The first thing you want to do before you start your research is read over your assignment several times to make sure you understand everything your professor or instructor is asking you to do.
What are the due dates for your assignment? Mark important dates on a calendar (print or online) to keep yourself on track. Schedule yourself time to actually sit down and do research. And remember, thinking is part of the research process!
Research is a process of strategic exploration where you, the researcher, make decisions about what kinds of information you need to collect in order to answer a particular question or learn more about a specific topic. This process is iterative, which means every piece of information you find can teach you something new and influence how you would proceed in finding more information.
Along with searching for and finding information, research entails documenting and evaluating what you find, and also analyzing and interpreting that information, sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography, literature review, and/or research paper. This guide will go over the basics steps of making a research plan: