There are any number of ways to work on a research paper. Below is a sample approach to writing a research paper.

1. Read as much as you can on your topic.
2. Make a list of things about your topic which you still do not understand.
3. Do more research on the things on your list, comparing what you find to what you know about your topic.
4. Brainstorm what is significant, important, relevant, or valuable about your topic.
5. Review your brainstorm list and choose something from the list to focus on in writing your research paper (sometimes it is appropriate to combine several things from the list if they can be grouped in some way--effects, types, connected topics, and so on).
6. Do more research aimed specifically at finding more information to fit the focus you have decided on.
7. Review your research and list all of the things from your research that fit your topic and focus.
8. Decide what things from your list need to be grouped together in your paper
9. Decide what order the things (and groups) in your list need to appear in your paper.
10. Write a draft introduction to your topic that emphasizes the focus you have chosen (Sometimes this isn't done until after the rest of the paper is written).
11. Following your rough plan, write a draft of the body of your paper.
12. Write a draft conclusion that sums up your focus on this topic, reiterating its significance, importance, relevance, or value to understanding the topic.
13. After setting the draft aside for a few days, review it to see if it adequately expresses your focus on this topic in a way that is understandable to a reader who is not familiar with the research on this topic and make any necessary adjustments.
14. Review the essay paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, word by word for clarity, completeness, accuracy, diction, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
15. Review the essay to make sure that information has been correctly paraphrased or summarized, that quotations have been quoted accurately and appropriately, and that all information, whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, has been adequately and correctly documented.
16. Review the works cited page to be certain that all sources used in the paper have been listed on the works cited page, and that all sources listed on the works cited page have been used in the paper.
17. Review the works cited page to be certain that all sources have been listed in correct format.
18. Review the essay and write a formal outline that correctly and accurately portrays the organization of the paper.
19. After setting the paper aside for a few days, re-read the paper to confirm that it is in its final form before being submitted and that it is correctly formatted according to assignment guidelines (title page, numbering scheme, fonts, margins, and so on), and make any necessary changes.