Quick Overview of Research Process
Here's a quick overview of what you'll be doing on a research project:
(Image source: http://psychology.gau.edu.tr/?page_id=1430)
If you're doing simple research for just an assignment paper, the steps that you might take may look like process below. As you can tell, its a lot simpler than collecting your own data (as above).
(Image source: http://libraryguides.ldsbc.edu/researchguide)