$3000 isn't really enough to start investing. The commissions will eat you alive.
For now, an introductory book like _Stock Markets for Dummies_ is a good place to start.
Investors Business Daily (IBD) is a solid daily resource (and its complement,
www.investors.com ). It's a better newspaper than the Wall Street Journal and it is built around a particular approach to trading. You could read _How to Make Money in Stocks_ by William O'Neil too--he's the founder of IBD.
Search your local library for other books on stock investing. Try to absorb as much knowledge and understanding as you can. Then you can look to open a brokerage account (check out Tradeking for cheap commissions) and paper trade for a while--this is practice (not real money), which you should do extensively before you put any real money at risk.
