How do you work with more than one book/article/etc

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(When writing a research paper, for example)

I find it complicated. I have to search for what I have already written down from what source, make sure I don't repeat myself, and when doing writing assignments in university, rephrase what is written to avoid being accused of copying. Under time constraints I try to just change one or two words in the sentence and it looks alright to me, but to a NT reader the meaning of the sentence has changed.

Try making an essay plan first. Just write down your arguments and in short the quotes you want to add. Do not try to put in too many quotes or paraphrases as it must be an original work which contains your ideas and thoughts and not just a summary of those of others.

I am really bad at writing long texts myself, i just write down with my mind gives me at the moment and it might make the total very ugly and awkward

i would always need a co-writer or someone who makes one beautiful piece of it.

Thanks a lot for your suggestion! I am not actually doing a research paper, but something for my freelance work. I gave writing research papers as an example, because it can be complicated to explain what exactly I have to do for my work that requires multiple sources.

A few years back, there would be external vendors going round schools and conducting workshops on how to do mind maps. For those few years, teachers would often recommend doing mind maps of whatever we were studying in class. But I don't like it, because to do a mind map. I would like to know how much text I would be writing on the A4 size paper. But the point of doing a mind map to organise your thoughts as they come along.

So the planning was so "homogeneous" (what is recommended is what teachers like to see and what you had to do on work you show them), I was turned off from the idea of planning on paper, and tried to organise everything in my head, because I already had the impression that if I did any written planning, I had to do it according to the latest fashion in education.

But now I am out of school and doing freelance (i.e. I don't have to show my planning to a boss with his/her own preferences), I can do what I want without any fear I will be penalised for not doing it the "favoured" way.

So I have worked out how I want to do my planning in a way I can easily do and understand (I often have to refer back to my planning).