reference a figure in an essay

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APA 7th Referencing Style Guide

• Figures (graphs and images)
• Referencing & APA style
• In-text citation
• Elements of a reference
• Format & examples of a reference list
• Conferences
• Reports & grey literature

General guidelines

From a book, from an article, from a library database, from a website, citing your own work.

• Theses and dissertations
• Audio works
• Films, TV & video
• Visual works
• Computer software, games & apps
• Lecture notes & Intranet resources
• Legal resources
• Personal communications
• PowerPoint slides
• Social media
• Specific health examples
• Standards & patents
• Websites & webpages
• Footnotes and appendices
• Frequently asked questions

A figure may be a chart, a graph, a photograph, a drawing, or any other illustration or nontextual depiction. Any type of illustration or image other than a table is referred to as a figure.

Figure Components

• Number:  The figure number (e.g., Figure 1 ) appears above the figure in bold (no period finishing).
• Title: The figure title appears one double-spaced line below the figure number in Italic Title Case  (no period finishing).
• Image: The image portion of the figure is the chart, graph, photograph, drawing, or illustration itself.
• Legend: A figure legend, or key, if present, should be positioned within the borders of the figure and explain any symbols used in the figure image.
• Note: A note may appear below the figure to describe contents of the figure that cannot be understood from the figure title, image, and/or legend alone (e.g., definitions of abbreviations, copyright attribution). Not all figures include notes. Notes are flush left, non-italicised. If present they begin with Note. (italicised, period ending). The notes area will include reference information if not an original figure, and copyright information as required.

General rules

• In the text, refer to every figure by its number, no italics, but with a capital "F" for "Figure". For example, "As shown in Figure 1, ..." 
• There are two options for the placement of figures in a paper. The first option is to place all figures on separate pages after the reference list. The second option is to embed each figure within the text.
• If you reproduce or adapt a figure from another source (e.g., an image you found on the internet), you should include a copyright attribution in the figure note, indicating the origin of the reproduced or adapted material, in addition to a reference list entry for the work. Include a permission statement (Reprinted or Adapted with permission) only if you have sought and obtained permission to reproduce or adapt material in your figure. A permission statement is not required for material in the public domain or openly licensed material. For student course work, AUT assignments and internal assessments, a permission statement is also not needed, but copyright attribution is still required.
• Important note for postgraduate students and researchers: If you wish to reproduce or adapt figures that you did not create yourself in your thesis, dissertation, exegesis, or other published work, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder/s, unless the figure is in the public domain (copyright free), or licensed for use with a Creative Commons or other open license. Works under a  Creative Commons licence  should be cited accordingly. See Using works created by others for more information. 

Please check the APA style website for an illustration of the basic figure component & placement of figure in a text.

More information & examples from the   APA Style Manual , s. 7.22-7.36,    pp. 225–250

Figure reproduced in your text

Note format - for notes below the figure

In-text citation:

Reference list entry:

Referring to a figure in a book

If you refer to a figure included in a book but do not include it in your text, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry in the usual way, citing the page number where the figure appears.

Note format -  for notes below the figure

Referring to a figure in an article

If you refer to a figure in an article but do not include it in your text, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry in the usual way for an article, citing the page number where the figure appears.

Note format - for notes below the figure

Reference list:

Referring to a figure on a webpage

If you refer to a figure on a webpage and do not include it in your text, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry in the usual way for a webpage,

Not every reference to an artwork needs a reference list entry. For example, if you refer to a famous painting, as below, it would not need a reference.

Finding image details for your figure caption or reference

• clicking on or hovering your mouse over the image
• looking at the bottom of the image
• looking at the URL
• If there is no title, create a short descriptive one yourself and put it in square brackets e.g. [...]
• For more guidance, see Visual works

If it has been formally published reference your work as you would any other published work.

If the work is available on a website reference it as a webpage (see examples in the webpage section ).

Citing your own figures, graphs or images in an assignment:

• Include the title
• Add a note explaining the content. No copyright attribution is required.
• You can, if you wish, add a statement that it is your own work
• You do not need an in-text citation or add it to your reference list
• See example in APA manual p.247, Figure 7.17 Sample photograph

Great Barrier Island 

Note. Photo of Great Barrier Island taken from Orewa at sunrise. Own work.

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Erin Wright Writing

Writing-Related Software Tutorials

How to Reference Tables and Figures in Text

By Erin Wright

Before we begin, let’s define tables and figures.

What Are Tables and Figures?

The definition of tables is quite narrow: tables are collections of data arranged in rows and columns.

But figures have a much broader scope. In fact, figures can be any of the following:

• illustrations (e.g., line drawings, sketches, diagrams)
• artwork (e.g., copies of paintings, etchings, woodcuts)
• charts and graphs (e.g., pie charts, bar graphs, scatter plots)
• samples of written music

*Some publishers don’t use the term figure for maps. 1

Now let’s look at the guidelines for referencing tables and figures in text.

1. Refer to Tables and Figures before They Appear in Your Document

Traditionally, tables and figures should be mentioned in a sentence before they appear in the document. This first reference is important because it helps your readers understand the connection between the tables and figures with the rest of the text.

You can also refer to tables and figures again after they appear in the document, if necessary.

2. Consult Your Style Guide before Capitalizing the Words Table and Figure

The words table and figure are always capitalized in figure captions and table titles . However, our primary style guides conflict on when we should capitalize table and figure in references within sentences.

The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago Style) and the Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook (MLA style) recommend lowercasing the words table and figure within in-sentence references (unless those words appear at the start of a sentence, of course). 2

As shown in figure 12 , widget sales have increased by 500% over the last five years.

Conversely, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) and the American Medical Association’s AMA Manual of Style (AMA style) recommend capitalizing the words table and figure in references within sentences. 3

BigCorp’s products are listed in Table 5 along with pricing, accessories, and delivery options.

If you don’t adhere to a specific guide, choose the style that is most common in your industry or the style you believe will best serve your readers.

3. Include Parenthetical References within Sentences

Parenthetical references to figures and tables should be placed within the related sentence, not as a standalone sentence within parentheses.

Attach the metal legs to the underside of the tabletop (see figure 8) .

The boarding facility records each pet’s favorite foods and toys (see table 10) as well as illnesses and medications (see table 11) .

Capitalization of the words table and figure within parenthetical references will depend on your style guide, as explained in section 2 above.

4. Use Numerals for Table and Figure Numbers

The identification numbers for tables and figures (e.g., table 2, figure 14) should be written as numerals within sentences even if your style guide normally recommends spelling out that number because it falls below ten or 100.

Number sequencing is separate for tables and figures, so you can have a table 1 and a figure 1.

5. Use Caution When Abbreviating the Word Figure

The guidelines vary for abbreviating the word figure as fig ., so proceed carefully if you want to use the abbreviation.

The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) says that the abbreviation fig. can be used—but only in parenthetical references. 4

The artist’s focus shifted perspective in the 1930s (see fig. 5) .

The Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook (MLA style) prefers the abbreviation fig. in all instances. 5 Note that MLA style favors parenthetical references over those integrated directly into sentences (e.g., “As shown in fig. 44, polydactyl cats have six toes”). 6

Scientists have discovered a new plant species in the Midwest (see fig. 7) .

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) and the AMA Manual of Style (AMA style) both appear to be silent on the issue of abbreviating the word figure , so you can safely assume that you should spell out—and capitalize—the word figure in all references if you follow either of those guides. 7

Insert the wooden dowel into part B (see Figure 23) .

If you aren’t sure which style guide to follow, I always suggest Chicago style for general writing and business writing. You can learn more about the differences between our primary style guides in my blog post “ Which Style Guide Is Best for You? ”

Regardless of which guideline you prefer for referencing tables and figures, be sure to maintain a consistent style throughout your document.

