Compile your sources. Have all your books, articles or other resources in front of you. You'll need them to access a variety of details concerning authorship, publication and other details.
Find an accurate and reliable source for APA citation guidelines. Purdue's online writing lab offers one of the most reliable and widely used resources for detailed APA guidelines. (See Resources). Streamline your process by sticking with a single reliable source that you find easy to use.
Identify the category for each of your sources. APA style separates sources into categories such as "books with a single author" and "article from an online periodical." Each of these has its own guidelines, so know a source's types before citing it.
Write the entry for each of your sources. Don't worry about putting them in the proper order yet. Just make a list of your citations based on the guidelines for each.
Double check each one. Every detail of the citation is important, and some of the guidelines are counter-intuitive. Proofread carefully to avoid minor and major errors.
Organize the list in alphabetical order. Now that you have properly cited each of your sources, alphabetize the list based on the first word of each citation. If you have more than one source from the same author, sort them by year, with the earliest listed first.
Format the references page appropriately. Center the word "References" at the top of the page. For each citation, indent every line after the first.