Getting started with miRNA prediction

Question

[Nuria_bl]

Hi,

I'm interested in computational prediction of miRNAs in bees. To my understanding there are two methods to predict miRN: comparative and non-comparative. I am interested in learning how to conduct either of them.

As I'm beginning with my PhD and I don't know much about bioinformatics yet (I've only used BLAST, PUBMED, uniprot, etc. a little). The amount of information out there (tutorials, different programs that do the same thing, etc) is quite overwhelming at the beginning, so I think I am in much need of some advice pointing out where and how to get started.

Thank you in advance