A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, Ninth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2018

Manage moments of normal anxiety
Engaging your sources
Research and writing

As you get deeper into your project, you may experience moments when everything seems to run together into a hopeless muddle. That usually happens when you accumulate notes faster than you can sort them. Such moments can be stressful, but they can also be a sign that you are on the verge of a new insight or discovery.

You can minimize the anxiety by taking every opportunity to organize and summarize what you have gathered by writing as you go and by returning to the central questions: What question am I asking? What problem am I posing? Keep rehearsing that formula: I am working on X to learn more about Y, so that my readers can better understand Z. Writing regularly about these questions does more than help you stay focused; it also helps you think.

You can turn to friends, classmates, teachers—anyone who will serve as a sympathetic but critical audience. Explain how what you have learned bears on your question and helps you resolve your problem. Ask them, Does this make sense? Am I missing something important? What else would you like to know? You will profit from their reactions and even more from the mere act of explaining your ideas to nonspecialists.