Citing Sources

In APA style, an image requires a caption with an in-text citation (or a credit line) and an entry in References.

An image caption provides information about the image and credits the source of the image. Give each image a figure number (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).

If the image is a drawing, rendering, infographic, or other illustration, include:

• the title of the image
• the name of the artist or illustrator
• the date the image was created

If the image is a photograph of a building, include:

• the name of the building
• the name of the architect
• the date the building was completed
• the location of the building

If the image is a photograph or reproduction of a work of art, include:

• the title of the artwork
• the name of the artist
• the date the artwork was created

If you don’t see all of this information in the caption of the image or the text around it, look for a separate list of image credits. This list is often called List of Illustrations, Illustration Credits, Image Credits, or simply Credits. In books, it may be either at the beginning or at the end of the book.

At the end of the caption, credit the source of the image with a credit line, which is formatted as an in-text citation. Here's an example:

Note about personal photographs and images you created:

No citation is needed for personal photographs or other images you created yourself when using APA style. These images do still require a caption, but you do not need to include an in-text citation in the caption, and you do not need to include an entry for the image in your References list.