Related Resources

How to Cross-Reference Tables and Figures in Microsoft Word

Three Ways to Insert Tables in Microsoft Word

How to Create and Customize Charts in Microsoft Word

How to Insert Figure Captions and Table Titles in Microsoft Word

How to Change the Style of Table Titles and Figure Captions in Microsoft Word

How to Update Table and Figure Numbers in Microsoft Word

How to Create and Update a List of Tables or Figures in Microsoft Word

• The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 3.5.
• “Tables and Illustrations,” Formatting a Research Paper, The MLA Style Center, accessed March 5, 2019, https://style.mla.org/formatting-papers/#tablesandillustrations ; The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 3.9, 3.50.
• AMA Manual of Style , 10th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 378; Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 7.5.
• The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 3.9.
• Sample Papers in MLA Style, accessed March 5, 2019, https://style.mla.org/sample-papers/ . See the second example paper titled “Second-year course in African American Studies”; “Tables and Illustrations,” Formatting a Research Paper, The MLA Style Center, accessed March 5, 2019, https://style.mla.org/formatting-papers/#tablesandillustrations.
• “MLA Tables, Figures, and Examples,” Purdue Online Writing Lab, accessed March 5, 2019, http://bit.ly/2FNG1AB .
• AMA Manual of Style , 10th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 81–122; Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 7.5.
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Referencing style - APA 7th: Images, tables and figures

• Introduction
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APA examples: Images, tables and figures

All images, figures and tables referred to in the text or reproduced in an essay, assignment or presentation, must be cited and included in your reference list. 

See this guides images, figures and tables tab to view how the attribution of these examples below are treated within the text. 

See  APA Style examples, Clip Art Image and  Artwork References  for general notes and more examples. 

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APA 7th referencing style

• About APA 7th
• Printing this guide
• In-text references
• Direct quotations
• Reference list
• Author information
• Additional referencing information
• Using headings
• Book chapter
• Brochure and pamphlets
• ChatGPT and other generative AI tools
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Referencing figures

Figure caption format.

• Government legislation
• Journal article
• Lecture notes and slides
• Legal sources
• Newspaper or magazine article
• Other web sources
• Patents and standards
• Personal communication
• Press (media) release
• Secondary source (indirect citation)
• Social media
• Software and mobile apps
• Specialised health information
• Television program
• Works in non-English languages
• Works in non-English scripts, such as Arabic or Chinese
• Each figure needs to be numbered in the order in which they appear in the document.
• If a figure is being reproduced for inclusion in a work which is being published, you must seek permission from the copyright holder . This permission must also be included in the caption.
• Each figure must have a figure number in bold font above the figure.
• Figure setup.
• Provide each figure with a brief explanatory title. Capitalize the figure title in italic title case. Place title one double spaced line below the figure number.
• A caption should be included the bottom of the figure to acknowledge that the figure has been reproduced from another source.
• Include the full reference in the reference list.
• Examples of figures with copyright attributions.

Journal Article

Book chapter.

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How to Cite Figures in APA

Last Updated: April 4, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 191,310 times. Learn more...

Figures like a chart, graph, or image are great sources when you want to support your ideas in an essay or paper. You may need to cite figures in APA for an essay or paper for a class. Whether you are citing a figure from a book, an article, or a website, you can create a citation and format it properly in APA in just a few simple steps.

Creating the Citation

• For example, if the figure is the first figure to appear in the paper, you would start the citation with, “ Figure 1 .” If the figure is the fourth figure to appear in the paper, the citation would start with, “ Figure 4 .”

• For example, if you are citing a graph with statistics, you may write, “Graph of statistics on household income in Canada in 2010.” Or if you are citing an image, you may write, “Black and white photograph of Martha Graham in the Vienna Performance Hall.”

• For example, you may write in a citation for a book, “Reprinted from The Life of Martha Graham (p 84).”
• For a citation for an article, you may write, “Adapted from ‘Statistics Canada Reveals Shift in Census.’”
• If you are citing a figure from a website, you may write, “Reprinted from The Huffington Post.”

• For example, you may write, “...by K.L. Lee” or “...by B. Lork and M. Casper.”

• If you are using an article reference, include the year the article was published as well as the name of the journal and the number of the volume where the article appears in italics. List the page number where you found the figure in the article as well.
• For example, you may write, “2017, Statistics Canada , 56 , p. 103” or “2002, Children Today , 14 , p. 90.”
• If the reference is a website, note the year the figure was published on the website, if available. If it is not available, use “n.d.” for “no date.” Then, note, “Retrieved from” and the URL of the website.
• For example, you may write, “2008, Retrieved from http://www.statisticscanada.com” or “n.d., Retrieved from http://www.childrentoday.org.”

• For example, you may write, “Copyright 217 by the Statistics Canada Bureau” or “Copyright 2012 by the Children Choice Organization.”
• If you cannot find copyright information for the figure, you can leave this information out.

• A complete citation for a figure from a book would be: “ Figure 1 . Black and white photograph of Martha Graham in the Vienna Performance Hall. Reprinted from The Life of Martha Graham (p 84), by K.L. Lee, 2008, New York, NY: Homer Press. Copyright 2008 by the Modern Dance School.”
• A complete citation for a figure from an article would be: “ Figure 4 . Graph of statistics on household income in Canada in 2010. Adapted from ‘Statistics Canada Reveals Shift in Census,’ by B.Lork and M.Casper, 2017, Statistics Canada , 56 , p. 103. Copyright 217 by the Statistics Canada Bureau.”
• A complete citation for a figure from a website would be: “ Figure 6 . Drawing of a child playing with plastic toys. Reprinted from Children Today, n.d., Retrieved from https://www.childrentoday.org/ . Copyright 2008 by Joan Lee.”

Formatting the Citation

• For example, you may write, “ Figure 4 . Graph of statistics on household income in Canada in 2010. Adapted from ‘Statistics Canada Reveals Shift in Census,’ by B.Lork and M.Casper, 2017, Statistics Canada , 56 , p. 103. Copyright 217 by the Statistics Canada Bureau. Reprinted with permission.”

• For example, a citation in your Reference List for a book would be, "Lee, K.L. 2008. The Life of Martha Graham. New York, NY: Homer Press."

Community Q&A

• You can also cite figures in MLA style for an essay, paper, or class. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/cite-write/citation-style-guides/apa/tables-figures
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_tables_and_figures.html
• ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/image-figure
• ↑ https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th/figures
• ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/c.php?g=27779&p=170358
• ↑ http://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing/apa-tables-figures
• ↑ https://ggu.libguides.com/c.php?g=106881&p=694051

About This Article

To cite a figure in APA, start by inserting the figure into your paper and placing the citation right below it. Begin each citation with “Figure” and the number of the figure in italics. Next, include a brief explanation of what the figure refers to, such as “Graph of statistics on household income in 2010.” Then, write “Reprinted from,” followed by the source and page number where you found the figure. Additionally, include the author’s first and last name, if applicable, and the copyright information. To learn how to cite the source of a figure in your paper’s reference list, keep reading. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Harvard Referencing

• Summarising/Paraphrasing
• Citations/Direct Quotations
• Books (print or online)
• Electronic Journal Article
• Website/Web Document
• Journal/Magazine Article
• Academic publications
• Audiovisual material
• News Article (print or online)
• Figures/Tables
• Public documents
• Performance
• Reference List Example
• More Information

Figures & Graphs

Figures include diagrams and all types of graphs. An i m a ge,  photo, illustration or screenshot  displayed for scientific purposes is classed as a figure.

All figures in your paper must be referred to in the main body of the text. At the bottom of the figure is the title, explaining what the figure is showing and  the legend, i.e. an explanation of what the symbols, acronyms or  colours  mean.

In-text citation:

The in-text reference is placed beneath the legend and title with the heading 'Figure' and starts with a sequential figure number (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2). 

Figure 1: PHYSICAL PRODUCTION, selected commodities, Australia, 2010-11 to 2015-16 ( Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017)

If the source is from a book or journal (print or electronic) or from a web document with page numbers, add the page number to the in-text citation. 

