I am a junior undergraduate at an accredited college in the United States majoring in a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program. Currently, I work at a for-profit business to gain some programming experience. In the future, I would like to enroll in a good Master of Science in Computer Science program. After that, I would like to work as a researcher studying computer science theory to improve human understanding of computation.
Is there a general way to transition to research after undergraduate study and, if so, are there any particular mental tools that I should acquire that would be in my best interest for research? For example, mental tools would be something like a methodology to writing papers, and another could be a framework to acquiring research grants from the government.