Citing Images (called figures or tables in MLA style)
Figures
MLA considers anything other than a table a “figure”: photograph, drawing, chart, cartoon, map, etc.
- Label figures as “Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc” and use this number when referring to the visual in the text of the paper.
- Give the figure a title or caption followed by information about the source.
- Follow MLA citation style for the type of source (online article, webpage, etc). See Diana Hacker’s MLA Documentation.
Tables
- Label tables as Table 1, Table, 2 etc.
- The label and caption appear above the table on separate lines. The source is given below the table.
Adapted from Joseph Garibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. (2003), pp. 134-37.
Example 1
Fig. 1. The Iowa Caucus. Photograph by momaraman, 3 January 2008, from Flickr Creative Commons,
20 June 2008. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2231/2191117996_4d9d875ce2.jpg?v=0
Example 2
Fig. 2. 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America Strike, 7 November 2007, from Wikimedia Commons, 17 June 2008 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Writers_Guild_of_America_strike.png
