How to Cite an Image or Figure in APA (7th Ed.)
Citing an image or figure in APA 7th edition trips up students more often than almost any other citation type, because it actually demands three distinct formats depending on how you use the image. The official APA Style guidance covers a reference-list entry, an in-text citation, and a separate figure-note copyright attribution for images you reproduce in your own document. Get any one of those wrong and your instructor or journal reviewer notices immediately. This walkthrough shows you the exact format for each scenario, with worked examples for the four most common source types.
The Three Formats You Actually Need
APA image citation splits into three formats depending on how the image appears in your work. Most guides cover only the reference-list entry. That is not the whole picture.
Reference-List Entry for an Image or Figure
Every image or figure you cite requires a reference-list entry. The standard structure follows APA's Author-Date-Title-Source pattern, with a format descriptor in square brackets after the title:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of image [Format]. Source Name. URL
The format descriptor in brackets identifies what type of image it is: [Photograph], [Illustration], [Map], [Chart], [Graph], [Figure]. This descriptor replaces the generic "[Image]" that appears in some older guides; APA 7th edition asks for the specific type when known.
In-Text Citation for an Image or Figure
When you discuss an image in your text without reproducing it, cite it the same way you would any other APA source: (Author, Year) for a parenthetical citation, or Author (Year) for a narrative citation. No special format applies.
If you reproduce the image in your paper as a figure, you do not use an in-text parenthetical citation. Instead, you refer to it by figure number in the text ("see Figure 2"), and the figure note below the image carries the attribution.
Figure Note When You Reproduce the Image
Reproducing an image in your paper requires a figure label, a figure title, and a figure note. This is the format most students miss. The note sits directly below the image, flush left, and begins with the word Note in italics followed by a period.
The figure note for a reproduced image follows this structure:
Note. From Title of image [Format], by A. A. Author, Year, Source Name (URL). Copyright Year by Copyright Holder.
For an adapted image (one you modified), replace "From" with "Adapted from." For a Creative Commons image, replace the copyright statement with the license name (e.g., CC BY 4.0). For a public-domain image, write "In the public domain" instead.
A figure note does not replace the reference-list entry. You need both. The figure note provides attribution immediately below the image; the reference-list entry provides the full bibliographic record for readers who want to locate the original source.
How to Cite an Image in APA 7th Edition: Step by Step
Four steps cover every image citation scenario. Work through them in order.
Step 1: Identify the Source Type
Your template depends on where the image lives. A photograph on a website, a figure inside a journal article, and a chart inside a book each use slightly different reference structures. The core elements remain the same (author, year, title, source), but the source field changes. For images embedded in other works, the “source” is the journal, book, or report that contains the figure, not just a URL.
Step 2: Check the License
Find the copyright statement or license before you build your citation. The license determines three things: whether you need the copyright holder's permission (for published work), what text you write at the end of your figure note, and whether a reference-list entry is even required. Images licensed as CC0 or fully in the public domain require neither attribution nor a reference entry when reproduced in a paper, according to the APA Style guidance on images.
On Flickr, the license appears under the title on each photo page. On Wikimedia Commons, check the file description. For journal figures, the copyright statement typically appears on the first page or in the figure caption of the published article. For books, it appears on the copyright page.
Step 3: Build the Reference-List Entry
The reference-list entry follows the standard APA structure. Fill in the elements you have:
Author
Last name, First initial. For an organization, write the full name. If no author is listed, move the title to the author position.
Year
The year the image was published or posted. If no date appears, use n.d. in parentheses.
Title and format descriptor
Italicize the title. Follow it with a format descriptor in square brackets: [Photograph], [Illustration], [Map], [Chart], [Graph], or [Figure]. Use the most specific descriptor you can.
Source
For standalone web images: the website name, then the URL on the next line. For figures inside articles: the journal name (italicized), volume, issue, and page number. For figures inside books: the book title, edition, publisher.
Step 4: Write the Figure Note if You Reproduce the Image
If the image appears visually in your document, add a figure label, a figure title, and a figure note. Place the figure number in bold on its own line above the image. On the next line, write the figure title in italic sentence case. Below the image, write the note beginning with Note. (italic, period included).
