Here are the steps that formally make up the research process. You should go through all of these steps when you write your own research papers.

1. Formulate your research topic.
2. Do background research.
3. Choose topic keywords to use for searching.
4. Refine your topic.
5. Determine which search tools to use (library databases, the web, etc.).
6. Search in those tools using topic keywords.
7. Evaluate materials retrieved.
8. Organize and write your paper.
9. Compose your bibliography.