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Referencing images (tables, photos, illustrations etc)

This is for any image from a print source such as a book (a photograph, diagram, illustration, table, figure, etc.). Your reference will just be a reference to the book or other source where you found the image. The citation in your text will be the place that shows this is an image, and as this is an exact quotation from your source, the page number must be included in the citation.

If you are using photographs you took or images you have created, include a wording in the image caption that makes it clear that this is your own work (such as “Source: Author”). There is no need to put anything in the reference list. Your lecturers might ask you to include a list of images after the contents page or as an appendix to the document.

An image reference will look like this:

Creator(s) (Year) Title. Edition. Place of publication (this is optional): Publisher.

Example of reference

Handy, R.L. and Spangler, M.G. (2007) Geotechnical engineering. 5th edition. London: McGraw-Hill.

Example of citing in the text of your work (usually in your caption for the image): Figure from Handy and Spangler (2007: 352) or (Handy and Spangler 2007: 352) – diagram of…

See the section on Citing within the text of written work  for a complete guide to doing your citations.

Here are the full rules about each piece of information:

  1. Creator(s) of the image (family name followed by initials)- this will be the author(s) of the book or article, unless it is specifically credited to someone else.
  2. Year of publication (in round brackets).
  3. Title of book, which must be in italics.
  4. Edition.
  5. (This is optional) City or town of publication:
  6. Publisher.

An image from a journal article should be referenced as a direct quote of information from a journal article, an image from a report should be referenced as a direct quote from a report, etc.

EndNote reference type – use Book for an image for a book, Journal Article for an image from an article, etc

Online images

This is for any image from a website (photograph, diagram, illustration, table, figure, etc.). It is fairly common for websites to copy images from other sources. You should try to find and credit the original creator of the image rather than use secondary referencing. Google’s Reverse Image Search can help with this.

If you can identify that the webpage which has the image is actually a report from a named organisation, you are just doing an exact quotation from a report, so use the Reports and organisational policies template in the Referencing other types of sources section. In the citation for the image, put “Image from… or “Figure from…” and include the page number where the image is found in the report.

Similarly, if you can identify that the webpage is actually an online journal article, use the Electronic journal articles template in the Copyright and Images  section; in the citation for the image in your text, put “Image from… or “Figure from…” and include the page number where the image is found in the article.

An online image reference will look like this:

Creator(s) (Year) Image title. [Image] or [Photograph] (do not use if included in the title). Publisher (this is optional). Web address and date accessed.

Examples of references

Anatomy.tv (2006) Spinal cord. [Image]. http://www.anatomy.tv/start.asp?app=spine&startres=00000&newwin=&framesize=&h=768&w=1024&GuideResId=&GuideIndex=&isStudent/a>= Accessed 18 January 2014.

Internet encyclopedia of science (2008) Blood flow through the heart. [Image]. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/H/heart.html Accessed 21 March 2016.

Example of citing in the text of your work (usually in your caption for the image): Spinal cord diagram, Anatomy.tv (2006).

See the section on Citing within the text of written work  for a complete guide to doing your citations.

Here are the full rules about each piece of information:

  1. Creator(s) of the image. Use family name, followed by initial(s). (If they cannot be identified, give the author or corporate author of the website).
  2. Year of publication (in round brackets).
  3. Title of the image / photograph, which must be in italics (or supply a logical title, for example, Photograph of …).
  4. [Image] or [Photograph], unless that was part of the title.
  5. (This is optional) Publisher of the online image, that is, the organisation that runs the website (if this can be identified).
  6. Web address
  7. “Accessed” followed by the date you looked at the website.

EndNote reference Type – use Web Page, add “Image” or “Photograph” in the Type of Medium section

For guidance on the copyright of images, including Creative Commons images, see our pages on .