Where I'm struggling at is in actually taking my research and getting the paper written.
Well, think about it this way: you have not done any research until you have written some material. Part of the research process is to type a paragraph or two about what each article says. If you look at three articles, take a moment to write three paragraphs.
Each paragraph can start with a topic sentence that tells what the article was about.
So... really it is not very hard. Oh, and look.. you can also use an approach that is based on your subjects that you named:
their life, habitat, etc. as well as the decline in their populations over the last few decades.----right here, I see three paragraphs. life, habitat, and decline all deserve a para of their own. So... in three paragraphs, share with us what you learned from three sources. That'll get you started.
For each paragraph:
Start with a topic sentence, and at the end of it put the author's name in parenthesis. Follow it with an example. Follow that with some explanation or elaboration. Conclude with a thoughtful sentence about the topic sentence.