Collect your reference information. For each work you intend to refer to, you will need to know the author or editor, date, title, page numbers, journal title in the case of journal articles, publisher and place of publication.
Insert citations as you write. Every time you cite a fact or statement from one of your reference works, place a citation in parentheses after the statement. This usually consists of the author's name and the date of the work. Separate multiple works by a semicolon.
List all the works you've cited in your paper in a reference section at the end. List the works in alphabetical order by the author's last name, with individual works in date order.
List the author's name, followed by the date in parentheses and then a period to cite books in your reference section. The title of the book follows in italics, with another period. Next, list the place of publication, followed by a colon and then the name of the publisher. The entry ends with a period.
List the author and date as you would for a book to cite journal articles in your reference section. Avoid italicizing the title of the article. After the article title, list the journal title in italics, followed by a comma. After the comma, list the volume number of the journal. If the journal has both volumes and issues, put the issue number in parentheses. Insert another comma, then list the page range of the article followed by a period.
Consult the APA style guide if you are unsure. There are many possible special types of citations, including anonymous works, electronic sources and unpublished dissertations.