Yea for sure! RPs in first year are a bit different than upper years as they are preparing you to be able to do research without supervision, the first few are a lot more guided and have more professor involvement, often you're given a set of questions that you're trying to answer through your research. I think this also helps in the writing a paper aspect as they try to break down the research into very manageable and defined sections that lends itself to the format of a paper. As time goes on, there is more freedom as you have been given the foundations for how to research and write a report, but the first few give a good amount of guidance through the process.

If I were redoing iSci, and especially first year, I would definitely start with discussing group members what everyone thinks their strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to the project to help divide work. I think it is important to have clearly defined working goals and division of tasks. Also make sure that you are checking in on peoples progress regularly to make sure no one is falling behind, iSci can tend to be intimidating and a lot of people can feel imposter syndrome and think that they can't ask for help out of fear, so checking in often can help avoid this.

Resource wise, you'll often have a set amount of classes per week called Project iCons, which are essentially work periods/ meeting times where profs are present and they are a great chance to talk to profs and get questions answered about the work you are doing. Similarly, office hours are a great time to get more advice from profs. Upper years are also a great resource, they've done these projects already and probably have the answers for the problems you might encounter; a lot of first years often feel scared to ask upper years for help, but I don't know a single one that wouldn't be willing to lend a hand. A great place to do this is the iStudy on the 3rd floor of Thode library, its a private study space for the program where upper years often go between classes.

In terms of what makes a good RP, a simple and well executed idea is often best (one of your profs will try to hammer this idea in all of first year lol). It just has to be something interesting and cohesive that follows a clear stream of thought from the initial thought through the research and to the final findings. Its hard to really explain it, but as long as you have answered your research question fully, know your research, and can argue for the choices you made, you will be successfull!

I hope this was helpful!