For some students, it is very difficult to come up with a topic for a research question. I am the complete opposite. Coming up with a research question is relatively easy. I love to research, but I hate to write it. Usually when my teacher mentions that we will have to write a research paper, my mind is already all over the place trying to figure out what to write about. Once I realize what it is I want to research, I will go online to compile information in which case I will eventually come up with my guiding question. Once I find interesting and credible sources I write them down on a piece of paper and get back to them as I write.
In my high school, my teachers thoroughly went through the steps on how to write a research paper, so I believe I do have the hang of how the process of writing one is. Unlike the book, I do not make a list of things I find important. The form of “free writing” that I do is the following: I do bullet points on the sources that I have read. I was taught to have at least one primary source and the rest secondary sources. I was also taught to do background information on the author of the text that I will potentially use.
During my investigation process, I sometimes print out the articles, highlight, and circle everything I want to write about, which I guess is like a mind map (just a messier version of it). While I research, my questions do change a little, but I always try to keep it around the same topic.