You can see what buds look like in the Cannabis Pictures section, there's plenty of pics there, and most are of unground cannabis.

When you get the buds, you should break them up into small pieces (you may want to get a grinder to make it easier), then pack them into the bowl. Depending on how your going to consume the cannabis, you may have to break it up to different sized pieces:

1) If your going to cook with it, it needs to be very fine, almost a powder.
2) bong/pipe/bubbler; to the size of small pebbles
3) joints/blunts; about twice as fine as bongs/pipes, but it doesn't need to be as fine as when cooking, just grind it up real good.

Also, remove all stems, seeds, and as many leaves as possible from the bud before you grind/pack it. The bud is the only THC-rich part of the plant and the other parts will just taste bad and contain more tar.

Edit: My avatar is a great reference to use to see what unground buds look like.