ughh I'll never enjoy writing research papers

I understand that there is a difference between the style and attitude of a research “report” and a research “paper”, but regardless I still find intimidation over either one. It’s hard to talk about what my high school papers were like, because over the course of four years I hardly wrote any. During my junior year my teacher basically hand-fed us our thesis statement, and we could only write on the topic of Greek Mythology. Although I found the topic to be very interesting, I felt like I didn’t have any freedom on how my paper would be constructed. My senior English class was pathetic. We didn’t even write one research paper. The only paper we had to write was a book report! So coming into college I felt like I was completely unprepared for any kind of research anything.
What I am most curious about researching would probably be something that involves life in college, however, if it was my choice I would write something that I am personally interested in, which is the performing arts. I’m not exactly sure what I would focus on in that broad category, but it may help me lead to something else to write about.
I know that there is a lot of work involved in writing a good research paper. My question to you Jennifer is honestly to just show me the do’s and don’ts as painlessly as possible. It does make me feel better that you can relate to us, because you’ve recently been in our shoes. Although the daunting feeling of writing a research paper will never leave me, hopefully you can alleviate my worries in some way or another. I think my biggest trouble spot is simply how to start!