In order to cite figures and tables correctly in MLA Style, we must first know whether we are referencing or reproducing the figure or table in question.
If you refer to a figure or table from an outside source but do not insert it directly into your assignment, your in-text citations and Works Cited list will cite the overall source in which you found the figure or table.
Examples:
If you reproduce a figure or table from an outside source in your assignment, you must add a note (or "caption") underneath it to show where you found it. Include the full citation in the caption for the figure or table. If you do not refer to it anywhere else in your assignment, you do not need to include the citation in your Works Cited list.
Fig. X. Description of the figure from: Citation for source in which figure was found (e.g. a website, a magazine article).
Fig. 1. Man exercising from: Green, Annie. "Yoga: Stretching Out." Sports Digest, 8 May 2006, p. 22.
Fig. 2. Annakiki skirt from: Cheung, Pauline. "Short Skirt S/S/ 15 China Womenswear Commercial Update." WGSN.
Figures should be numbered in the order they appear in your assignment and the word "Figure" should be abbreviated to "Fig.", e.g. Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3. Keep numbering for your figures separate from your table numbering.
If you insert a table from another source into your assignment, you must create a caption for it directly below the table with the full citation for the source in which you found the table. Above the table, add a label (Table X) and below this, add a description of what information is contained in the table.
Source: Citation for source in which table was found (e.g. a website, a journal article).
Table 1
Variables in determining victims and aggressors
Source: Mohr, Andrea. "Family Variables Associated With Peer Victimization." Swiss Journal of Psychology, vol. 65, no. 2, 2006, pp. 107-116, Psychology Collection, https://doi.org/10.1024/1421-0185.65.2.107.
Tables should be numbered in the order they appear in your assignment, e.g. Table 1, Table 2, Table 3. Keep numbering for your tables separate from your figure numbering.
When you cite a photographic reproduction of artwork, the citation is made up of two parts:
[Part 1] Artist's Last Name, First Name. Title of Work: Subtitle If Any. Year, Location of Work. [Part 2] Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work," by Author's Last Name, First Name. Other Publication Details (following format for appropriate resource type, e.g. book, magazine article, website, etc.).
Artist's Last Name, First Name. Title of Work: Subtitle If Any. Year, Location of Work. Book Title, by Author's Last Name, First Name, Publisher Name, Year of Publication, p. page number.
Da Vinci, Leonardo. Last Supper. 1498, Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan. Great Paintings of the Western World, by Gallup, Alison, et al., Barnes & Noble, 1998, p. 223.
Artist's Last Name, First Name. Title of Work: Subtitle if Any. Year, Location of Work. "Title of Webpage," by Author's First Name Last Name. Title of Website, Website Publisher [if different from title], Date of Copyright or Last Update [if available], URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
Da Vinci, Leonardo. Last Supper. 1498, Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan. "The Last Supper," by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker, Khan Academy, 2015, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/leonardo-last-supper. Accessed 14 July 2018.
MLA Handbook 9th Edition
This guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Content is adapted from the CSUDH MLA Citation Guide and the Columbia College (BC) MLA Citation Guide. Icons courtesy of Icons8.