There are several components to correctly including figures in your work. If you are discussing figures in your assignment you only need to cite and reference as you would any other source.
If you are including the figure or an adaption of it in your work, you may need to number, title and caption it and/ or provide a list of figures. Check your assessment guidelines to see what is required. There are examples of how to do this in the "Heading and caption" section below.
In-text
Standalone
Use this for figures that exist as separate entities.
Template
(Creator, year)
Examples
Initial plans of Government House (Mines and Works Department, 1988)…
Figures in another source
Use for images that are part of a larger work entity.
Format
(Source creator, year, location if required)
Template for an image from a book
(Book author, year, p. xx)
Example for an image from a book
…illustrating the components of a reference (QUT Library, 2018, p.10)
Template for an image from a website
… (Author/creator, year)
Example for an image from a website
The map of Indigenous Languages (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies & Horton, 1996)…
Reference list
Provide a reference list entry for the source of the figure (i.e. the article/chapter/book/website), not the figure itself.
Examples
Harbison, K. (2014) Ask me about Open Access [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/30196130@N07/15232825544/in/dateposted-public/
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2024). Map of Indigenous Australia https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia#
Duce, K., & Gouldstone, A. (2006). A practical guide to carrying out skin-prick allergy testing. Nursing Times, 102(48), 28-29.
QUT Library. (2018). cite|write. https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/assets/docs/qutcitewrite2018.pdf
Selemani, A., Chawinga, W.D. & Dube, G. (2018). Why do postgraduate students commit plagiarism? An empirical study. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14, Article 7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-018-0029-6
Heading and caption
If you are including the image, or part of it, in your work, you may need to number, title and caption it or provide a list of figures. Check your assessment guidelines to see what is required.
Format
- Number
- Title (if there is no title, make a suitable one and enclose it in square brackets)
- Image
- Note. From (or Adapted from if you have changed the image in any way) followed by the:
- title of the source
- author of source
- year
- page number if relevant
- source details - the components required differ according to the source - they are the same as those required for the source in a reference list.
There are several examples below, but you may need to adapt them for the source of your image.
Template 1: Figure from a Journal Article
Figure #
Title
<image>
Note. From (OR Adapted from) "Title in Title Case" by A. A. Author, Year, Title of Journal, Volume(issue), p. xx (https://xxxxx.xxx)
Example 1: Figure from a Journal Article
Figure 1
Postgraduate students' ability to write academically
Note. From "Why do Postgraduate Students Commit Plagiarism? An Empirical Study" by A. Selemani, W. D. Chawinga, and G. Dube, 2018, International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14, Article 7 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-018-0029-6).
Template 2: Figure from a Webpage
Figure #
Title
<image>
Note. From (OR Adapted from) Title of Webpage in Title Case by A. A. Author, Year (https://xxxxx.xxx)
Example 2: Figure from a Webpage
Figure 2
Government House. Brisbane Queensland.
Note. From Brisbane. Government House - Architectural plans by Mines and Works Department, 1888 (https://qsa-archivessearch.gaiaresources.com.au/items/ITM1110682?digrep=DR25750)
Template 3: Figure from a book
Figure #
Title
<image>
Note. From (OR Adapted from) Title of Book or Report in Title Case by A. A. Author, Year, p. # (location information, publisher or URL)
Example 3: Figure from a book
Figure 3
[Build your own reference]
Note. From Cite|write by QUT Library, 2018, p. 10 (https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/assets/docs/qutcitewrite2018.pdf)
This information is for use in assignments and presentations only. If your work is for publication in any form, you will need to get permission from the copyright owner and include a copyright attribution if you wish to include the image. For more information see the QUT Copyright Guide, the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, and the APA Style Guide for Figures and Tables.
Notes
If there is no attribution directly on the figure, assume author of source material is the author of the figure.
If a figure does not have a title, use a description in square brackets instead.
The reference list refers to the entire article/chapter/book, rather than the figure itself. Use the relevant format for the source.
If you made the image yourself, you do not need to include it in the Reference List, but you will still caption it. Leave out From/Adapted from in this case.
For creative images, use Creative works - Image.