Keep a research log or journal. Research is most often not linear but recursive . You often find some information, read it, think about it, then come back to look for other information. Research always changes your thesis. Your original thesis is usually too broad, rarely too narrow.
Research is messy.
Information does not equal knowledge. Your minds create the knowledge after thinking about the information, comparing with other information, synthesizing it, evaluating it, creating your own voice. A research paper is not a bunch of other people's words strung together. Time, time, time . Computerized databases can speed up a search.