I wrote two research papers last semester, one was 8 pages the other 10.
The most basic and first step is to ask yourself this question, and come up with an answer: Why am I writing this paper?
If you're writing about Louis Armstrong, then you're probably just giving a summary of his life/career, so that's simple. If that's what the purpose of the paper is, then stick to that concept. Don't suddenly inject opinions and compare his work to other people's work, if that's not what the paper is about. Of course, you could be doing a critique of his work, but again, stick to the topic. If you're critiquing his professional work, chances are you don't need the first five pages to be about his childhood.
Be RELEVANT. The second step is to come up with some sort of idea about how the paper is going to flow. You want to think of some key ideas/points/facts to include, and come up with a way to transition between them.
Once you have those two things thought out, the research is easy. However, for the love of God, user proper fucking citation. I didn't read anyone else's response to this, but if it doesn't sound like mine they're wrong, because I'm the greatest. (J Sag, 2008).
That was not proper citation.