Consult a peer-reviewed journal. Modern academia is vast, so you will need to narrow down your research topic to a particular field such as Psychology or Chemistry, and dig deeper into their sub-fields.
Access a database of journals and search for your topic of interest. The easiest way to get access is through a university or library. Ask the librarian about accessing databases such as ProQuest, EbscoHost, PsycINFO and Science Direct.
Read the abstract to determine whether it is an empirical paper. An abstract summarizes the research question, methodology, results, and conclusion in less than a page.
Check the "methodology" section of a journal article to verify that it is an empirical article. The "methodology" section describes how the research was conducted. Skim the "introduction" and the "conclusion" section to determine whether it is based on experiments and systematic observation.
Look for keywords such as "study", "experiment", "research" and "findings" in newspaper and magazine articles. Empirical academic studies are often picked up by newspapers and magazines and summarized in jargon-free language. Magazines focused on science and social science, such as "Scientific American" and "The Economist" tend to report on empirical research more than general-interest magazines such as "Time" and "Newsweek."