Citing Sources
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MLA Handbook Plus This link opens in a new windowThe MLA Handbook is the only official, authorized book on MLA format. The ninth edition builds on the MLA’s unique approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements—facts, common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date—that allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, YouTube videos, dissertations, and more.
Giving Credit to Images
Captions should accompany all images included in the body of an academic paper or in a presentation. A caption includes much of the same attributive information that a citation provides for textual sources.
Here is a general template for captioning a work of art:
Figure number Creator, Title of Work, date created, medium on support, measurements. Collection or Museum, City of Collection or Museum (your means of obtaining the image)
Captions following this template could look like this. In some cases, you may have more or less information than your general template lays out. Don't worry about missing information (frequently the name of an artist for older work, or sometimes a date, in which case you should provide any approximate range attached to the original image), and try to work in extra information where it makes sense.
2 Paul Cézanne, Still Life with a Ginger Jar and Eggplants, 1893–4, oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 36 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435881)
14 Yayoi Kusama, Accumulation #1, 1996, mixed media, 37 x 39 x 43 in. Exhibited at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, and photographed by Larry Qualls (Artstor, https://jstor.org/stable/community.14262862)
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CAA Publications Style GuideSection III lists, in detail, formatting guidelines for captions in College Art Association publications.
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Captions: Association of Art Editors Style GuideComprehensive overview of the elements of a caption, with "a sampling of formats" that illustrate a variety of caption subjects and sources.
The Association of Art Editors Style Guide (linked above) offers two examples of captions for video art that can be adapted for other less traditional formats:
Peggy Ahwesh, The Scary Movie, 1993. Super-8 film, black-and-white, sound; 9 minutes. Distributed by Drift Distribution, New York [source: Whitney Museum of American Art]
Cheryl Donegan, Craft, 1994. Videotape, color, sound; 12 minutes. Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York [source: Whitney Museum of American Art]
