Citing Photographs, Charts, etc. in MLAAlexander College Writing & Learning Centre

March 2015

Figures are graphs, charts, diagrams, illustrations or photographs.

Tables present data in rows and columns. They must be referred to in the body of your

essay.

The Basics

Tables and figures should be placed near the paragraph in which they are mentioned. Generally speaking, if you provide source

information with all of your figures and tables, you do not need to also cite them on the Works Cited page.

The Basics

All entries must be numbered in order, with separate numbers for tables and figures. (Table 1, 2, 3 etc., Figure 1, 2, 3 etc.)

When referring to tables and figures in your essay, use these numbers.

The Basics

The titles appear above the table, flush to the left margin.

Sources for figures and tables are listed in the following way:

Author names are in First_Name—Last_Name format. i.e., they are NOT inverted

Commas separate information in the entry.

Conclude the information with a period at the end of the entry.

Publication information for books (location: publisher, year)

appears in parentheses.

Relevant page numbers follow the publication information.

The Basics

In-Text Citation for an Illustration

Figure 1: Turbine and Generator Wave Machine

Source: Andy Darvill, “How it Works”, Energy Resources: Wave Power, 1 Oct. 2014. http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/wave.htm

In-Text Citation for a Photograph

Figure 2: Lindsey bat Joseph, WLC Co-ordinator

Source: Angharad Williams, August 2009.

Using an illustration in your essay:

Place the photo, illustration, graph, etc. near the place in your essay where the information is being discussed.

Refer to the Photograph in your essay by it’s number: figure 1, figure 2, etc. For Example:

In figure 1 we see how energy is derived from waves through the use of a turbine and generator. This is just one of several ways that we can get energy from waves (Darvill).

Note that ‘figure’ is capitalised in the title of the figures, but not in the in-text citation.

NOTE: the in-text citation here is NOT for the illustration, it is for the information being paraphrased from the website.

In-Text Citation for a Table

School Term

Students Referred

Remediation Completed

Percentage

Summer 2013 20 14 70%

Fall 2013 18 13 72%

Winter 2014 26 15 54%

Spring 2014 32 18 56%

Summer 2014 13 7 54%

Table 1: Remediation Workshop Summary 2013-2014

Source: WLC Mid-Year Report, June 2014 (Alexander College Writing & Learning Centre, Vancouver, BC, 2014).

Using the Table in your essay

Refer to the table in the body of your essay. For example:

Despite the benefits of having an academic alert removed from their student records, the number of students taking the remediation workshop has declined during the past two school terms (see table 1).

Note that ‘table’ is capitalised in the title of the table itself, but not in the in-text citation.