When notes require stems, the stems themselves can go either up or down. This feature allows for the stems to avoid colliding with other musical symbols. Choosing which direction the stem should go has many variables and conventions depending on the musical context. Thankfully, when using notation software, these rules are often applied automatically, but we should also be able to write notation by hand when necessary, and there are some simple best practices that we can cover with two simple rules. The first rule is a requirement and will always be true: upward stems go on the right side of the notehead, and downward stems are placed on the left side of the notehead.
The second rule is much more flexible, but generally when noteheads are placed below the middle line of the staff, stems go up, when the notes appear on or above the middle line, the stems go down. This keeps as much of the stem as possible inside the five-line staff. In fact, another way to think of this rule is: always aim the stems towards the center of the staff, then just remember the middle line goes down. Clicking the RULE buttons above should illustrate both of these conventions.
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