If the figure is altered in any way from the original source, add 'Modified from source', eg.

(Modified from source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017)

In main text:

Production of sugar in Australia was estimated at 34 million tonnes in 2015-16 (Figure 1). 

Reference list:

References should be listed in the Harvard Referencing Style according to format. 

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017, Crops and plantations , Retrieved: 24 February, 2018 from  http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Latestproducts/4632.0.55.001Main%20Features302015-16?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4632.0.55.001&issue=2015-16&num=&view=

Tables are numerical values or text displayed in rows and columns.

Each table should be displayed with a brief explanatory title at the top. 

Number all tables in the order they appear in the text.

Table 27.4 Immunity to selected bacterial infections

( Source: Knox et al. 2014, p. 669. )

If the table is altered in any way from the original source, add 'Modified from source'.

(Modified from source: Knox et al.  2014,  p. 669. )

Some bacteria, like those that cause tuberculosis, have evolved the means of surviving and living within phagocytic macrophages (Table 27.4). 

As Table 27.4 shows, some bacteria , like those that cause tuberculosis, have evolved the means of surviving an d living within phagocytic macrophages. 

Knox, B., Ladiges, P., Evans, B. & Saint, R. 2014,  Biology: an Australian focus , 5th edn,  McGraw-Hill Education, North Ryde, NSW.

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Capstone Form and Style

Tables and figures: figures.

In APA style, a figure is any representation of information that does not use rows and columns (e.g., a line graph, map, or photograph).

Keep the following in mind when including a figure in your capstone manuscript:

• The figure number, in bold text, belongs above the figure, flush left.
• The figure title belongs one double-spaced line below the figure number. The title should be in title case and italics. The title is double-spaced unless it is more than one line long (in which case, it is single-spaced).
• Color can be used in the figure if it is necessary for understanding the material. See APA 7, Section 7.26 for guidelines.
• Notes can appear below the figure to describe the contents of the figure that cannot be understood from the figure title (e.g., definitions of abbreviations, explanations of shading, and citations).
• If you are using data from a source in your figure, be sure to cite the source underneath the figure description. See our page on Citing Sources for Tables and Figures for examples.

For more on figures, see APA 7, Sections 7.22-7.36. (Note that APA 6 recommend significantly different formatting of the figure number and title.)

Examples of Figures

In this example, the writer created the figure using statistics from a journal article.

Clergy Demographics of Study Participants

Note. From “Predicting the Mental Health Literacy of Clergy: An Informational Resource for Counselors,” by J. D. Vermaas, J. Green, M. Haley, and L. Haddock, 2017,  Journal of Mental Health Counseling ,  39 (3), p. 231.

The following is an example of a figure the writer created from their own original data.

Number of Hours of Television Watched Per Week by Age Group

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MLA Tables, Figures, and Examples

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

The purpose of visual materials or other illustrations is to enhance the audience's understanding of information in the document and/or awareness of a topic. Writers can embed several types of visuals using most basic word processing software: diagrams, musical scores, photographs, or, for documents that will be read electronically, audio/video applications. Because MLA style is most often used in the humanities, it is unlikely that you will include raw scientific data in an MLA-style paper, but you may be asked to include other kinds of research in your writing. For additional information on writing a research paper in MLA style, visit the MLA Style Center’s page on Formatting a Research Paper .

General guidelines

• Collect sources. Gather the source information required for MLA documentation for the source medium of the illustration (e.g. print, Web, podcast).
• Determine what types of illustrations best suit your purpose. Consider the purpose of each illustration, how it contributes to the purpose of the document and the reader's understanding, and whether the audience will be able to view and/or understand the illustration easily.
• Use illustrations of the best quality. Avoid blurry, pixilated, or distorted images for both print and electronic documents. Often pixelation and distortion occurs when writers manipulate image sizes. Keep images in their original sizes or use photo editing software to modify them. Reproduce distorted graphs, tables, or diagrams with spreadsheet or publishing software, but be sure to include all source information. Always represent the original source information faithfully and avoid unethical practices of false representation or manipulation  (this is considered plagiarism) .
• Use illustrations sparingly. Decide what items can best improve the document's ability to augment readers' understanding of the information, appreciation for the subject, and/or illustration of the main points. Do not provide illustrations for illustrations' sake. Scrutinize illustrations for how potentially informative or persuasive they can be.
• Do not use illustrations to boost page length. In the case of student papers, instructors often do not count the space taken up by visual aids toward the required page length of the document. Remember that texts explain, while illustrations enhance. Illustrations cannot carry the entire weight of the document.

Labels, captions, and source information

Illustrations appear directly embedded in the document, except in the case of manuscripts that are being prepared for publication. (For preparing manuscripts with visual materials for publication, see Note on Manuscripts below.) Each illustration must include a label, a number, a caption and/or source information.

• The illustration label and number should always appear in two places:  the document main text (e.g. see fig. 1 ) and near the illustration itself ( Fig. 1 ).
• Captions  provide titles or explanatory notes (e.g., Van Gogh’s The Starry Night)
• Source information  documentation will always depend upon the medium of the source illustration. If you provide source information with all of your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

MLA documentation for tables, figures, and examples

MLA provides three designations for document illustrations: tables, figures, and examples (see specific sections below).

• Refer to the table and its corresponding numeral in-text. Do not capitalize the word table. This is typically done in parentheses (e.g. "(see table 2)").
• Situate the table near the text to which it relates.
• Align the table flush-left to the margin.
• Label the table 'Table' and provide its corresponding Arabic numeral. No punctuation is necessary after the label and number (see example below).
• On the next line, provide a caption for the table, most often the table title. Use title case.
• Place the table below the caption, flush-left, making sure to maintain basic MLA style formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
• Below the title, signal the source information with the descriptor "Source," followed by a colon, then provide the correct MLA bibliographic information for the source in note form (see instructions and examples above). If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.
• If additional caption information or explanatory notes is necessary, use lowercase letters formatted in superscript in the caption information or table. Below the source information, indent, provide a corresponding lowercase letter (not in superscript), a space, and the note.
• Labels, captions, and notes are double-spaced.

Table Example

In-text reference:

In 1985, women aged 65 and older were 59% more likely than men of the same age to reside in a nursing home, and though 11,700 less women of that age group were enrolled in 1999, men over the same time period ranged from 30,000 to 39,000 persons while women accounted for 49,000 to 61,500 (see table 1).

Table reference:

Rate of Nursing Home Residence among People Age 65 or Older, by Sex and Age Group, 1985, 1995, 1997, 1999 a

Example Table

Source: Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, Older Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being , Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, Mar. 2008, table 35A.

a. Note: Rates for 65 and over category are age-adjusted using the 2000 standard population. Beginning in 1997, population figures are adjusted for net underenumeration using the 1990 National Population Adjustment Matrix from the U.S. Census Bureau. People residing in personal care or domiciliary care homes are excluded from the numerator.

• All visuals/illustrations that are not tables or musical score examples (e.g. maps, diagrams, charts, videos, podcasts, etc.) are labeled Figure or Fig.
• Refer to the figure in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that corresponds to the figure. Do not capitalize figure or fig .
• MLA does not specify alignment requirements for figures; thus, these images may be embedded as the reader sees fit. However, continue to follow basic MLA Style formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
• Below the figure, provide a label name and its corresponding arabic numeral (no bold or italics), followed by a period (e.g. Fig. 1.). Here, Figure and Fig . are capitalized.
• Beginning with the same line as the label and number, provide a title and/or caption as well as relevant source information in note form (see instructions and examples above). If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.
• If full citation information is provided in the caption, use the same formatting as you would for your Works Cited page. However, names should be listed in  first name last name  format.

Figure Example

Some readers found Harry’s final battle with Voldemort a disappointment, and recently, the podcast, MuggleCast debated the subject (see fig. 2).

