It's fair to say that ideas are what can make an ordinary research paper a great research paper; in fact if you get good ideas or even just one really good idea you can use that as the basis for your work. Where do you get ideas? There are a number of resources such as looking at websites about research papers, talking to fellow students and academic staff and of course to use the old brainstorming technique.
You can do brainstorming by yourself but it really helps if you've got one or more people to join in. Choose a word or words which are relevant to the research paper idea you have. Then write down anything which comes into your mind related to that topic. The best brainstorming activities occur when one suggestion leads to another. That's why it's better to have it least two people in on the brainstorming session.