When writing a persuasive scientific piece, it is important to explore the primary scientific literature thoroughly, as well as get background information to help you understand the primary scientific literature. Using these resources to understand the science, and then construct a well-grounded argument will help you convince your reader.
In order to do these things, you'll need to search widely (which you can do on the Articles tab), using both general and focused databases, and manage your research (which you can learn more about on the Citation and Zotero tab). As you get started, you'll want to identify keywords and develop a search strategy, and perhaps search for background information in OneSearch.