Use “From” if you reproduced the image exactly. Use “Adapted from” if you modified it in any way. Both require the same source details, but the distinction signals to readers and examiners whether your presentation is a direct copy or a derivative.
Worked Examples: Four Common Source Types
These examples follow the formats prescribed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition (2020) and the APA Style website.
Example 1: Photograph on a Website
Suppose you want to cite a photograph of a volcanic eruption posted to Flickr by Denali National Park and Preserve in 2013, titled “Lava,” licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Reference-list entry:
Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
In-text citation (if discussing only):
(Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013)
Figure note (if you reproduce it in your paper):
Note. From Lava [Photograph], by Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/). CC BY 2.0.
Example 2: Figure from a Journal Article
This example covers a figure originally published in a journal article: a line graph from Wang, Lind, and Bingham (2018) in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
Reference-list entry:
Wang, X. M., Lind, M., & Bingham, G. P. (2018). Large continuous perspective change with noncoplanar points enables accurate slant perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44(10), 1490–1519. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000553
In-text citation:
(Wang et al., 2018)
Figure note (if you reproduce the figure):
Note. From “Large Continuous Perspective Change With Noncoplanar Points Enables Accurate Slant Perception,” by X. M. Wang, M. Lind, and G. P. Bingham, 2018, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44(10), p. 1513 (https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000553). Copyright 2018 by the American Psychological Association.
Notice that the journal article figure note puts the article title in quotation marks (not italics), and the journal name in italics. The copyright holder is typically the journal publisher or the professional association, not the individual authors. Check the article's copyright line to confirm who holds the rights.
Example 3: Figure from a Book
For a figure from a printed or ebook chapter, the reference-list entry includes the book title (italicized), the edition if any, the page number, and the publisher.
Reference-list entry:
DeWitt, R. (2010). Worldviews: An introduction to the history and philosophy of science. Wiley-Blackwell.
Figure note (if you adapt the figure):
Note. Adapted from Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science (p. 140), by R. DeWitt, 2010, Wiley-Blackwell. Copyright 2010 by Richard DeWitt.
Example 4: Public-Domain or CC0 Image
Public-domain images and those marked CC0 (Creative Commons Zero, or “no rights reserved”) require no copyright attribution. If you reproduce one in your paper, include the figure number and title, but you may omit the figure note entirely. No reference-list entry is required either. If you choose to credit the source anyway (a good scholarly habit), write:
Note. From Map of poverty rates [Map], by U.S. Census Bureau, 2017, U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2018/comm/acs-poverty-map.html). In the public domain.
| Source Type | Reference-List Entry | In-Text | Figure Note Required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph on website | Author. (Year). Title [Photograph]. Site. URL | (Author, Year) | Yes, if reproduced |
| Journal article figure | Standard article reference | (Author, Year) | Yes, with copyright |
| Book figure | Standard book reference | (Author, Year) | Yes, with copyright |
| CC BY image | Author. (Year). Title [Format]. Site. URL | (Author, Year) | Yes, with license name |
| Public domain / CC0 | Optional | Optional | No (optional credit) |
Summary of APA 7th edition citation requirements by image source type
Figure Note Format: From vs Adapted From
The choice between “From” and “Adapted from” is not stylistic. It carries a specific meaning in APA 7th edition that reflects whether you altered the original work.
What is the Difference Between "From" and "Adapted From"?
“From” means you reproduced the image exactly as it appeared in the source: same crop, same labels, same colors, same data. “Adapted from” means you changed it: you may have recolored it, relabeled the axes, cropped it, added annotations, translated a caption, or combined it with other data.
Students often write “From” for adapted figures out of habit. The correct choice matters because it affects what permissions you need. Many publishers distinguish between reprinting (requires explicit permission) and adapting (may fall under fair use or a more permissive license clause).
