Finding & Using Images

Citing an Image or Graph from a Website(APA)

Format: Author Last Name, Author First Initial. (Year). Title of Image/Graph [Type of Media/Description]. Publisher. URL

---

Image/Graph with Title on a Website

Example: Lutz, E. (2014). An animated chart of 42 North American butterflies [Infographic]. Tabletop Whale. http://www.tabletopwhale.com/2014/08/27/42-butterflies-of-north-america.html

---

Image/Graph without Title on a Website

Sometimes you might have to cite an image that does not have a formal title. When that happens, include a description of the image in square brackets in place of the title. 

Example: Guttenfelder, D. (2021). [Splashing water on Lake Superior] [Photograph]. National Geographic. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/kayaking-around-lake-superior-apostle-islands

Citing an Image or Graph from a Database(APA)

Format:  Author Last Name, Author First Initial. (Year). Title of Image [Type of Media/Description]. Publisher.

 

Image/Graph with Title in a Database

Example from AnatomyTV: Chambers of the heart [Digital Image]. (2021). Anatomy.TV.

Example from Statista: GWI & DataReportal. (2023). Daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide from 2012 to 2023 (in minutes) [Infographic]. We Are Social; DataReportal; Hootsuite.

Helpful Information

Title:

For the image title, capitalize only proper nouns and the first word of the article title and subtitle. Also italicize the video title.

For the website name, capitalize all the significant words in the title. Do not use italics or quotation marks.

Note: If you mention an image title in your paper, all major words should be capitalized and it should be in italics.

Author:

The author of the photograph is the photographer. 

Usernames can be included in place of author’s real name if real name is not known. If both real name and username are known, include both with username listed second, in brackets.  

Type of Media/Description:

Describe the work in square brackets []. Example:[PowerPoint slides], [Digital images], [Infographics], [Maps], [Photographs], [Painting], [Clip art], etc.

URL:

Present URL’s as hyperlinks beginning with http:// or https:// taking the reader directly to the source.

Formatting:

Double space entries. If an entry runs more than one line, use a hanging indent to indent any additional lines beyond the first.

Acceptable abbreviations can be found on pp. 306-7 of the APA manual.

If what you are citing is not listed in APA manual, choose the example in the manual most like your source.