Figure caption (below an embedded podcast file for a document to be viewed electronically):

Fig. 2. Harry Potter and Voldemort final battle debate from Andrew Sims et al.; “Show 166”; MuggleCast ; MuggleNet.com, 19 Dec. 2008, www.mugglenet.com/2015/11/the-snape-debate-rowling-speaks-out.

Musical Illustrations/"Examples"

• The descriptor "Example" only refers to musical illustrations (e.g. portions of a musical score). It is often abbreviated "ex ." 
• Refer to the example in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that corresponds to the example. Do not capitalize "example" or "ex "  in the text.
• Supply the illustration, making sure to maintain basic MLA Style formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
• Below the example, provide the label (capitalizing Example or Ex . ) and number and a caption or title. The caption or title will often take the form of source information along with an explanation, for example, of what part of the score is being illustrated. If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

Musical Illustration Example

In Ambroise Thomas's opera Hamlet,  the title character's iconic theme first appears in Act 1. As Hamlet enters the castle's vacant grand hall following his mother's coronation, the low strings begin playing the theme (ex 1).

Musical Illustration reference:

Ex. 1: Hamlet's Theme

Source: Thomas, Ambroise. Hamlet . 1868.

Source information and note form

Notes serve two purposes: to provide bibliographic information and to provide additional context for information in the text. When it comes to citing illustrations, using notes allows for the bibliographic information as close to the illustration as possible.

Note form entries appear much like standard MLA bibliographic entries with a few exceptions:

• Author names are in First_Name—Last_Name format.
• Commas are substituted for periods (except in the case of the period that ends the entry).
• Publication information for books (publisher, year) appears in parentheses.
• Relevant page numbers follow the publication information.

Note: Use semicolons to denote entry sections when long series of commas make these sections difficult to ascertain as being like or separate (see examples below.) The MLA Handbook  (8 th ed.) states that if the table or illustration caption provides complete citation information about the source and the source is not cited in the text, authors do not need to list the source in the Works Cited list.

For additional information, visit the MLA Style Center’s page on Using Notes in MLA Style .

Examples - Documenting source information in "Note form"

The following examples provide information on how a note might look following an illustration. Write the word “Source” immediately before your source note. If an illustration requires more than one note, label additional notes with lowercase letters, starting with a (see the note underneath the example table above).

Tom Shachtman, Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold  (Houghton Mifflin, 1999), p. 35.

Website (using semicolons to group like information together)

United States; Dept. of Commerce; Census Bureau; Manufacturing, Mining, and Construction Statistics; Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits ; US Dept. of Commerce, 5 Feb. 2008; Table 1a.

In this example, the commas in Manufacturing, Mining, and Construction Statistics prompt the need for semicolons in order for the series information to be read easily. Even if Manufacturing, Mining, and Construction Statistics had not appeared in the entry, the multiple "author names" of United States, Dept. of Commerce, and Census Bureau would have necessitated the use of a semicolon before and after the title and between ensuing sections to the end of the entry.

Furthermore, the publisher and date in a standard entry are separated by a comma and belong together; thus, their inclusion here (US Dept. of Commerce, 5 Feb. 2008) also necessitates the semicolons.

Note on manuscripts

Do not embed illustrations (tables, figures, or examples) in manuscripts for publication. Put placeholders in the text to show where the illustrations will go. Type these placeholders on their own line, flush left, and bracketed (e.g. [table 1]). At the end of the document, provide label, number, caption, and source information in an organized list. Send files for illustrations in the appropriate format to your editor separately. If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

Figures and Charts

What this handout is about.

This handout will describe how to use figures and tables to present complicated information in a way that is accessible and understandable to your reader.

Do I need a figure/table?

When planning your writing, it is important to consider the best way to communicate information to your audience, especially if you plan to use data in the form of numbers, words, or images that will help you construct and support your argument.  Generally speaking, data summaries may take the form of text, tables or figures. Most writers are familiar with textual data summaries and this is often the best way to communicate simple results. A good rule of thumb is to see if you can present your results clearly in a sentence or two. If so, a table or figure is probably unnecessary. If your data are too numerous or complicated to be described adequately in this amount of space, figures and tables can be effective ways of conveying lots of information without cluttering up your text. Additionally, they serve as quick references for your reader and can reveal trends, patterns, or relationships that might otherwise be difficult to grasp.

So what’s the difference between a table and a figure anyway?

Tables present lists of numbers or text in columns and can be used to synthesize existing literature, to explain variables, or to present the wording of survey questions. They are also used to make a paper or article more readable by removing numeric or listed data from the text. Tables are typically used to present raw data, not when you want to show a relationship between variables.

Figures are visual presentations of results. They come in the form of graphs, charts, drawings, photos, or maps.  Figures provide visual impact and can effectively communicate your primary finding. Traditionally, they are used to display trends and patterns of relationship, but they can also be used to communicate processes or display complicated data simply.  Figures should not duplicate the same information found in tables and vice versa.

Using tables

Tables are easily constructed using your word processor’s table function or a spread sheet program such as Excel. Elements of a table include the Legend or Title, Column Titles, and the Table Body (quantitative or qualitative data). They may also include subheadings and footnotes. Remember that it is just as important to think about the organization of tables as it is to think about the organization of paragraphs. A well-organized table allows readers to grasp the meaning of the data presented with ease, while a disorganized one will leave the reader confused about the data itself, or the significance of the data.

Title: Tables are headed by a number followed by a clear, descriptive title or caption. Conventions regarding title length and content vary by discipline. In the hard sciences, a lengthy explanation of table contents may be acceptable. In other disciplines, titles should be descriptive but short, and any explanation or interpretation of data should take place in the text. Be sure to look up examples from published papers within your discipline that you can use as a model. It may also help to think of the title as the “topic sentence” of the table—it tells the reader what the table is about and how it’s organized. Tables are read from the top down, so titles go above the body of the table and are left-justified.

Column titles: The goal of column headings is to simplify and clarify the table, allowing the reader to understand the components of the table quickly. Therefore, column titles should be brief and descriptive and should include units of analysis.

Table body: This is where your data are located, whether they are numerical or textual. Again, organize your table in a way that helps the reader understand the significance of the data. Be sure to think about what you want your readers to compare, and put that information in the column (up and down) rather than in the row (across). In other words, construct your table so that like elements read down, not across. When using numerical data with decimals, make sure that the decimal points line up. Whole numbers should line up on the right.

Other table elements

Tables should be labeled with a number preceding the table title; tables and figures are labeled independently of one another. Tables should also have lines demarcating different parts of the table (title, column headers, data, and footnotes if present). Gridlines or boxes should not be included in printed versions. Tables may or may not include other elements, such as subheadings or footnotes.

Quick reference for tables

Tables should be:

• Centered on the page.
• Numbered in the order they appear in the text.
• Referenced in the order they appear in the text.
• Labeled with the table number and descriptive title above the table.
• Labeled with column and/or row labels that describe the data, including units of measurement.
• Set apart from the text itself; text does not flow around the table.

Table 1. Physical characteristics of the Doctor in the new series of Doctor Who

Table 2. Physical characteristics of the Doctor in the new series of Doctor Who

Using figures

Figures can take many forms. They may be graphs, diagrams, photos, drawings, or maps. Think deliberately about your purpose and use common sense to choose the most effective figure for communicating the main point. If you want your reader to understand spatial relationships, a map or photograph may be the best choice. If you want to illustrate proportions, experiment with a pie chart or bar graph. If you want to illustrate the relationship between two variables, try a line graph or a scatterplot (more on various types of graphs below). Although there are many types of figures, like tables, they share some typical features: captions, the image itself, and any necessary contextual information (which will vary depending on the type of figure you use).

Figure captions

Figures should be labeled with a number followed by a descriptive caption or title. Captions should be concise but comprehensive. They should describe the data shown, draw attention to important features contained within the figure, and may sometimes also include interpretations of the data. Figures are typically read from the bottom up, so captions go below the figure and are left-justified.

