meaning of the verses. Your question at every part of your research should be: How does this help me understand my passage?
Historical/Cultural
What is the cultural, political, religious world of the author? Consider both the Jewish and Near Eastern cultures, as well as the culture of the empire, i.e., Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian Persian, Greek, Roman, etc..
Who is the author/audience and what is their relationship? Consider how cultural, political, or social issues might be influencing them.
Literary
What is the relationship of the text to other literature? What is its relationship to other Biblical literature? Consider also the placement of the passage in the Bible. What comes before/after your particular passage? Why was this passage in this book of the Bible?
While it may seem incredibly old-fashioned, there are many good reasons to use print sources for research:
Print call numbers classify books by subject and can help you to locate additional resources. Browsing the shelf where you found one book can lead to finding others on the same subject.
Books contain built-in finding aids, like Tables of Contents and Indexes, that are often easier to use than digital ones. It is easy to scan through a Table of Contents or index to see if your topic is covered. Spelling variations, such as armor or armour (a Biblical spelling), are easily spotted in an index, but if you misspell a word in a search box, it often will not be retrieved.
This assignment will familiarize you with multiple print resources that will be useful throughout your graduate studies!
Reference tools, like atlases, dictionaries, and encyclopedias, help put your passage into geographical, cultural, and historical context, which can be critical to your interpretation. Start with sources that give you a broad overview of your topic, such as a Bible dictionary, encyclopedia, or study Bible. These reference sources provide an overall summary of your topic or passage and help you understand your topic before you dive into more detailed information. As you read, write down important terms, names, and any ideas you have for further research.
A concordance is a tool that lets you look up a word, and see that word in its context in every place it occurs in the Bible. A concordance can be especially helpful if you want to find Biblical passages that relate to a particular concept. Since English versions of the Bible differ sometimes in how they translate words, you need to pick a concordance that matches your Bible version. The library's reference section has a range of concordances for many different versions of the Bible.
Search the catalog by keywords (e.g., Bible Atlas) or by the title, if you are required to use a particular one.