Exact Wording for the Note
| Scenario | Note Wording |
|---|---|
| Exact copy, copyrighted | Note. From Title [Format], by Author, Year, Source (URL). Copyright Year by Holder. |
| Adapted version, copyrighted | Note. Adapted from Title [Format], by Author, Year, Source (URL). Copyright Year by Holder. |
| Exact copy, Creative Commons | Note. From Title [Format], by Author, Year, Source (URL). CC BY [version]. |
| Adapted, Creative Commons | Note. Adapted from Title [Format], by Author, Year, Source (URL). CC BY [version]. |
| Public domain | Note. From Title [Format], by Author, Year, Source (URL). In the public domain. |
| Your own figure | Note. Describe what the figure shows. No attribution needed. |
APA 7th edition figure note wording by copyright scenario
Edge Cases: Missing Author, No Date, and More
Real sources rarely arrive perfectly formatted. These are the three scenarios you will encounter most often.
No Author Listed
Move the title to the author position. Italicize it in the reference-list entry. In the in-text citation, put a shortened version of the title (in italics if it would be italicized in the reference, in quotation marks if it would be in quotes) followed by the year: (Lava, 2013) or (“Title of Image,” 2020).
Example reference: Untitled photograph of the Eiffel Tower [Photograph]. (2019). Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/abc123
No Date Available
Use n.d. in parentheses in place of the year. Example: Smith, A. (n.d.). Diagram of cell division [Illustration]. Biology Today. https://...
In-text: (Smith, n.d.). Figure note: Note. From Diagram of cell division[Illustration], by A. Smith, n.d., Biology Today (URL). Copyright n.d. by A. Smith. (If the copyright year is unknown but the work is clearly protected, you may write “Copyright by A. Smith” without a year.)
Your Own Figure or Adapted Data
If you created the figure yourself from data or from scratch, no reference-list entry or in-text citation is needed. The figure note simply describes what the figure shows. For a figure you built from another person's data, write “Adapted from” in the note and include a reference-list entry for the data source.
For academic papers submitted only to an instructor, fair use typically covers reproduced figures. For published work (conference papers, journals, theses submitted to institutional repositories), you must obtain explicit written permission from the copyright holder for any protected image. APA citation is required in both cases, but it does not substitute for permission.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Studying citations submitted by students, I see the same errors recurring. These four cost marks consistently.
| Mistake | Why It Happens | The Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Writing "From" for an adapted figure | Students default to "From" without checking if they changed anything | If you cropped, relabeled, or combined: "Adapted from" |
| Omitting the format descriptor in [brackets] | Older APA guides did not require it | Always include [Photograph], [Illustration], [Map], etc. |
| Skipping the figure note and only citing in-text | Treating image citation like text citation | Reproduced images need a figure note, not just in-text |
| Using the same element order in both the reference list and figure note | Copying one format into the other | Reference list: Author (Year) Title. Figure note: From Title, by Author, Year, Source. |
| Confusing copyright permission with citation | Students think citing grants permission | For published work, obtain permission; citation is separate |
The five most common APA image citation errors and how to correct them
The Citations hub at Classeva covers generators for APA and other major styles. If you need to format multiple image references quickly, it handles the field ordering so you can focus on accuracy rather than format mechanics.
APA Citation Generator
Format APA 7th edition references for images, articles, books, and other source types. The Citations hub builds the reference-list entry for you.
Key Takeaways
- Three formats, not one. APA image citation requires a reference-list entry, an optional in-text citation, and a figure note if you reproduce the image. All three serve different purposes.
- The figure note is the most commonly missed requirement. It sits below the image, begins with Note. in italics, and ends with a copyright statement or license name.
- “From” vs “Adapted from” is not interchangeable. Use “From” only for exact reproductions; use “Adapted from” whenever you changed the image in any way.
- The reference-list entry and figure note contain the same information but in different order. The reference list starts with Author (Year); the figure note starts with Note. From Title [Format], by Author.
- Public-domain and CC0 images need no attribution. Including a note is good scholarly practice, but APA does not require it for images with no copyright or no attribution required.
- No-author and no-date images follow standard APA substitution rules. Move the title to the author position; use n.d. for undated sources.
- Citing is not the same as having permission. For published work, secure written permission from the copyright holder before reproducing a protected image, regardless of how well you cite it.
For related APA citation formats, see our guides on citing a journal article in APA, citing a book in APA, citing a website in APA, and citing lecture slides in APA. The University resources hub also links to grade calculators and subject tools to support every part of your academic work.
