When citing an image that you have found online, do not cite Google Images as the source of the image. Google is just the tool that helped you find the image - you must give the credit to the website/social media post/article where the image is hosted.
The APA Style Manual does not give specific information about how to format images in your reference list. Therefore this is an interpretation of the guidance they do provide. Check with your lecturer on requirements before submitting an assignment.
For graphs, charts, maps, drawings, and photographs that appear in the text, the style advises these should be labelled as numbered figures (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3 etc.) with a Caption.
The Caption is at the bottom of the figure, it includes the figure number, a brief descriptive phrase, any information needed to interpret the figure and then the words "Adapted from..." or "From..." followed by a citation. Include a copyright statement also.
Below are some examples of captions that would appear under your images:
Image from a journal article
Caption:
Figure 1. fMRI images showing comparison of a healthy brain with one affected by Alzheimer's disease. Adapted from "Cognitive degeneration associated with early onset Alzheimer's disease," by B. F. Reddin and G. Hall, 2015, Neuropsychological research, 34, p. 55. Copyright 2014 by the Irish Psychological Society.
Caption:
Figure 2. Testing a child for acquisition of the principle of conservation. From "Universal child development," by F. Shields, G. Smock, and H. Kavanagh, 2014, Dublin: PSI Press, p. 42. Copyright 2014 by Pychologcial Society of Ireland. Permission to reprint granted.
Caption:
Figure 3. Chicks imprinting with a dog titled "Imprinting." From Animal behaviour online. (2014, January, 29). Retrieved from www.animalbehaviouronline.ie
The APA Style does not give specific directions on citing images. This is an interpretation of their rules for where you discuss an image in your text, but do not reproduce it.
Reference: Creator's Lastname, Initital(s). (Year). Title of image [Format of work]. Place of publication: Publisher. Retrieved from URL
Example: FitzGerald, D. (1916). A soldier on duty outside a ruined building [Online photograph]. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.7925/drs1.ucdlib_30688
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Image with no known author
Reference: Title of work [Format of work]. (Year image was created). Place of publication: Publisher. Retrieved from URL (address of web site)
Example: Seal Island [Online photograph]. (2014). Retrieved from http://garnish-island/seals.ie
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Reference: [Subject and format of work]. Place of publication: Publisher. Retrieved from URL (address of web site)
Example: [Untitled online photograph of Ben Bulben in Co. Sligo]. Retrieved January 6, 2015, from http://www.strandhillscenes.com/
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Note: for simplicity, keep the in-text citation in brackets as shown above.
The APA Style does not give specific directions on citing images. This is an interpretation of their rules for where you choose to discuss an image in your text, but do not reproduce it in the text.
Reference: Creator's Lastname, Initital (s). (Year). Title of image [Format of work]. In Author Lastname, Initial(s), Title of book (page image appeared on). Place of publication: Publisher.
Example: Arthur, P. (2014). Low stress animal processing plants [Photograph]. In Gilfoyle, M. R., Meat processing plant design (p. 106), Galway: Irish Meat Processors Association.
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Note: the in-text citation refers to the author of the book where the image appears, not the image creator.
Reference: Photographer/Creator Last name, Initial(s). (Year) Title of image/photograph. Available at: URL (Accessed Day Month Year).
Example: O’Meara, S. (2014) Orchid. Available at: www.theburrenorchidcollection.ie (Accessed 3 February 2014).
In-Text-Citation:
As detailed for Images/Photographs (print).
Reference: Photographer/Creator Last name, Initial(s). (Year) Title of image/photograph [Photograph/Image]. Place of publication: Publisher.
Example: O’Meara, S. (2014) Orchid [Photograph]. Co. Clare: Collins Press.
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
There are two styles of MHRA referencing - footnotes/bibliography style and author/date style. This guide covers notes/bibliography style. For more information on both types of styles please see information here from the Univeristy of St. Andrews, and here from the MHRA style guide online.
Right click + open image in new tab to see a larger version.
Reference: Creator Last name, First name. "Title of image/work." Title of webpage/website. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher if different from website name), date of website/page creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access.
Example: Luke, Eric. "Hurricane Ophelia may hit Ireland on Monday." The Irish Times, 2017, www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/hurricane-ophelia-may-hit-ireland-with-storm-force-winds-1.3254295. February 27 2018.
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Ophelia hit Ireland in October 2017, pounding the coast with terrific force (Luke)
In his photograph, Luke captures the force of the waves pounding the Irish coast during storm Ophelia.....
Reference: Creator last name, First name. Title. Date of composition, medium, Name of holding institution, location of that institution.
Example: Yeats, Jack B. The Liffey Swim. 1923, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Reference: Creator last name, First name. Title. Date of composition, medium, Name of holding institution, location of that institution. Name of website, URL/DOI of website. Date Accessed Day Month Year.
