Use your school or university library and library website to find sources that will fit your subject. Generally, most schools and universities have library databases (online collections of articles, books and records of physical books in the library) which you can search by keywords. Keywords are short, specific words related to your subject. For example, if you want to write an essay about the effects of the US Civil War on women, you might use keywords such as "Women Civil War", "Women US Civil War", or "Effects US Civil War". Try many varieties of keywords when you search: remember that researching is an art, so expect to spend several hours researching and trying different combinations of keywords.
Use the above steps to search on the Internet. Although the best option is to search through your school library (the library is often going to have the most reliable information and peer-reviewed journals), you can also find legitimate sources through some specific online websites and databases. Google Scholar provides access to some full-text scholarly articles, as do websites such as HighBeam, Eric, and JStor, though some of these sources will not have full-text articles. When researching using the Internet, be sure to assess the reliability of the content. Avoid ".com" websites or websites that appear to be selling a product or making claims that are not backed up by evidence.
Jot down the full information for any source that seems to apply to your subject. Write down the author name, article or book name, journal name, date of publication, issue or volume, publisher, website URL, or any other significant information that you think might help you to find the source again.
Take out your reference cards and begin to put one source on each reference card in correct APA reference page format. To make this step easier, separate your sources into one of three kinds: Books, Journal Articles (either from a library database online or actual paper copies), and online sources (such as websites). Do one kind of source at a time so that you can assure that you are being consistent about applying APA citation style to each.
Generally, APA reference page citations list the author, last name first, the date of publication in parenthesis, the name of the book or article, followed by the journal name if it is an article or publication information if you have a book. Here is a basic layout for each kind of source:
Book: Jones, J (1990). New Ideas for Weddings. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
Article: James, J (2010). Multiple Intelligences. The Journal of Psychology, 100(4), 21-23. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.08.002
Note that for an article, you give the name of the journal article as well as the name of the journal, that the issue and volume come after the journal name, and that if you accessed the document online through a database, you include a doi number.
Website: National Endowment for the Arts. (2011). Funding for Artists. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/ArtistsCommunities.html
For your own sources, make sure to use the latest APA formatting guide, the Purdue OWL website, or any available library sources to check for the latest APA guidelines.
Put your cards in alphabetical order by last name of author or organization name for easy organization.