Research for a paper is not something that you can do well in a few hours. Plan ahead and divide up the work to ensure that you turn in a high-quality, well-researched paper. Start by identifying the kind of research you must do. Primary research such as interviews, observations and surveys require planning, and you may need to wait several days to receive confirmation of interview times or to receive the results of the surveys. While you wait for the responses, find secondary sources to support the thrust of the primary research.
Many students try to save time by only using websites as sources. Websites are fine, but don't stop there. Look at journals, books, white papers, and news articles as well. For example, if your topic is employee attrition at your workplace, look for general articles about attrition, or news releases about employment data. This will provide a richer background discussion for your data. Avoid using sources that all represent the same viewpoint. These sources may give you an incomplete picture of the research question.
Plagiarism is using someone else's work, or your own work from a previous class, and misrepresenting it as your work or a new assignment. Many instructors use plagiarism checkers that will identify plagiarized content as well as old papers you have written for another course. The consequences of plagiarism can be severe. To avoid plagiarism, never copy and paste anything from a source unless you are using it as an attributed quote. Paraphrase all other information using your own words. Never reuse old work from another class without your instructor's permission. This is self-plagiarism.
If your instructor requires that you use a style guide, purchase or borrow a copy of the style guide and use it for each assignment. Your work may be penalized if you do not use it. Style guides not only help you write in-text and bibliographic citations correctly, but they also tell you how to format your paper, as well as how to treat tricky grammatical and syntactical situations. For example, most style guides will tell you whether to write out the word for a number or whether to use the numeral, depending on the context.