Examine the purpose of your paper and create a short summarized blurb of your goal in conducting the research design. Amidst hours upon hours of research, losing focus of your exact goal is likely. Reading over this blurb will help you get back on track.
Draft a list of research questions you want answered upon conducting the entirety of your research. These questions will help you narrow in on what is important to your area of study.
Write down all the resources you plan on consulting. These sources may change or the list may be expanded.
Decide what your sample will be and how many will be in your sample. If your question relates to humans, then you must decide how many people you will include in your study and experiment and the population you wish to research. If your question deals with monkeys, then include which type of monkey, from which region, and how many monkeys you wish to study.
Decide where you will conduct the study that will lend the greatest validity to the authenticity of the experiment.
Always include limitations to the study so the reader can be aware of any biases. For example, when dealing with people, if the subjects of the studies volunteered, then this is an example of potential bias as they were not randomly sampled.
Jot down all references and resources used to avoid allegations of plagiarism and to give credit where it is due.