Writing often calls for research. Even if you’re writing about a topic on which you’re an expert, you may find that you don’t know enough about some aspect of the topic to write about it effectively without doing research.

You may need to do research at various stages of the writing process—early on, to help you understand or define your topic, and later on, to find additional examples and illustrations to support your thesis. Once you have developed a working thesis, consider what additional information, opinions, visuals, and media you might need.