In most cases, an image should have a caption which includes a citation.
Example caption and citation for an image identified in your reference list:
Example caption and citation for an image when only the source is identified in your reference list:
A citation and reference is the minimum requirement for identifying your sources when using images. Many images are subject to copyright and licence restrictions. You should make sure that you use images appropriately and that you acknowledge them as required by licence conditions. For more information see our Copyright guidance.
Referencing and acknowledgement are often used interchangeably and this can cause confusion when using images in your creative work. In this guide we make the distinction between acknowledging the images you use (often part of the terms and conditions of using a copyright cleared image) and referencing and citing your sources, an essential part of academic writing.
How you reference an image will depend on where you found it and who has created it.
The image is by the creator of the book, article or website where you found it
If the creator of the image is not identified assume that it is by the creator of the book, article or website where you found it.
The creator of the image is different from the creator of the work where you found it
If you are only using a single image from a book you can reference it in a similar way to a chapter in an edited book:
You can also follow the pattern for a secondary reference. Identify the creator of the image in your text and reference the source in the normal way. This is useful if the source is not a book or if you are using more than just a single image from a source.
Examples in this table are selected to show how to cite and reference names. The approach to names is the same for all types of reference and you will see different types of reference from the main example at the top of the page.
| Citation | Reference | |
|---|---|---|
|
One author Cite and reference the author |
Phillips (2006) or (Phillips, 2006) |
Philips, D. (2006). Quality of life: Concept, policy and practice. London: Routledge. |
|
Two authors Cite and reference both authors |
Kimball and Ross (2002) or (Kimball & Ross, 2002) |
Kimball, R., & Ross, M. (2002). The data warehouse toolkit: The complete guide to dimensional modeling. New York: Wiley. |
|
Three, four or five authors Cite all authors in the first citation.
Subsequent citations should include the first author followed by et al. In your reference include all the authors. |
Bott, Coleman, Eaton and Rowland (2001) or (Bott, Coleman, Eaton & Rowland, 2001) Bott et al. (2001) or (Bott et al., 2001) |
Bott, F., Coleman, A., Eaton, J., & Rowland, D. (2001). Professional issues in software engineering (3rd ed.). London: Taylor and Francis. |
|
Six or seven authors Cite the first author followed by et al. and in your reference include all the authors. |
Shepperd et al. (2009) or (Shepperd et al., 2009) |
Shepperd, S., Doll, H., Gowers, S., James, A., Frazel, M., Fitzpatrick, R., & Pollock, J. (2009). Alternatives to inpatient mental health care for children and young people. The Cochrane Library, (2), article number CD006410. |
|
Eight of more authors Cite the first author followed by et al. In your reference, include the first six authors, followed by ... then add the last author. |
Mali et al. (2013) or (Mali et al.,2013) |
Mali, P., Yang, L., Exvelt, K., Aach, J., Guell, M., Dicarlo, J., ... Church, G. (2013). RNA-guided human genome engineering via Cas9. Science, 339(6121), 823-6. |
Editors
Follow the pattern above for when you have an editor or editors of a work; just remember that in your reference you need to identify them as an editor by putting (Ed) or (Eds) after all of the editors in the reference.
A source can be written by a corporate author such as an organisation or a company, also known as a group author. The corporate author and year should be used in the citation.
| Citation | Reference |
| Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013) or (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2013) | Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013). Free school meals announcement - JRF response. Retrieved from: https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/free-school-meals-announcement-jrf-response |
For instances of more than one corporate authors of a source, treat them as you would two individuals in the reference (i.e., include both). The group author names should not be shortened in the text citation. However, if they are used repeatedly, you might introduce an abbreviation.
If you cannot identify the author(s) of a source, cite it by title and list it under the title in your reference list.
| Citation | Reference | |
|---|---|---|
| Whole work (book) | Dictionary of sports science (2006) or (Dictionary of sports science, 2006) | Dictionary of sports science (2006). London : A. and C. Black. |
| Part of work (chapter, article, document) | "Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite" (2016) or ("Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite", 2016) | Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite (2016). In The modern wedding : From graphics to styling. Berkley CA : Gingko Press. |