The most important consideration for figures is simplicity. Choose images the viewer can grasp and interpret clearly and quickly. Consider size, resolution, color, and prominence of important features. Figures should be large enough and of sufficient resolution for the viewer to make out details without straining their eyes. Also consider the format your paper will ultimately take. Journals typically publish figures in black and white, so any information coded by color will be lost to the reader.  On the other hand, color might be a good choice for papers published to the web or for PowerPoint presentations. In any case, use figure elements like color, line, and pattern for effect, not for flash.

Additional information

Figures should be labeled with a number preceding the table title; tables and figures are numbered independently of one another. Also be sure to include any additional contextual information your viewer needs to understand the figure. For graphs, this may include labels, a legend explaining symbols, and vertical or horizontal tick marks. For maps, you’ll need to include a scale and north arrow. If you’re unsure about contextual information, check out several types of figures that are commonly used in your discipline.

Quick reference for figures

Figures should be:

• Labeled (under the figure) with the figure number and appropriate descriptive title (“Figure” can be spelled out [“Figure 1.”] or abbreviated [“Fig. 1.”] as long as you are consistent).
• Referenced in the order they appear in the text (i.e. Figure 1 is referenced in the text before Figure 2 and so forth).
• Set apart from the text; text should not flow around figures.

Every graph is a figure but not every figure is a graph. Graphs are a particular set of figures that display quantitative relationships between variables. Some of the most common graphs include bar charts, frequency histograms, pie charts, scatter plots, and line graphs, each of which displays trends or relationships within and among datasets in a different way. You’ll need to carefully choose the best graph for your data and the relationship that you want to show. More details about some common graph types are provided below. Some good advice regarding the construction of graphs is to keep it simple. Remember that the main objective of your graph is communication. If your viewer is unable to visually decode your graph, then you have failed to communicate the information contained within it.

Pie charts are used to show relative proportions, specifically the relationship of a number of parts to the whole. Use pie charts only when the parts of the pie are mutually exclusive categories and the sum of parts adds up to a meaningful whole (100% of something). Pie charts are good at showing “big picture” relationships (i.e. some categories make up “a lot” or “a little” of the whole thing). However, if you want your reader to discern fine distinctions within your data, the pie chart is not for you. Humans are not very good at making comparisons based on angles. We are much better at comparing length, so try a bar chart as an alternative way to show relative proportions. Additionally, pie charts with lots of little slices or slices of very different sizes are difficult to read, so limit yours to 5-7 categories.

The chart shows the relative proportion of fifteen elements in Martian soil, listed in order from “most” to “least”: oxygen, silicon, iron, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, aluminum, sodium, potassium, chlorine, helium, nitrogen, phosphorus, beryllium, and other. Oxygen makes up about ⅓ of the composition, while silicon and iron together make up about ¼. The remaining slices make up smaller proportions, but the percentages aren’t listed in the key and are difficult to estimate. It is also hard to distinguish fifteen colors when comparing the pie chart to the color coded key.

The chart shows the relative proportion of five leisure activities of Venusian teenagers (tanning, trips to Mars, reading, messing with satellites, and stealing Earth cable). Although each of the five slices are about the same size (roughly 20% of the total), the percentage of Venusian teenagers engaging in each activity varies widely (tanning: 80%, trips to Mars: 40%, reading: 12%, messing with satellites: 30%, stealing Earth cable: 77%). Therefore, there is a mismatch between the labels and the actual proportion represented by each activity (in other words, if reading represents 12% of the total, its slice should take up 12% of the pie chart area), which makes the representation inaccurate. In addition, the labels for the five slices add up to 239% (rather than 100%), which makes it impossible to accurately represent this dataset using a pie chart.

Bar graphs are also used to display proportions. In particular, they are useful for showing the relationship between independent and dependent variables, where the independent variables are discrete (often nominal) categories. Some examples are occupation, gender, and species. Bar graphs can be vertical or horizontal. In a vertical bar graph the independent variable is shown on the x axis (left to right) and the dependent variable on the y axis (up and down). In a horizontal one, the dependent variable will be shown on the horizontal (x) axis, the independent on the vertical (y) axis. The scale and origin of the graph should be meaningful. If the dependent (numeric) variable has a natural zero point, it is commonly used as a point of origin for the bar chart. However, zero is not always the best choice. You should experiment with both origin and scale to best show the relevant trends in your data without misleading the viewer in terms of the strength or extent of those trends.

The graph shows the number of male and female spaceship crew members for five different popular television series: Star Trek (1965), Battlestar (1978), Star Trek: TNG (1987), Stargate SG-1 (1997), and Firefly (2002). Because the television series are arranged chronologically on the x-axis, the graph can also be used to look for trends in these numbers over time.

Although the number of crew members for each show is similar (ranging from 9 to 11), the proportion of female and male crew members varies. Star Trek has half as many female crew members as male crew members (3 and 6, respectively), Battlestar has fewer than one-fourth as many female crew members as male crew members (2 and 9, respectively), Star Trek: TNG has four female crew members and six male crew members, Stargate SG-1 has less than one-half as many female crew members as male crew members (3 and 7, respectively), and Firefly has four female and five male crew members.

Frequency histograms/distributions

Frequency histograms are a special type of bar graph that show the relationship between independent and dependent variables, where the independent variable is continuous, rather than discrete. This means that each bar represents a range of values, rather than a single observation. The dependent variables in a histogram are always numeric, but may be absolute (counts) or relative (percentages). Frequency histograms are good for describing populations—examples include the distribution of exam scores for students in a class or the age distribution of the people living in Chapel Hill. You can experiment with bar ranges (also known as “bins”) to achieve the best level of detail, but each range or bin should be of uniform width and clearly labeled.

XY scatter plots

Scatter plots are another way to illustrate the relationship between two variables. In this case, data are displayed as points in an x,y coordinate system, where each point represents one observation along two axes of variation. Often, scatter plots are used to illustrate correlation between two variables—as one variable increases, the other increases (positive correlation) or decreases (negative correlation). However, correlation does not necessarily imply that changes in one variable cause changes in the other. For instance, a third, unplotted variable may be causing both. In other words, scatter plots can be used to graph one independent and one dependent variable, or they can be used to plot two independent variables. In cases where one variable is dependent on another (for example, height depends partly on age), plot the independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis, and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis. In addition to correlation (a linear relationship), scatter plots can be used to plot non-linear relationships between variables.

The scatter plot shows the relationship between temperature (x-axis, independent variable) and the number of UFO sightings (y-axis, dependent variable) for 53 separate data points. The temperature ranges from about 0°F and 120°F, and the number of UFO sightings ranges from 1 to 10. The plot shows a low number of UFO sightings (ranging from 1 to 4) at temperatures below 80°F and a much wider range of the number of sightings (from 1 to 10) at temperatures above 80°F. It appears that the number of sightings tends to increase as temperature increases, though there are many cases where only a few sightings occur at high temperatures.

XY line graphs

Line graphs are similar to scatter plots in that they display data along two axes of variation. Line graphs, however, plot a series of related values that depict a change in one variable as a function of another, for example, world population (dependent) over time (independent). Individual data points are joined by a line, drawing the viewer’s attention to local change between adjacent points, as well as to larger trends in the data. Line graphs are similar to bar graphs, but are better at showing the rate of change between two points. Line graphs can also be used to compare multiple dependent variables by plotting multiple lines on the same graph.

Example of an XY line graph:

The line graph shows the age (in years) of the actor of each Doctor Who regeneration for the first through the eleventh regeneration. The ages range from a maximum of about 55 in the first regeneration to a minimum of about 25 in the eleventh regeneration. There is a downward trend in the age of the actors over the course of the eleven regenerations.

General tips for graphs

Strive for simplicity. Your data will be complex. Don’t be tempted to convey the complexity of your data in graphical form. Your job (and the job of your graph) is to communicate the most important thing about the data. Think of graphs like you think of paragraphs—if you have several important things to say about your data, make several graphs, each of which highlights one important point you want to make.

