my fan doesn't come on

The fan in the 93 grand am that I just aquired doesn't come on and the engine overheats. What steps should I take to find out what the problem is? I am a car stupid female and I don't understand a lot of the lingo but I could follow detailed steps. Can anyone out there help me please. Thanks.

I had the same problem, it was a relay on the firewall (center under wipers in a black box where there was more than one relay, cannot remember which one)