Incidentally, research papers are also papers in which students or academics explore new perspectives on pre-existing knowledge, or combine research to form a new thesis or explanation.
I had a lot of fun writing research papers, but that's primarily because I was able to choose the research topics I wanted (SLC is cool like that). I'm not saying that I discovered the cure for cancer or anything, but I do feel that I was able to bring a new perspective to the topics I wrote on.