Before you get started with your research project, the most important thing to do is make sure that you understand the assignment. As the creator of the assignment, your instructor is the expert on it. If you have any questions about the assignment, ask your instructor directly. Anyone else-- your tutor, your classmate-- would be giving you their best guess based on their own interpretation of the assignment.
With the expectations of the assignment in mind, the next step is to choose a topic.
As soon as you receive your assignment and make sure you understand what is expected of you, you can start thinking about a topic! If you start early, you have the flexibility to allow an idea to come to you as you are doing other work. It can be very rewarding to use a paper in one class as an opportunity for digging into a topic you ran across in another class. You may even be inspired by something in your everyday life or work!
The important thing to remember is this: your topic might change. This is okay! It is normal and expected for your initial choice to evolve based on your research. Inquiry is a process.