Image Citation: Formats and Best Practices

It is important to understand that an image caption and an image citation are not the same thing. However, you need to have both when using images in your research. An image citation is meant to give attribution to the creator and owner of an image and is listed in the references. A caption is listed next to an image and describes the details of the image as well as the citation information. While there is not a specific format for captions at this time, make sure that you check with your professor/instructor to see if they have any preferences on how you format your captions. Below is an example showing how an image caption differs from an image citation.

The above screenshot shows an example of an image caption. As you can see, the caption in this instance is more of a label that describes the image. There is no attribution information included.

The above screenshot is the APA citation for the image of the brooch with a lock of Edgar Allen Poe's hair. As you can see, you can gather a lot more information from a citation than a caption. The caption helps me identify what an image is, while the citation helps me find the image.