Example: Yeats, Jack B. The Liffey Swim. 1923, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. National Gallery of Ireland, www.nationalgallery.ie/liffey-swim-jack-b-yeats. Accessed 27 February 2018
In-Text-Citation:
Example:
Note: If you wanted to provide more information for your reader you could refer to the website in your text, for example "on the nationalgallery.ie site..."
Please note that there are two style of Chicago referencing: author/date style and notes/bibliography style. This guide covers notes/bibliography style.
Information about images, paintings, photographs, sculptures, or other works of art can usually be presented in the text rather than in a note or bibliography.
If you chose to incorporate images into the text of your paper, the image should appear as soon as possible after the first text reference to it.
Images should bear numbers, and all text references to them should be by the numbers (eg. “as figure 1 shows…”) The word “figure” should be lowercased and fully spelled out, unless in parenthetical references (where “fig” may be used).
Bibliography: Last name First name. Title of Work. Date of creation or completion. Medium. Name of Institution. Location (if applicable). URL.
Examples:
In-Text Citation:
When celestial bodies are in alignment (see fig. 1) it is called syzygy.
Figure 1. An example of syzygy (celestial alignment) above the La Silla observatory, Chile. (Photograph by Yuri Beletsky, Three Planets Dance over La Silla, June 3, 2013, European Southern Observatory, https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1322a/).
Bibliography: Beletsky, Yuri. Three Planets Dance over La Silla. June 3, 2013. Photograph. European Southern Observatory. https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1322a/.
Information about images, paintings, photographs, sculptures, or other works of art can usually be presented in the text rather than in a note or bibliography.
Bibliography: Last name First name. Title of Work. Date of creation or completion. Medium. Name of Institution. Location (if applicable). URL.
Examples:
In-Text Citation:
As illustrated in Three Planets Dance over La Silla¹, the phenomenon of 'syzygy' is when celestial bodies align in the sky.
Bibliography: Beletsky, Yuri. Three Planets Dance over La Silla. June 3, 2013. Photograph. European Southern Observatory. https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1322a/.
In-Text Citation: Use a superscript number (like this: ¹) in the text at the place where you are indicating that you are citing from a source.
Footnote: Note Number. Artist or Creator, "Image Title," medium, date of artwork, museum item number if available, (name of institution housing the original, city of that institution if not already stated) in Name of Book by Book Author, (Place Published: Publisher, Year), page, figure number.
Bibliography: Cite the source, not the individual images:
Author (Last, First). Book Title. Place published: Publisher, date.
Examples:
In-Text Citation:
Footnote: 1. Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal), "Untitled (Bighorn Sheep and Rainbow)," watercolor on paper, ca.1928-30, (School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM), in A Strange Mixture: the Art and Politics of Painting Pueblo Indians by Sascha T. Scott, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), 170, fig. 5.11.
NOTE: When a source is referenced more than once on the same page a shortened form of footnote is used after the first reference, as seen below.
Second footnote: Note Number. Artist Name (Last Name only if cited previously), "Artwork Title," shortened source information, page(s), plate number.
Bibliography: Scott, Sascha T. A Strange Mixture: The Art and Politics of Painting Pueblo Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.
In-Text Citation: Use a superscript number (like this: ¹) in the text at the place where you are indicating that you are citing from a source.
Footnote: # Artist or Creator, "Image Title," medium, date of artwork, museum item number if available, (name of institution housing the original, city of that institution if not already stated) in "Name of Article", Journal Title, Volume, (Year), page, figure number.
Bibliography: Cite the source, not the individual images:
Author (Last, First). Book Title. Place published: Publisher, date.
Examples:
In-Text Citation:
Footnote: 11. Michelangelo Buonarroti, Tomb of Julius II, sculpture, completed 1545, (San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome), reproduced in Maria Ruvoldt, "Michelangelo's Slaves and the Gift of Liberty," Renaissance Quarterly 65 (Winter 2012): 1032, fig. 3. (Photo: Scala/Art Resource)
NOTE: When a source is referenced more than once on the same page a shortened form of footnote is used after the first reference, as seen below.
Second footnote: 15. Michelangelo, Rebellious Slave, sculpture, 1513-15, (Louvre, Paris), in Ruvoldt, "Michelangelo's Slaves," 1030, fig. 1. (Photo: Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource)
Bibliography: Ruvoldt, Maria. "Michelangelo's Slaves and the Gift of Liberty." Renaissance Quarterly 65 (Winter 2012): 1029-1059.
We would love feedback if this page was useful to you! If you have additional questions please reach out to us and we can try our best to help.
IADT LibGuides are licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC 4.0)