Wait Command

I'm writing a script that moves a group of files around (copying from folder to folder, moving from folder to folder, uploading to FTP server,etc). The problem is that the script tries to move on to the next command before the files are done moving, copying, etc. Does anyone know how to write a script to tell the script to wait until the action is done before moving on to the next step, or know where I can find help? Sorry if this is easy, but I know nothing about writing code. Any help would be greatly Appreciated. Thanks for dealing with me.

 

Preferrably Applescript because that is what I have been picking up the most, but shell script is ok too.