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The research process is not a linear process in which you must complete step one before moving on to step two or three. You don’t need to put off writing your paper until you’ve gathered all of your sources, in fact, you may want to start writing as soon as possible and adjust your search, thesis statement, and writing as you continue to work through the research process. You can (and should!) revisit the steps in the research process as many times as needed to create a finished product.

License and attribution: Graphic by Kim Louie for Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution; Research steps by Jean and Alexander Heard Library. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike