Make the notes from your sources on 3- by 5-inch note cards. These notations will probably come from hard copy books from the library, from online Internet sources and from your own texts. Some may be quotes from the sources, others may be paraphrases and others may be your own thoughts and ideas. For any note that you got from a source (including a paraphrase), the name of the source should be at the bottom right-hand corner of the card. There you can write the author and the page number of the source. You will be very glad you did this when you start writing your draft.
Make a bibliography card for every source that you intend to cite in your paper. This card should tell the author, title of the article or book, publisher, place of publication and the date. If it's an online article, you may need the URL as well, depending on your citation style. Look up the bibliographical requirements for your citation style, whether it's MLA, APA or Chicago style, and put all the needed information on one card for each source.
Take all your note cards (excluding the bibliographical cards) and find a large flat surface such as a table or bed. Begin looking through the cards and sort them according to topic. For example, if you are writing about the French Revolution, you might have one pile about the causes of the Revolution, another about events during the Revolution and a third pile about the period after the Revolution. It's not necessary to know ahead of time how you will organize your cards. It will become obvious as you go through your notes.
Make a preliminary outline based on your card piles. For example, Part I is your introduction; Part II is the causes of the Revolution; Part III is the events of the Revolution; and Part IV is the long-term effects. Now you can label each card in each pile according to what part it will fall in. Label all the "causes" note cards with a Roman numeral II at the top left of the card, and so on. This is so, in case you drop your cards, you will quickly be able to reorganize them.
Take the pile labeled Part I. Organize that pile in the order in which you intend to discuss the ideas in your notes. Put the first idea on top, then the second and so on. Now begin to write your draft. You may start with an idea from a source, or simply start with your own thoughts that have evolved during your research. Somewhere in the first section of your paper, and preferably in the first paragraph, you should state your thesis. Your thesis is simply the idea that you are arguing for: for example, "The French Revolution happened because of deep inequality in French society, and because of the refusal of the nobility to give up any of their privileges."
Cite the source for each of your notes that came from a book or an article. You can use a signal phrase that introduces the author of the idea; for example you might write, "Jacques Barzun sees the main cause of the French Revolution as being the failure of the nobility to tax itself." Then you might include a quote from Barzun. Be sure to follow the correct citation style for the course you are taking. Your instructor can tell you which citation style is appropriate for the class. Citation can be complicated, so you may need to visit the writing center at your college for some help in getting it right.