How to cite an image in MLA
The format in which you cite an image in MLA style depends on where you viewed the image. Images are often found by searching online; in this case, you’ll cite the website where the image is hosted, in the following format.
| Format | Creator last name, First name. “Image Title.” or Description of image. Website Name, Day Month Year, URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Quinn, Pete. “European Grey Wolf Portrait.” Flickr, 21 Dec. 2019, https://flic.kr/p/2k6vq7V |
| In-text citation | (Quinn) |
Note that if you find an image using a search engine like Google, you should cite and link to the site hosting the image, not the search engine.
Citing images from museums and galleries
To cite an artwork from a museum or gallery, mention the name of the institution and the city it is located in (unless the city name is already part of the institution’s name).
| Format | Artist last name, First name. Artwork Title. or Description of artwork. Year, Institution Name, City. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | van Rijn, Rembrandt. The Night Watch. 1642, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. |
| In-text citation | (Rembrandt) |
If you viewed the artwork on the museum’s website, instead of in person, you should include the website name (usually the same as the name of the museum) and the URL.
| Format | Artist last name, First name. Artwork Title. or Description of artwork. Year. Website Name, URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Goya, Francisco. Saturn Devouring His Son. 1820–23. Museo del Prado, https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/saturn/18110a75-b0e7-430c-bc73-2a4d55893bd6. |
| In-text citation | (Goya) |
Citing images from books
When you refer to an image you encountered in a book, it’s often sufficient to just cite the book as a whole. Include a figure and/or a page number to identify the image you’re referring to.
| Format | Author last name, First name. Book Title. Publisher, Year. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Aarts, Bas. Oxford Modern English Grammar, Oxford UP, 2011. |
| In-text citation | (Aarts, fig. 3.1, p. 67) |
But if the image is by someone other than the book’s main author and you want a more precise citation, provide details of the image (i.e. author, title or description, year) followed by details of the book in the usual format.
If the Works Cited entry specifies a single page on which the image appears, you don’t need to add a page number in the in-text citation.
| Format | Image creator last name, First name. Image Title. or Description of image. Year. Book Title, by Author first name Last name, Publisher, Year, p. Page. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Hals, Frans. The Clown with the Lute. 1625. The Norton Shakespeare, 3rd ed., edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Norton, 2016, p. 35. |
| In-text citation | (Hals) |
A similar format is used to cite an image reproduced in a PowerPoint.
Citing images from journal articles
Images from journal articles can also often just be referred to in the text, citing the whole article with a figure and/or page number specifying the image’s location. This makes most sense when the image was created by the article’s author(s).
| Format | Author last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Name, vol. Volume, no. Issue, Month Year, pp. Page Range, DOI or URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Abrahms, Max, et al. “Explaining Civilian Attacks: Terrorist Networks, Principal-Agent Problems and Target Selection.” Perspectives on Terrorism, vol. 12, no. 1, Feb. 2018, pp. 23–45, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26343744. |
| In-text citation | (Abrahms et al., fig. 2, p. 30) |
Where the image is not by the author(s) of the article, it can be better to list details of the image followed by the usual details for a journal article.
| Format | Author last name, First name. Image Title. or Description of image. Year. “Article Title,” by Author first name Last name, Journal Name, vol. Volume, no. Issue, Month Year, pp. Page Range, DOI or URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | van Rijn, Rembrandt. View of Amsterdam. 1640. “Art in Social Studies: Exploring the World and Ourselves with Rembrandt,” by Iftikhar Ahmad, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 42, no. 2, Summer 2008, pp. 19–37, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25160276. |
| In-text citation | (van Rijn 26) |
Frequently asked questions about MLA citations
- When do I need to include an image citation in MLA style?
-
Whenever you refer to an image created by someone else in your text, you should include a citation leading the reader to the image you’re discussing.
If you include the image directly in your text as a figure, the details of the source appear in the figure’s caption. If you don’t, just include an in-text citation wherever you mention the image, and an entry in the Works Cited list giving full details.
4 comments
A
March 14, 2021 at 9:58 PMHow would you cite an image that has no title?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 15, 2021 at 2:00 PMMLA recommends just providing a short description of the image, in plain text, in place of the title. See this FAQ.
L
December 13, 2020 at 12:24 PMHi, how do you cite a screenshot from a YouTube video?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
December 16, 2020 at 6:58 PMHi,
Your best option would be simply to cite the YouTube video itself, and include the timestamp of the screenshot in your in-text citation. Hope that helps!