This guide is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal advice.
Images are intellectual property and must be cited just like books, articles, or websites. Citing gives credit to the creator, respects copyright, and allows others to locate the original work.
When using an image created by someone else, you must acknowledge it. Proper citation recognizes the creator’s contribution, helps others find your sources, and prevents plagiarism.
In scholarly papers, cite images in your bibliography, reference list, or figure descriptions. In other projects (such as web pages or posters), include a statement of attribution near each image or in a designated credits section.
Our guide on Citing Sources lists different citations styles and tools for creating citations.
Artist: Frédéric Bazille
Title of Work: Young Woman with Peonies
Date Created: 1870
Medium: Oil on canvas
Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States
URL: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61356.html
Image Use: Public domain
APA Style, 7th Edition
Bazille, F. (1870). Young woman with peonies [Oil on canvas]. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States. https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61356.html .
MLA Style, 9th Edition
Bazille, Frédéric. Young Woman with Peonies. 1870. National Gallery of Art, https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61356.html .
Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
Bazille, Frédéric. Young Woman with Peonies. 1870. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61356.html .
If you are using images in works that are not scholarly, acknowledging their use following the conventions of a formal citation system is not necessary.
However, you still need to provide an acknowledgment or "attribute" the work to the creator.
Luckily, some sites, such as those with free stock images (morgueFile and Unsplash, for example), specify the wording to use in an attribution.
If you need to create the acknowledgment, follow the Best Practices for Attribution from Creative Commons.
Your attributions need to include:
Here is an example:
Title: Reading the Tourist Guide
Author: Pedro Ribeiro Simões
Source: Found on Flickr
License: CC BY 2.0
Attribution:
“Reading the Tourist Guide” by Pedro Ribeiro Simões is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.