Giving Credit to Images
In some ways, the images that you might include in your academic work are unlike other types of outside sources you might bring into your argument. In one important respect, however, they are no different: any work created by someone else should receive a full attribution. Giving credit to someone else's visual material can feel significantly trickier than citing even the thorniest print or web source.
When including someone else's image in the body of an academic paper, standard practice calls for providing an attribution in the form of a caption. The slideshow below briefly introduces the positioning of an image and its caption within a paper. Occasionally a brief comment on the image may be warranted, just as you might sometimes add a comment to a footnote.
Citations may be warranted in some cases, as when you are referring to something visual that you are not reproducing it within your own work. Citations may also make sense as the best way to give credit to an image in a more visual product; a slide presentation might conclude with a list of image credits.
This guide offers guidance and examples for captions and citations that follow Chicago, MLA, and APA style.
If you have questions, please contact Erica!
