Research, research, research

At this point it is all about research; reading everything that you can find that is to do with your subject. But how do you find what it is you need to read? This I can not answer for you unfortunately, this is something that you will have to identify for yourself; it all depends on your field. The best place to start will have to be your supervisor as you will have been given a suitable supervisor, (hopefully), who is knowledgeable about your field and is well versed in the topics, giving you a head start.
What has become obvious to me is that, at the end of your 3 or so years is that you are going to be a world expert in this field. As scary as this sounds, that is what you have to aim at. Therefore there are no papers that are exactly what you need to read now. This is because you have not written them yet. As amazing as this sounds when you are here at the start, your path through the jungle you now face will be your own journey. Others may be heading in the same sort of direction but you are the one who will get to the endpoint of your journey and you will be the one who is the expert. Your university wants to be proud of you at the end, as you will be yourself but as you take these first few faltering steps it appears to me that the thing to do is read everything and keep a log of what you have read and the ideas that the reading sparks off.

I am helping out in practical sessions at my uni and one of the undergrads asked me how coursework can be marked when everyone's work is going to be so different. The coursework in question is a database system that has to be designed and developed for a pet shop with private breeders selling through the store. Each student that I talked to today had a different take on the structure of the tables, indeed, I don't think I saw 2 sets of tables the look the same. I got chatting with my supervisor after the sessions and I said that I could see how different undergrad tuition is to post grad; you have to be spoon fed info as an undergraduate as there are set modules that have to be taught. As a post grad you will not have this structure as it is not suitable as you are going to become the expert in your field. There is no one ahead of you to learn from. This sounds scary but if you are going to complete a post grad study course it comes back each time to the fact that you are going to be the expert on your field. Scary yes, but oh so unbelievably cool