Simple Example

In your migration:

class AddAvatarColumnsToUser < ActiveRecord::Migration
    def self.up
      add_column :users, :avatar_file_name,    :string
      add_column :users, :avatar_content_type, :string
      add_column :users, :avatar_file_size,    :integer
      add_column :users, :avatar_updated_at,   :datetime
    end

    def self.down
      remove_column :users, :avatar_file_name
      remove_column :users, :avatar_content_type
      remove_column :users, :avatar_file_size
      remove_column :users, :avatar_updated_at
    end
  end

You can also use the paperclip generator to generate the migration for you:

script/generate paperclip User avatar

In your model:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_attached_file :avatar, 
                    :styles => { :medium => "300x300>",
                                 :thumb => "100x100>" }
end

In your edit and new views:

<% form_for :user, :html => { :multipart => true } do |form| %>
  <%= form.file_field :avatar %>
<% end %>

In your controller:

def create
  @user = User.create( params[:user] )
end

In your show view:

<%= image_tag @user.avatar.url %>
<%= image_tag @user.avatar.url(:medium) %>
<%= image_tag @user.avatar.url(:thumb) %>