The first step is coming up with a general topic. At this stage you have a general idea of the subject matter you'd like to research. You many not have a narrow, focused topic, but that's OK because you haven't done the research yet. Your topic may be large and very broad; it might be something like green energy, child abuse, the legal profession, presidential elections or health care.
In order to find out what is happening on your topic, look at reference sources that will provide you with some background on it. When you do this, you gain just enough knowledge to think about your topic in more depth. Some good places to start are specialized reference books and encyclopedias.
Once you've made yourself a little more familiar with your topic, you need to narrow down your topic into a specific research question. Ask yourself: what do I want to know about this topic? If your topic is green energy, are you interested in how individuals or nations can reduce global warming, what steps people can take, what laws should be passed, and what about the history of the problem? If your topic is child abuse, do you want to know its causes, who is more affected, are you interested in a certain type of child abuse or how it affects school performance?
After you've come up with a specific research question, you need to find out what other researchers have already learned about this topic. You do this by looking in scholarly research. Even if your topic is unique, it is still part of a larger conversation about an issue, and you need to be familiar with the issue in order to offer a solution to a problem or an answer to your question.
Both your research and your writing need to be continually re-evaluated and rewritten. When you find gaps in your research, insert your new sources throughout your paper where they make sense - not just at the end. Have a friend, a teacher or someone from your university's writing center read over your paper.
After careful revisions of your writing and research you will write a few more final drafts of your paper. Your point is to communicate your argument effectively. Make sure your research supports your argument and your language is clean enough to contribute to your arguments as well.