You cannot do your own research if you do not have knowledge on how to do your research, so the first thing that you need to learn is to be knowledgeable on how to look for a good and bad project.

These are the parameters I'm using when checking on projects :
Who are the team behind the project and what are capabilities ?
Is the whitepaper not just a copy of past project?
Are they transparent ?
Do they rely on hype and shilling ?
Do the platform have a usecase that will benefit the community?
What credible companies that are backing the project?