Hello Sara,
Thank you for reaching out. I will attempt to answer your thoughtful questions as best as I can answer them. Just note that this is one person's opinion, therefore you possess an embedded option to reject whatever I say : )
Most crucial to your success as a research analyst is passion for the calling. If, in assessing yourself, you cannot imagine yourself as anything so fully as a research analyst then you have 90% of what recruiters are ultimately looking for in a candidate. This inner fire will drive you to constantly evaluate what you need to do in order to accomplish your goal. The inner fire will also insist that you do those things that are necessary to ensure your success. If you truly believe this about yourself then the battle becomes something else entirely: how to make tangible this passion of yours to someone that is, and I guarantee that they are, looking for someone passionate.
My post above describes many of the best ways to make this passion and your skill set tangible for someone. Additionally, read through the comments above where I also provide advice to other questions that people have.
Once you are able to demonstrate your passion and your skill set to someone then you have to persist, and for quite awhile. From the time that I first realized I wanted to be a research analyst to the time I got my first official job as a research analyst was five years. However, two of those years were spent getting an MBA in finance in order to re-contextualize who I was as a person for possible recruiters. I was a middling undergraduate student in economics with a B+ average whose work experience included being a not very good stock broker and a high quality customer service representative. I had to change the image of this person (me) for everyone and got my MBA in finance and accounting and had a 3.8 GPA and was the graduate school representative for 6,000 grad students the entire student body of 25,000 total students. And so forth. My point is that you are already far ahead of where I was when I started my quest. One way for you to re-contextualize who you are is to take the CFA exam so that recruiters understand who you think you are yourself.
I hope that helps!
Best wishes for perseverance and success,
Jason