LibGuides: APA7: Images, Figures and Tables

Images, Figures and Tables

In APA style,

Tables are visual displays of text or data in columns and rows.
Figure refers to all illustrations except tables including graphs, photos, screenshots, drawings, maps, infographics and images.

Figures and tables can add visual appeal and make your work more understandable.

All figures and tables you have created, adapted or reproduced in your assignment should be:

set up in APA style (see Figure setup and Table setup); and
referred to in the text of your assignment (e.g. Figure 1 shows...).

If you wish to use an image for decorative purposes only and will not refer to it in your text, see For decoration.

All figures and tables included in your assessments are presumed to be your own work unless you state otherwise. As personal images and data are not retrievable, they do not require a full citation and copyright statement nor an entry in your reference list.

When using other people's images in your work there are important factors to consider. Before using an image from a public website, a book or other source, you need to ensure your use of it falls within any limitations set by the copyright or licence. For more information see Full citation and copyright statement.

If you need to cite an image in your assignment (but not reproduce it), see Referring to images.

For more information about questions to ask when deciding to use an image and how to find images:

Finding images
The Library's guide on finding images for your assignments.
Copyright for students (La Trobe University)
Discover what is protected by copyright and how to decide what materials can be used for your studies.

Figure setup

Figure #

Title of Figure

[Insert figure here]

Note.

Figure number

All figures are numbered as they appear in-text.
The word Figure and the figure number are in bold, e.g. Figure 1.
Figures are numbered in a separate sequence to any tables.
If you include a figure in your document you should refer to it in your text, e.g. Figure 1 shows... (not 'figure above' or 'figure below')

Title

The Title is written in italics below the Figure number.
Give the figure a short clear descriptive title in Title Case.

Note

The Note is immediately below each figure.
A note is included if you need to explain the figure or its contents.
If the figure (or the data you have used to create the figure) is reprinted or adapted from another source the note must include a full citation and a copyright statement.

For more information on how to set up a figure in APA:

Figure Setup
How to set up a figure using APA 7 formatting, including where to place figures in your assignment.
Sample figures
Sample APA 7 figures.

Table setup

Table #

Title of Table

[Insert table here]

Note.

Table number

All tables are numbered as they appear in-text.
The word Table and the table number are in bold, e.g. Table 1.
Tables are numbered in a separate sequence to any figures.
If you include a figure in your document you should refer to it in your text, e.g. Table 1 shows... (not 'table above' or 'table below')

Title

The Title is written in italics below the Table number.
Give the table a short clear descriptive title in Title Case.

Note

The Note is immediately below each table.
A note is included if you need to explain the table or its contents.
If the table (or the data you have used to create the table) is reprinted or adapted from another source the note must include a full citation and a copyright statement.

For more information on how to set up a table in APA:

Table setup
How to set up a table using APA 7 formatting, including where to place tables in your assignment.
Sample tables
Sample tables in APA 7.

If the figure or table (or data you have used to create it) is reprinted (reproduced) or adapted from another source you must include a full citation and a copyright statement in the Note section.

Full citation

The full citation is used as an in-text citation and includes all elements of the reference in the order of title, author, year of publication and source, determined by where you reprinted or adapted it from.
From or Adapted from -
- Use From when you are reproducing an image / figure as is (i.e. you haven't made any changes).
- Use Adapted from when you are reproducing an image / figure or data from another source and you have changed it for your own purposes, e.g. put data into a graph or table of your own, joined two images together.
See the Figure examples and Table examples in the boxes below to see how the full citation should be written if the image or data is coming from an article, book, or webpage.

Copyright statement

The copyright statement is in one of the following formats:
- Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder, e.g. Copyright 2020 by La Trobe University.
- Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link), e.g. CC BY 4.0.
- In the public domain. This statement can only be used if a resource is no longer subject to copyright. A resource is not 'In the public domain' just because it is freely available on the internet.

You must also include a full citation in your Reference List.