Strive for clarity. Make sure that your data are portrayed in a way that is visually clear. Make sure that you have explained the elements of the graph clearly. Consider your audience. Will your reader be familiar with the type of figure you are using (such as a boxplot)? If not, or if you’re not sure, you may need to explain boxplot conventions in the text. Avoid “chartjunk.” Superfluous elements just make graphs visually confusing. Your reader does not want to spend 15 minutes figuring out the point of your graph.

Strive for accuracy. Carefully check your graph for errors. Even a simple graphical error can change the meaning and interpretation of the data. Use graphs responsibly. Don’t manipulate the data so that it looks like it’s saying something it’s not—savvy viewers will see through this ruse, and you will come off as incompetent at best and dishonest at worst.

How should tables and figures interact with text?

Placement of figures and tables within the text is discipline-specific. In manuscripts (such as lab reports and drafts) it is conventional to put tables and figures on separate pages from the text, as near as possible to the place where you first refer to it. You can also put all the figures and tables at the end of the paper to avoid breaking up the text. Figures and tables may also be embedded in the text, as long as the text itself isn’t broken up into small chunks. Complex raw data is conventionally presented in an appendix. Be sure to check on conventions for the placement of figures and tables in your discipline.

You can use text to guide the reader in interpreting the information included in a figure, table, or graph—tell the reader what the figure or table conveys and why it was important to include it.

When referring to tables and graphs from within the text, you can use:

• Clauses beginning with “as”: “As shown in Table 1, …”
• Passive voice: “Results are shown in Table 1.”
• Active voice (if appropriate for your discipline): “Table 1 shows that …”
• Parentheses: “Each sample tested positive for three nutrients (Table 1).”

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

American Psychological Association. 2010. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Bates College. 2012. “ Almost everything you wanted to know about making tables and figures.” How to Write a Paper in Scientific Journal Style and Format , January 11, 2012. http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWtablefigs.html.

Cleveland, William S. 1994. The Elements of Graphing Data , 2nd ed. Summit, NJ: Hobart Press..

Council of Science Editors. 2014. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers , 8th ed. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

University of Chicago Press. 2017. The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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• FRONT MATTER
• TABLE OF CONTENTS

Textual References to Figures and Tables

When integrating references to figures and tables within your text, follow these guidelines:

• Number figures and tables consecutively in the text, beginning with the number 1. Be sure to number figures and tables separately from each other.
• Capitalize the "t" in "table" and the "f" in "figure" when you refer to a specific table or figure created in your text. (Some journals do not follow this convention, but most do.)
• "Table 3 and 4" is incorrect because each table is a separate entity. If you refer to more than one table or figure at a time, pluralize the reference. "Tables 3 and 4" is correct.
• Introduce figures and tables in your text in logical places and in logical ways. In some cases, it may simply be appropriate to write "see Figure 7" in parentheses at the end of a paragraph that prepared the reader to view the figure; in other cases, it is appropriate to introduce a figure or table at the beginning of the paragraph and build the entire paragraph around it.
• In your body text, always spell out the point that you want your reader to get from your figure or table. Example:

As Figure 8 indicates, the modulus of the transverse direction was always equal to or greater than the modulus of the machine direction.

• Use some of your body text to interpret a table or figure, but only to a sensible degree, and after it is introduced rather than before. When interpreting, avoid needless redundancy. If your pie chart shows percentages for the market distribution of platinum, say, there is no point in your repeating all these percentages in your body text unless you have something meaningful to say about them.
• When a reference to a table or a figure is a sentence subject, match it with an interpretive verb to describe the work that the table or figure performs. Examples:

Figure 2 illustrates the predominant orientation of acicular particles in magnetic storage material. Figure 5 compares two magnetization curves for hard and soft magnetic materials.

• "Show" is generally a safe verb to use to describe a table or figure, but beware of overusing it or using it too loosely. Good alternatives to "show" include "display," "demonstrate," "illustrate," "depict" (for figures), and "list" (for tables). As always, search for the best verb to describe your figure or table. For ideas on active verbs you can use to refer to figures and tables, see the handy table on the " Using Active Verbs " page in chapter 1 of this manual.

• Library Catalogue

Citing tables, figures, and images: Chicago (17th ed) citation guide

On this page.

This guide is based on The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. It provides examples of citations for commonly-used sources, using Notes and bibliography style only . For more detailed information consult directly The Chicago Manual of Style  (17th ed.) [ print ]. 

For the Author-date style, see the  Social sciences/sciences system .

In Chicago Style, the term figure can refer to illustrations or images that are displayed or reproduced separately from the text. Illustrations or images, in this case, can refer to a wide range of visual materials, including photographs, maps, drawings, and charts placed within a text. [ 3.1 ] [ 3.5 ]

Figures can be used to more easily refer to illustrations cited in your writing. This is particularly helpful where there are several cited illustrations. An example of a textual reference to a figure might look like the following: "as figure 2 shows..."; "when comparing figures 3 and 4." The lowercase  figure  should be used when making references to figures in the text. [ 3.9 ]

Figure captions

Captions are usually included immediately below a figure, and provide a text explanation of the visual. [ 3.9 ] The amount of detail in captions can vary from a few words to several sentences. Caption text should, where appropriate, be formatted as complete sentences with capitalization and punctuation. [ 3.21 ]

The titles of works, such as those from which the figures are taken, should be reproduced according to the standard Chicago Style rules, discussed in Chapter 8 of the manual, for notes and textual references. [ 3.22 ]

A credit line, which includes a statement about the figure's source, should be included.  [ 3.29 ] This credit line often appears at the end of a caption. [ 3.30 ]

Figure 4. Frontispiece of Christian Prayers and Meditations (London: John Daye, 1569), showing Queen Elizabeth at prayer in her private chapel. Reproduced by permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Trustees of the Lambeth Palace Library.

Figure 3. Detailed stratigraphy and geochronology of the Dubawnt Supergroup.

Citing figures found in other works

When citing a figure, such as an illustration included within another text, you can include the abbreviation  fig.  to refer to the figure.

     1. First Name Last Name of creator, Title of Work  (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), page number,  figure number.

     1. Kate van Orden, Music, Authorship, and the Book in the First Century of Print (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), 38, fig. 2.

Images are sometimes referred to as illustrations, artwork, or art in the Chicago Style, and refer to images presented separately from text (as opposed to an embedded chart or figure). Images, or illustrations, can come in a range of forms, including charts, maps, line drawings, paintings, and photographs. [ 3.1 ]

• Information about paintings, photographs, sculptures, or other works of art can usually be presented in the text rather than in a note or bibliography. [ 14.235 ]
• If note or bibliography entry is needed, follow the guidelines below. 

     1. First Name Last Name of creator, Title of Work, date of creation or completion, medium, Name of Institution, location (if applicable), URL.

As illustrated in Three Planets Dance over La Sill [1] ,  the phenomenon of 'syzygy' is when celestial bodies align in the sky. 

     1. Yuri Beletsky, Three Planets Dance over La Silla , June 3, 2013, photograph, European Southern Observatory, https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1322a/ .

Incorporating images into the text of your paper

• If you chose to incorporate images into the text of your paper, the image should appear as soon as possible after the first text reference to it. [ 3.8 ]
• Images should bear numbers, and all text references to them should be by the numbers (eg. “as figure 1 shows…”) The word “figure” should be lowercased and fully spelled out, unless in parenthetical references (where “fig” may be used). [ 3.9 ]
• Below the image, the caption will begin with “Figure” or “Fig.” followed by a number and period. (Eg. Figure 1.) [ 3.23 ]
• A caption may consist of a word or two, an incomplete or a complete sentence, several sentences, or a combination. [ 3.21 ]
• Within a caption, most titles (including those for paintings, drawings, photographs, statues, and books) will be capitalized and italicized. [ 3.22 ]
• A brief statement of the source of an illustration, known as a credit line, is usually appropriate and sometimes required by the owner of the illustration.[ 3.29 ]
• A credit line usually appears at the end of a caption, sometimes in parentheses. [ 3.30 ]
• In addition to author, title, publication details, and (occasionally) copyright date, the credit line should include any page or figure number. If the work being credited is listed in the bibliography or reference list, only a shortened form need appear in the credit line [ 3.32 ]
• Illustrations from works in the public domain may be reproduced without permission. For readers’ information, however, a credit line is appropriate. [ 3.35 ]

Chicago in-text citation example

When celestial bodies are in alignment (see fig. 1) it is called syzygy.

