Take careful notes on your references while doing your research. Every time you find a fact or statement you want to include in your paper, make sure you have the author and title of the work, as well as the name of the publisher, the date and place of publication, and the page number of the part you intend to reference.
Study your university or department's referencing style. There are a number of different citation guidelines, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) style, which is widely used in the humanities and social sciences. The citation style of the Modern Language Association (MLA) is used in other courses. Each style has its own method of formatting references.
Insert references into your paper as you write. Every time you use one of the sources you collected during your research, attribute it. In some styles, this will mean listing the author's name and the date of the work in parentheses, while in others the bibliographic information will be listed in a footnote or endnote.
Create a bibliography for your paper. This should include a list of all the works you've cited in your paper, organized alphabetically by author. Your citation style guide will outline what information you need to include for each source, as well as how to arrange it.