You will see your project in perspective and your thinking about it will inevitably become more incisive. You will also get a good feel for research thinking and writing, both good and poor, which cannot be obtained any other way. Such experiential learning is very valuable. For instance, when you finally compile your data and wonder how to present it, you may get ideas from the tables, charts, and graphs of an article that presented similar data. To help you inform readers of the context in which your research was done.
All research builds on what has gone before.
The reader will wish to know whether there are similar studies, and if so, whether your work supports their results or contradicts them. The reader will want to know exactly how your study differed from similar investigations. You will be expected to give due credit to others whose work you use. This may seem tedious, but it will increase your precision and make your study far more credible. Remember that credibility is a major goal of research.