Citation Styles Playbook

This section (Figures and Tables) refers to how to format illustrations that are embedded into the body of a paper or presentation. For how to cite illustrations without embedding them, see the Miscellaneous section.

The MLA style divides document illustrations into three kinds: figures, tables, and examples.

What are figures?

Figures are all visual illustrations that are not tables or musical scores, such as photos, maps, diagrams, illustrations, etc.

What are tables? 

Tables display numerical values or textual information arranged in rows and/or columns.

What are examples?

The designation "example" (abbreviated "Ex.") refers to a portion of a musical score.

Location and formatting of embedded images

Place tables and illustrations as close as possible to the parts of the text to which they relate. Each illustration must include a label, a number, a caption and/or source information.

• The label and number always appear in two places: in the body of the document (example: see fig. 2; see ex. 1; see table 3) and directly below the illustration (example: Fig. 2, Ex. 1, Table 3).
• Captions provide titles or explanatory notes (example: Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait).
• If the caption of a table or illustration provides complete information about the source and the source is not cited in the text, no entry for the source in the works-cited list is necessary.
• Format the citation like you would any citation, using the Core Elements.  The citation for tables is preceded by the word Source, followed by a colon.
• Citation elements are separated by commas. Example: Fig. 1. Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, Wichita Art Museum.

A note on copyright

• Keep in mind most figures found on the Web belong to someone, which means you cannot use them without permission from the owner.
• To avoid violating copyright, use figures that are licensed for non-commercial use or that are in the public domain.
  • all images displayed by Wikipedia are in the public domain
  • you can also obtain images from sites that offer free images
  • you can use images from databases such as ArtStor
• For all other images, you must obtain permission from the owner to use them in your papers.

• A table is usually labeled Table, given an Arabic numeral, and titled.
• Type both label and title flush left on separate lines above the table, and capitalize them as titles (do not use all capital letters).
• Give the source of the table and any notes immediately below the table in a caption.
• To avoid confusion between notes to the text and notes to the table, designate notes to the table with lowercase letters rather than with numerals. Double-space throughout; use dividing lines as needed

Example

• Figures -- for example, a photograph, map, line drawing, graph, or chart -- should be labeled Figure (usually abbreviated Fig.), assigned an Arabic numeral, and given a caption: “Fig. 1. Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, Wichita Art Museum.”
• A label and caption ordinarily appear directly below the illustration and have the same one-inch margins as the text of the paper (fig. 5).
• If the caption of a table or illustration provides complete information about the source and the source is not cited in the text, no entry for the source in the works-cited list is necessary.

Fig. 3. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait at the Easel Painting a Devotional Panel. "Sofonisba Anguissola," Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofonisba_Anguissola.

• Musical illustrations are labeled Example (usually abbreviated Ex.), assigned an Arabic numeral, and given a caption: “Ex. 1. Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 6 in B, opus 74 (Pathétique), finale.”
• A label and caption ordinarily appear directly below the example and have the same one-inch margins as the text of the paper.

Example