Please note if your work is going to be published, the copyright statement must be followed by the permission statement, e.g. Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission. You can ONLY add a permission statement if permission has been sought and granted. Please refer to your supervisor and or the La Trobe University Copyright Officer for more information.

If you are using an image purely for decorative purposes in a presentation or poster (i.e. you are not referring to it in your text), you may not need to include a figure number, title, note, full citation or copyright statement. This will depend on the licencing details of the image as some images (including personal images) require no attribution. However, it is good practice to add a full citation and the copyright statement or CC licence (i.e. attribution) for anything that is not your own.

The La Trobe University Copyright Officer suggests using images from the following public domain image banks for this purpose however, it is very important to check the licence details of each image:

For further information:

Clip art or stock images referencing
Information regarding the special requirements for using clip art and stock images in APA style assignments.
Copyright for students (La Trobe University)
Discover what is protected by copyright and how to decide what materials can be used for your studies.

This format is used to cite (but not reproduce) an image or photograph in your assignment

Reference List

Creator, A. A. (Year). Title of work [Description]. Publisher. http://xxxxxx

Better Health Channel. (2016). Meditation [Infographic]. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/Meditation-infographic

Davies, C. (n.d.). Detail of Banksia ericifolia flower [Photograph]. CSIRO Science Image. https://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/image/3260/detail-of-banksia-ericifolia-flower/

Stanfield, J. (1987). Anxious eyes [Photograph]. National Geographic. https://allthatsinteresting.com/eight-iconic-national-geographic-photos

Notes

For artwork in a museum or on a museum website, see APA Style Artwork References.
The in-text reference should include Creator, Year. If the Creator is not known, use Title.
For untitled visual works, provide a description in square brackets.
If the publisher is the same as the creator, omit that part of the reference - see Better Health Channel example.
If you wish to reproduce an image or photograph in your assignment, use the Figure examples below.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 346-347).

Figure examples

Example of figure / image reproduced from a journal article.	Figure 1 Correlation Plot Between Full Scale IQ (FISQ) and Relative Alpha Reactivity Note. From “Atypical Electrophysiological Indices of Eyes-Open and Eyes-Closed Resting-State in Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Autism,” by A. Bellato, I. Arora, P. Kochhar, C. Hollis, and M. J. Groom, 2020, Brain Sciences, 10(5), Figure 5 (https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050272). CC BY 4.0.
Format of full citation and copyright statement (in Note)	Note. From or [Adapted from] “Title of Article,” by A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, Year, Journal Title, Volume(Issue), page number (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link).
In-text reference	Figure 1 shows... (not 'figure above' or 'figure below')
Reference List	Reference the journal article the image / figure was reproduced from. Journal article with DOI *Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), pp-pp. https://doi.org/xxxxxx* Bellato, A., Arora, I., Hollis, C., & Groom, M.J. (2020). Atypical electrophysiological indices of eyes-open and eyes-closed resting-state in children and adolescents with ADHD and Autism. Brain Sciences, 10(5), 272-284. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050272
Notes	If the image you are reproducing has a figure number within an article, the figure number can be used instead of the page number.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 225-250, 389-391); APA Style Sample Figures.

Example of an image / figure reproduced from a book.	Figure 2 Sectional Glass and Iron Dials Note. From Tower Clocks (p. 8), 1911, Seth Thomas Clock Company (https://archive.org/details/TowerClocks). CC BY 3.0.
Format of full citation and copyright statement (in Note)	Book or Report Note. From or [Adapted from] Title of Book or Report (# ed., p. xx), by A. A. Author, B. B. Author, and C. C. Author, Year, Publisher (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link). Chapter Note. From or [Adapted from] “Title of Chapter,” by A. A. Author, B. B. Author, and C. C. Author, in E. E. Editor and F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (edition or volume xx, p. xx), Year, Publisher (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link).
In-text reference	Figure 2 shows... (not 'figure above' or 'figure below')
Reference List	Reference the book or book chapter where the image / figure was reproduced from. eBook, without DOI, with a non-database URL, no author Title of work. (Year). Publisher. https://xxxxxx Tower clocks. (1911). Seth Thomas Clock Company. https://archive.org/details/TowerClocks
Notes	If the image you are reproducing has a figure number within a book or book chapter, the figure number can be used instead of the page number. The example above has no author so the author has been omitted.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 225-250, 389-391); APA Style Sample Figures.

