The Pythia, the high priestess or Oracle at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, in Ancient Greece, was related to the god Apollo, one of the most versatile and important of Greek gods, being related to music, truth, and prophecy, amongst many other traits. The Pythia is famous, amongst many other events, for having dictated Socrates´ relevance to Western thought.
If John spends time writing down topic ideas for his research project, the step of the writing process is he actively involved in would be "planning" since he has yet to narrow down topics.
