The easiest way to start doing research is to contact professors at your school and ask them about joining their lab. They may have room in their lab for you next semester and if you are lucky you might be able to work in the lab over the summer depending on the type of funding they have. Some schools offer grants to students to conduct independent research of their own design, you usually need to have some research experience to be able to come up with a novel and reasonable summer experiment but this may also be an option for you, as this may be less competitive than REU programs. Another option for you if your school is not a big research school is to email professors who are doing research that interests you at a large research university and email them your CV and ask if they have any spots for the summer, having prior research experience would be helpful for this as well. Also, you might have to settle for doing an unpaid internship this way, but could still probably get course credit. I was able to get a paid summer research position at a university that is not the one I attend by emailing the professor. Hope this helps