Example of image / figure reproduced from an image database.	Figure 3 Detail of Banskia Ericifolia Flower Note. From Detail of Banksia Ericifolia Flower, by C. Davies, n.d., CSIRO Science Image (http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/image/3260/detail-of-banksia-ericifolia-flower/). CC BY 3.0.
Format of full citation and copyright statement (in Note)	With author Note. From or [Adapted from] Title of Webpage, by A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, Year, Site name (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link). No author Note. From or [Adapted from] Title of Webpage, by Site Name, Year (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link).
In-text reference	Figure 3 shows... (not 'figure above' or 'figure below')
Reference List	Reference the image. Image *Creator, A. A. (Year). Title of work* [Description]. Publisher. http://xxxxxx** Davies, C. (n.d.). Detail of Banksia ericifolia flower [Photograph]. CSIRO Science Image. http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/image/3260/detail-of-banksia-ericifolia-flower/
Notes	An image database is an organised collection of digital images, e.g. Flickr, Pixabay, UnSplash. For more examples of image databases, see Images.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 225-250, 389-391); APA Style Sample Figures.

Example of image / figure reproduced from a webpage.	Figure 4 David Mann Library Note. From Face to Face Services Resume at our Regional Libraries, by La Trobe University Library, 2021, La Trobe University (https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/announcements/2021/face-to-face-services-resume-at-our-regional-libraries). Copyright 2021 by La Trobe University Library.
Format of full citation and copyright statement (in Note)	Webpage with author Note. From or [Adapted from] Title of Webpage, by A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, Year, Site name (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link). Webpage with no author Note. From or [Adapted from] Title of Webpage, by Site Name, Year (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link).
In-text reference	Figure 4 shows... (not 'figure above' or 'figure below')
Reference List	Reference the webpage where the image / figure is reproduced from. Individual or corporate author *Author, A. A. or Corporate Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. http://xxxxxx* La Trobe University Library. (2021, June 7). Face to face services resume at our regional libraries. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/announcements/2021/face-to-face-services-resume-at-our-regional-libraries
Notes	If the image you are reproducing has a figure number on a webpage, the figure number can be used.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 225-250, 389-391); APA Style Sample Figures.

Table examples

From an article

Example of table reproduced from a journal article.	Table 1 Correlation Matrix Between Active and Passive Usage of Social Networking Sites (SNS) and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) Note. Correlation results for usage of social networking sites and subjective well-being. From “Taking a Break: The Effect of Taking a Vacation from Facebook and Instagram on Subjective Well-Being” by S. Hanley, S. Watt, & W. Coventry, 2019, PLoS ONE, 14(6), p. 6 (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217743). CC BY 4.0.
Format of Note & Copyright Statement	Note. Your concise explanation of table. From or [Adapted from] “Title of Article,” by A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, Year, Journal Title, Volume(Issue), page number (URL or DOI). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright holder or In the public domain or Creative Commons Licence abbreviation (with link).
Reference List	Reference the journal article the table was reproduced from. Journal article without DOI *Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., & Author, E. E. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), pp-pp. http://xxxxxx* Hanley, S.M., Watt, S.E., & Coventry, W. (2019). Taking a break: The effect of taking a vacation from Facebook and Instagram on subjective well-being. PLoS ONE, 14(6), Article e0217743. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217743
Notes	If the table you are reproducing has a table number within an article, the table number can be used instead of the page number.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 195-224, 389-391); APA Style Sample Tables.