*Note: The above formatting is meant as a guideline only. There is no definitive format for a figure caption. For example, see some examples of captions from the Chicago manual:                        

• Figure 1. Frontispiece of  Christian Prayers and Meditations  (London: John Daye, 1569), showing Queen Elizabeth at prayer in her private chapel. Reproduced by permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Trustees of the Lambeth Palace Library.
• Figure 2. Francis Bedford,  Stratford on Avon Church from the Avon, 1860s. Albumen print of collodion negative, 18.8 × 28.0 cm. Rochester, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House.
• Figure 3. The myth that all children love dinosaurs is contradicted by this nineteenth-century scene of a visit to the monsters at Crystal Palace. (Cartoon by John Leech. “Punch’s Almanack for 1855,”  Punch  28 [1855]: 8. Photo courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago.)

Bibliography 

General format.

Last name First name. Title of Work. Date of creation or completion. Medium. Name of Institution. Location (if applicable). URL.

Beletsky, Yuri. Three Planets Dance over La Silla.  June 3, 2013. Photograph. European Southern Observatory. https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1322a/ .

In Chicago Style, a table is defined as list presented as an array with horizontal rows and vertical columns. [ 3.2 ]

When more than one table is included, table numbering is recommended. However, this numbering should be separate from figure/illustration numbering (for example, fig. 1, fig 2., table 1, fig 3.). [ 3.50 ]

References to tables in the text should use the lowercase form of the word table. [ 3.50 ] A numbered table should be included as soon as possible after it is first referenced in the text. [ 3.51 ]

Notes to a table come in several types, and are always included directly below a table. These notes should have a separate numbering scheme from the text notes. [ 3.76 ]

For tables taken from another source, acknowledgement needs to be made in an unnumbered footnotes starting with  Source:  or  Sources:  [ 3.77 ]

Sources: Data from Richard H. Adams Jr., “Remittances, Investment, and Rural Asset Accumulation in Pakistan,” Economic Development and Cultural Change 47, no. 1 (1998): 155–73; David Bevan, Paul Collier, and Jan Gunning, Peasants and Government: An Economic Analysis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), 125–28.

Sources: Data from Adams (1998); Bevan, Collier, and Gunning (1989).

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• How to create an APA Style appendix

How to Create an APA Style Appendix | Format & Examples

Published on October 16, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 9, 2022.

An appendix is a section at the end of an academic text where you include extra information that doesn’t fit into the main text. The plural of appendix is “appendices.”

In an APA Style paper, appendices are placed at the very end, after the reference list .

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Table of contents

Do i need an appendix, appendix format example, organizing and labeling your appendices, frequently asked questions.

You don’t always need to include any appendices. An appendix should present information that supplements the reader’s understanding of your research but is not essential to the argument of your paper . Essential information is included in the main text.

For example, you might include some of the following in an appendix:

• Full transcripts of interviews you conducted (which you can quote from in the main text)
• Documents used in your research, such as questionnaires , instructions, tests, or scales
• Detailed statistical data (often presented in tables or figures )
• Detailed descriptions of equipment used

You should refer to each appendix at least once in the main text. If you don’t refer to any information from an appendix, it should not be included.

When you discuss information that can be found in an appendix, state this the first time you refer to it:

Note that, if you refer to the same interviews again, it’s not necessary to mention the appendix each time.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

The appendix label appears at the top of the page, bold and centered. On the next line, include a descriptive title, also bold and centered.

The text is presented in general APA format : left-aligned, double-spaced, and with page numbers in the top right corner. Start a new page for each new appendix.

The example image below shows how to format an APA Style appendix.

If you include just one appendix, it is simply called “Appendix” and referred to as such in-text:

When more than one appendix is included, they are labeled “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on.

Present and label your appendices in the order they are referred to in the main text.

Labeling tables and figures in appendices

An appendix may include (or consist entirely of) tables and/or figures . Present these according to the same formatting rules as in the main text.

Tables and figures included in appendices are labeled differently, however. Use the appendix’s letter in addition to a number. Tables and figures are still numbered separately and according to the order they’re referred to in the appendix.

For example, in Appendix A, your tables are Table A1, Table A2, etc; your figures are Figure A1, Figure A2, etc.

The numbering restarts with each appendix: For example, the first table in Appendix B is Table B1; the first figure in Appendix C is Figure C1; and so on. If you only have one appendix, use A1, A2, etc.

If you want to refer specifically to a table or figure from an appendix in the main text, use the table or figure’s label (e.g. “see Table A3”).

If an appendix consists entirely of a single table or figure, simply use the appendix label to refer to the table or figure. For example, if Appendix C is just a table, refer to the table as “Appendix C,” and don’t add an additional label or title for the table itself.

An appendix contains information that supplements the reader’s understanding of your research but is not essential to it. For example:

• Interview transcripts
• Questionnaires
• Detailed descriptions of equipment

Something is only worth including as an appendix if you refer to information from it at some point in the text (e.g. quoting from an interview transcript). If you don’t, it should probably be removed.

Appendices in an APA Style paper appear right at the end, after the reference list and after your tables and figures if you’ve also included these at the end.

When you include more than one appendix in an APA Style paper , they should be labeled “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on.

When you only include a single appendix, it is simply called “Appendix” and referred to as such in the main text.

Yes, if relevant you can and should include APA in-text citations in your appendices . Use author-date citations as you do in the main text.

Any sources cited in your appendices should appear in your reference list . Do not create a separate reference list for your appendices.

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Caulfield, J. (2022, August 09). How to Create an APA Style Appendix | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/appendices/

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In-text citation

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Author's surname (Year)

This was seen in an Australian study (Couch 2017)

Couch (2017) suggests that . . .

• List the authors names in the same order as they appear in the article.
• Go to Getting started > In-text citation to view other examples such as multiple authors.

Use tables for exact values and information that is too detailed for the text. Use a table only if there isn't a simpler way to present your content such as a list or a diagram.

Tables should include a caption title row and column headings, information (exact values)

In-text table section

Use Table 1, Table 2 etc to caption tables and refer to them in the text.

See the Style Manual section on tables .

Author A or Name of Agency (Year) Title of data set [data set], Name of Website, accessed DD Month YYYY. URL

National Native Title Tribunal (2014) Native Title determination outcomes [data set], accessed 4 January 2020. data.gov.au/data/dataset/native-title-determination-outcomes

• If no date, use n.d.
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Personal communication and confidential unpublished material

A Author, personal communication, Day Month Year.

A Author, Type of Confidential Unpublished Material, Day Month Year.

M Smith (personal communication, 8 February 2020) wrote . . .

The radiologist's findings were further confirmed (P Alan, radiology report, 6 March 2021) . . .

• Don’t include an entry in the reference list.
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This fan caught Shohei Ohtani’s first HR as a Dodger; hard feelings ensued

LOS ANGELES — It all happened so quickly for Ambar Roman. The lifelong Dodgers fan watched as her husband dove to the ground with others in search of Shohei Ohtani ’s home run ball.

Then Roman looked at the ground, near her feet, and there it was. She picked up the milestone baseball, Ohtani’s historic first with the Dodgers, and pumped her fist in the air.

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“Sitting in the pavilion, you always hope that you’ll be able to catch a ball,” Roman told The Athletic on Thursday. “But never in a million years would I have thought it would have been his ball.”

