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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

Guide to APA citation style using the 7th Edition of the APA Style Manual.

Using visual works in assignments & class presentations

If the image is for use only in an assignment or a PowerPoint presentation, follow the advice in this section.

In text citations

For assignments and presentations that will never be made publicly available you can just use a normal in-text citation in the note section under the image/figure (see the instructions for what to do for a document that is being made publicly available on our page for Theses and Publications). If you are providing a description as part of your note, you can include the citation as (author, date), or if there is no descriptive information you can just state the source of the image is Author (date).

For example:

Note. Photograph of the original painting hanging in the WAMA Gallery (Smith, 2017).

Note. Sourced from Smith (2017).

 

Reference list

Reference the source where the image was obtained from. If an image was viewed in a gallery or online then cite the image directly as a stand alone work. For images included in other sources reference the book, website or journal article that the image came from. 

If the author is the same as the name of the website, omit the name of the website.

Remember to follow the referencing format of the resource you are using (e.g. book, journal article etc.) or include as much information about the image as possible:

  • Author or Creator (author, painter, photographer etc.)
  • Date (normally the date the book/journal/webpage was published, or the date the artwork was created if you are citing original art)
  • Title of the work
  • Material type in square brackets [Photograph] [Clipart] [Online image].
  • Publisher
  • Museum or Institution where the artwork/exhibits is located (if applicable)
  • URL

References for image that come with the software you are using (e.g. PowerPoint, Canva) are not strictly necessary, but acknowledging the source is important to help your lecturers understand what images are and are not your own.

As such, we recommend mentioning that the image you have used was "supplied" by the software. For example, in your Note under the image, you might include:

Note. Image supplied by Microsoft PowerPoint 365

Include the name of the software developer, the software used and the version if possible. If this information is not available, use what you have:

Note. Image supplied by Canva

This would be treated as equivalent to personal communication, and not included in your reference list.

Online images (standalone)

Please note, this is for images that exist as separate entities on the Internet, such as an image in Wikimedia Commons, Flickr, Pixabay, etc.

If the image is included as part of a webpage with other content, cite the webpage as per the example in the box below this one. If it is in a journal article, book or newspaper, cite the source in which it appears

Put the in-text citation in the note under the image/figure.

Format

Author, A. A. or Creator, A. A. (Date). Title of image [Online image]. Publisher. http://www.xxxxx

N.B. the author may be the person who posted the image to the platform, and may be using a screen name.

Examples

Standalone online image (see note above)

Raphael. (2011). Portrait of a woman [Online image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raffaello_Sanzio_-_Portrait_of_a_Woman_-_WGA18948.jpg

Infographic

Chundur, A. (2018). The Mona Lisa: Why do her eyes follow you? [Infographic]. The Leaf. https://shsleaf.org/35480/media/infographics/the-mona-lisa-why-do-her-eyes-follow-you/

Clipart

Hamid, E. (n.d.). Mon-alien-alisa [Clipart]. Vecteezy. https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/7357535-alien-monalisa-illustration

In text

Figure 1

Portrait of a woman by Raphael, 1505-1506.

Portrait of a woman by Raphael

Note. Sourced from Raphael (2011).

 

Figure 2

Infographic: The Mona Lisa: Why do her eyes follow you?

Note. Sourced from Chundur (2018)

Figure 3

Stylized Mona Lisa.

Note. Sourced from Hamid (n.d.)

Online image in a webpage

Please note, this is for images that you found on a web page, and cannot find as a separate entity on the web (e.g. in Flickr or Wikimedia Commons). Just like images that you find in a journal article or book, the source you reference is where the image can be found: i.e., the web page.

Put the in-text citation in the note under the image/figure.

Format

Author, A. A. or Creator, A. A. (Date). Title of image. Publisher. http://www.xxxxx

N.B., if the author and the publisher are the same, skip the publisher.

Examples

Un Jour de Plus à Paris. (n.d.). The tumultuous history of the Mona Lisa. https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-culture/histoire-de-la-joconde

In text

Figure 1

The Mona Lisa in situ

Note. Sourced from Un Jour de Plus à Paris (n.d.).

Image from a journal article

 

Format

Author, A. A. (Date). Title of entry. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page numbers of the whole article. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/xxxx

Examples

Rousset, L., Bernardeschi, C. & Halioua, B. (2019, May). Did Mona Lisa suffer from postpartum thyroiditis? The Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 33(5). e225-e226. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.15412

In text

Figure 2

Close up of Mona Lisa (left eye) by Leonardo da Vinci.

Note. Sourced from Rousset et al. (2019, p. e225).

Image from an eBook

 

Format

Author, A. A. (Date). Title book. Publisher. DOI or http://www.xxxxx (if applicable)

Examples

Kempt, M. (2012). Christ to Coke: How image becomes icon. Oxford University Press.

In text

Figure 3

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

Note. Sourced from Kempt (2012, p. 144).

Clip art or stock image

 

Format

Author A. A. or Creator, A. A. (Date). Title of work [Clipart]. Publisher. http://www.xxxxx

Examples

Wikimedia Foundation. (2009). Stylized Mona Lisa [Clipart]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stylized_Mona_Lisa.svg

In text

Figure 4

Stylized Mona Lisa.

Note. Sourced from Wikimedia Foundation (2010).

When "no attribution is required"?

APA style does not require a citation for images marked as "no attribution required". However, your lecturer may wish for a citation for every source you use in your assignment, including sources that state you can use them without attribution.

Always check with your lecturer for the requirements of your assignment.

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Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.

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