Within minutes, however, that storybook moment turned into a stressful and chaotic situation that left Roman and particularly her husband, Alexis Valenzuela, feeling pressured and possibly swindled by the Dodgers security staff.

As is customary with significant home run balls, there is a give-and-take negotiation between the team and the fan who catches it. The player will generally trade memorabilia and a meet-and-greet with the player in exchange for a ball that represents a meaningful personal achievement.

In this case, though, Roman and Valenzuela say the security staff separated them, pressured them, and left them little choice but to hand over the baseball for what they considered a low-ball offer. The Dodgers initially dangled two caps signed by Ohtani in exchange for a ball that an auction house representative told The Athletic would be worth at least $100,000.

Roman said the hardball tactics by team officials included the threat of refusing to authenticate the baseball if she decided to take it home. This was no trivial matter: A lack of authentication could significantly reduce the ball’s value, and place the onus on Roman to prove its authenticity.

“We’re not trying to extort anyone. It’s not that we’re money hungry,” Valenzuela said. “It’s just that it’s a special moment, it’s a special ball. I just think it’s fair for it to be equally rewarded.”

“I was just disappointed that a team that I hold so dear pulled a quote-unquote quick one on us.”

They left Dodger Stadium with two signed hats, a signed bat and ball, a slight bump after the opening offer of two signed hats.

They never met or talked to Ohtani, though in Ohtani’s postgame comments on the subject, according to the translation of interpreter Will Ireton, he seemed to suggest either that they had spoken or that they had communicated in some fashion. It was not immediately clear if that was a misunderstanding or if Ohtani was intending to communicate that he had gotten a message to the fan who caught the ball.

“I was able to talk to the fan, and was able to get it back,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “Obviously it’s a very special ball, a lot of feelings toward it, I’m very grateful that it’s back.”

The Dodgers, through a team spokesperson, declined to discuss the fans’ grievances. As for the negotiations, a team official told  The Athletic : “The Dodgers are open to a further conversation with the fan about the transaction.”

The couple is not upset about what they received (or did not receive) as compensation for the valuable baseball. Roman expressed more contentment with what she received, while her husband believes a fairer deal could have been reached.

“They really took advantage of her,” Valenzuela said. “There were a bunch of (security) guys around her. They wouldn’t let me talk to her or give her any advice. There was no way for us to leave. They had her pretty much cornered in the back.”

Soon after the ball landed, a dozen or more security officials came to the couple’s seats. Surrounding fans told the couple to be smart. Many told them not to give the ball up easily. The security official told them they would “reward them” for catching the ball, according to the couple.

Valenzuela said he was kept at a distance from his wife by stadium security guards and told they couldn’t talk to each other. When they got to the Gold Glove Bar, the offer was made to Roman.

“They didn’t want him to influence my decision. At least that’s how I took it,” Roman said of being separated from Valenzuela. “… It was a little pressuring. Especially because it was like, ‘I need you to give me an answer like right now. You gotta make up your mind.’ It was a lot of pressure.”

The initial offer was two signed hats. Roman was overwhelmed, but she did follow up by asking if there was anything else the team could include. They offered to include a bat, and a ball, which she felt pressured to accept.

Those items were brought into the room, and the Ohtani home run ball was taken away. The couple was told they would be escorted out to their car, but eventually decided to exit on their own after the game.

The Dodgers have a memorabilia store at the club level of their ballpark. Within it, as the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday, is a foul ball hit by Ohtani in 2021. The ball is signed. And it is being sold for nearly $15,000. It provides a barometer for just how valuable Ohtani’s first home run ball would be.

This home run ball’s value, at minimum, is $100,000, said Chris Ivey, director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions. Heritage has experience evaluating Ohtani memorabilia. He said the five items that the Dodgers gave the fans would be valued at around $1,000 each.

However, they would need authentication to be sold, and the couple said they did not receive authentication or confirmation that Ohtani actually signed it.

“This has all the ingredients to hit that number ($100,000) and go well beyond it, absolutely,” Ivy said.

Both Roman and Valenzuela are big Dodgers fans. They are 28 years old and live in Whittier, Calif. They met in college, work together at a pipeline company. They will celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary next month. They’d been excited to go to a game and purchased tickets in the pavilion, a regular spot for the pair.

With it all said and done, they are happy that Ohtani has his ball. They agree with the fans who are appreciative of their selfless gesture. He hit the homer. It’s his memento to have.

But the reality is also not lost that the ball is valuable. Valenzuela said he felt as though the team could have shown them the same type of love and respect that they have given the club for years.

“Where was the Dodger love that we see every day, every time we go,” Valenzuela said. “It just disappeared. We were kind of left stranded. It’s not necessarily that we wanted a million. Just something nice. Take care of your fans. Especially when they got something that’s way more valuable.

They wanted to feel as though they had more agency in the process. That they could have discussed it together. And that the team would have offered to authenticate the ball. It felt as though there was a planned and coordinated effort to get them to give up the ball without much discussion or negotiation.

Nothing will take away how special it was to catch it. The moment, as captured on the Dodgers broadcast, was one of pure ecstasy for Roman and Valenzuela. He picked her up in his arms live on television as fans around them celebrated.

That will always be an important part of this story. They love the Dodgers. They love Ohtani. And neither wanted to hold the ball hostage from one of their favorite players.

But what was shown on the cameras was not reflective of the reality that followed for the couple. And they are still trying to reconcile how they were treated and see the positives in how it all played out.

“I don’t regret it,” Roman said. “If I would have kept the ball, what would it have been worth really (without the authentication)? I feel like, this at least, if he retires as a Hall of Famer or anything like that, I have this merch.”

(Top photo of Shohei Ohtani: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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Sam Blum is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Los Angeles Angels. Before joining The Athletic, he was a sports reporter for the Dallas Morning News. Previously, he covered Auburn for AL.com and the University of Virginia for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.

Meta loses top AI figures as Silicon Valley's talent battle continues

• Meta lost three senior AI employees last week, with each announcing their departure on X.
• The departures have come as Big Tech firms battle for top AI talent with chunky pay packages.
• Elon Musk this week dubbed Silicon Valley's talent war as the "craziest" he'd ever seen.

Meta lost three top artificial-intelligence employees last week amid Silicon Valley's ongoing battle for talent.

Devi Parikh , who was Meta's senior director of generative AI, said in an X post last week that she'd left the company after more than seven years.

Erik Meijer , the Instagram owner's senior director of engineering who had led its machine-learning research team Probability , also announced his departure.

He said on X: "Given the incredible competitive pressure in the field, there is really no advantage to be inside a large corp if you want to build cool stuff on top of LLMs."

Meijer added that he planned to "mess around doing independent research and see where it leads."

Abhishek Das , a research scientist who worked on Meta's team for Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR, also departed, saying on X that he was "excited to build something new."

Related stories

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking matters into his own hands to fill the gaps. The Information reported that he'd been attempting to woo researchers from Google's DeepMind to join the company with personal emails.

The report said Meta had even been offering jobs to researchers without first conducting interviews amid a battle for skilled AI workers with big salaries, bonuses, and equity.

Zuhayeer Musa, a cofounder of salary-data site Levels.fyi , told The Wall Street Journal the median compensation package for a machine-learning and AI engineer at Meta was close to $400,000, citing data obtained from 344 people.

Elon Musk hit out at OpenAI this week and said the ChatGPT maker had been "aggressively recruiting" Tesla engineers with big pay offers. He said he was increasing the salaries of Tesla's AI-engineering team as a result.

"The talent war for AI is the craziest talent war I've ever seen!" Musk wrote on X.

The Meta departures follow an exodus of other AI employees in recent years. At least a third of Meta's researchers with published AI work left because of burnout or lack of faith in the company, the Journal reported last June.

Prior to that, a cofounder of Meta's AI lab, Rob Fergus , jumped ship in 2020 to join Google's DeepMind.

Meta didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Watch: Nearly 50,000 tech workers have been laid off — but there's a hack to avoid layoffs

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