Figure & Table Citation Generator
Reprinting or adapting someone else's figure or table? Enter its source and copyright status and get the APA 7 figure number, title and copyright note ("From" or "Adapted from", with the copyright, Creative Commons or public-domain statement), the MLA 9 caption or source line, and the Chicago 18 credit line. Free, no sign-up.
The figure and its source
Type it in sentence case. APA's title case is applied for you; Chicago keeps it as typed.
First name then surname. A group such as U.S. Census Bureau is kept whole.
In sentence case. Each style's capitalization is applied for you.
Your number, title and credit
Enter the figure's number and the title of its source to see your note, caption and credit line.
How to Use the Figure & Table Citation Generator
- 1. Number and title your figure or table. Number them in the order your paper mentions them, and give each a short title of your own.
- 2. Say whether you changed it. An exact copy is reprinted ("From"); one you redrew, cropped, relabeled or shortened is adapted ("Adapted from").
- 3. Describe the source. Choose journal article, book, edited book chapter or webpage, then enter its authors, year, title, page and DOI or URL.
- 4. Give its copyright status and copy. Copyrighted, under a Creative Commons licence, or in the public domain. Tick permission only if the copyright holder actually gave it.
The Parts of a Reproduced Figure or Table
In APA 7, a figure or table has a number in bold (Figure 1), a title on the next line in italic title case, the image or table itself, and a Note. below it. When the material comes from another work, the note ends with a copyright attribution — a credit that is not an ordinary citation, because it carries the source's copyright status. The source still goes in your reference list.
| Source | APA 7 attribution, after From or Adapted from |
|---|---|
| Journal article | “Title of Article,” by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Title of Journal, Volume(issue), p. xx (DOI or URL). |
| Book or report | Title of Book (p. xx), by A. A. Author, year, Publisher (DOI or URL). |
| Edited book chapter | “Title of Chapter,” by A. A. Author, in E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of Book (edition, p. xx), year, Publisher (DOI or URL). |
| Webpage | Title of Webpage, by A. A. Author, year, Site Name (URL). |
Then one of: Copyright year by Name of Copyright Holder. / In the public domain. / the Creative Commons licence, such as CC BY 4.0. Add Reprinted with permission. or Adapted with permission. only if you obtained it.
Two details trip people up. Authors' initials come before their surnames in the attribution, and titles are in APA title case — every word of four letters or more capitalized — even though the reference list uses sentence case. MLA 9 labels a figure Fig. 1. and puts the source in a caption below it; when the caption gives the source in full, MLA turns the periods of the works-cited entry into semicolons, and the source then needs no works-cited entry unless you also cite it in your text. A table takes Table 1 and its title above and a Source: line below. Chicago 18 ends the caption with a credit line — Source: for material you may reuse freely, Reproduced by permission from when you obtained permission, Adapted from when you changed it — written in note form.
Figure and Table Citation Examples
APA's own sample figure, reprinted from a 2018 article by Wang, Lind and Bingham in an APA journal:
APA 7th edition
Number:
Figure 3
Title:
Mean Regression Slopes in Experiment 1
Note:
Note. Error bars represent standard errors. From “Large Continuous Perspective Change With Noncoplanar Points Enables Accurate Slant Perception,” by X. M. Wang, M. Lind, and G. P. Bingham, 2018, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44(10), p. 1513 (https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000553). Copyright 2018 by the American Psychological Association.
MLA 9th edition and Chicago 18th edition
MLA caption:
Fig. 3. Xiaoye Michael Wang et al.; “Large Continuous Perspective Change with Noncoplanar Points Enables Accurate Slant Perception”; Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 44, no. 10, 2018, p. 1513; https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000553.
Chicago caption and credit:
Figure 3. Mean regression slopes in experiment 1. Source: Xiaoye Michael Wang et al., “Large Continuous Perspective Change with Noncoplanar Points Enables Accurate Slant Perception,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 44, no. 10 (2018): 1513, https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000553.
APA's sample map, adapted from a public-domain U.S. Census Bureau page — no permission needed, and no copyright year:
Adapted, public domain
APA 7 note:
Note. The map does not include data for Puerto Rico. Adapted from 2017 Poverty Rate in the United States, by U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 (https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2018/comm/acs-poverty-map.html). In the public domain.
A table adapted from page 172 of a book, the manual's own book example:
Adapted table from a book
APA 7 note:
Note. Adapted from Managing Therapy-Interfering Behavior: Strategies From Dialectical Behavior Therapy (p. 172), by A. L. Chapman and M. Z. Rosenthal, 2016, American Psychological Association (https://doi.org/10.1037/14752-000). Copyright 2016 by the American Psychological Association.
MLA 9 source line:
Source: Adapted from Alexander L. Chapman and M. Zachary Rosenthal; Managing Therapy-Interfering Behavior: Strategies from Dialectical Behavior Therapy; American Psychological Association, 2016, p. 172; https://doi.org/10.1037/14752-000.
Chicago 18 source note:
Source: Adapted from Alexander L. Chapman and M. Zachary Rosenthal, Managing Therapy-Interfering Behavior: Strategies from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (American Psychological Association, 2016), 172, https://doi.org/10.1037/14752-000.
Common Mistakes
- Putting an in-text citation under the figure instead of a note. APA wants the full attribution in the note, and the source in the reference list as well.
- Writing "From" for a figure you changed. Redrawing, cropping, translating labels or dropping columns all make it adapted.
- Claiming permission you don't have. Reprinted with permission means the copyright holder agreed. A citation alone does not give you the right to reproduce a copyrighted figure.
- Leaving out the licence on Creative Commons material. CC licences require the licence to be named: CC BY 4.0, CC BY-NC, and so on.
- Using sentence case in the attribution. APA's attribution uses title case; the reference list entry uses sentence case.
- Citing a figure you made from someone's numbers as reprinted. A new chart drawn from published data is yours; cite the data, for example Data are from Author (Year).
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between "From" and "Adapted from" in APA?
- From means you reproduced the figure or table exactly as published. Adapted from means you changed it — redrew it, cropped it, translated or relabeled it, or left out parts. Everything after those words is the same: the source, then its copyright status.
- How do I cite a figure from a journal article in APA 7?
- Number it and give it a title, then write a note below it: Note. From “Title of Article,” by A. A. Author, year, Title of Journal, Volume(issue), p. xx (DOI). Copyright year by Copyright Holder. Add the article to your reference list as well.
- Do I need permission to reproduce a figure?
- Often. A copyrighted figure in a published work usually needs the copyright holder's permission, and journals expect it; for a class paper, check your institution's guidance on fair use. Figures under a Creative Commons licence can be reused on the licence's terms, and public-domain figures, such as most U.S. government works, need none.
- How do I credit a Creative Commons figure?
- Give the source as usual and end the attribution with the licence instead of a copyright year — for example CC BY 4.0. The licence's own terms require you to name it, and to say if you changed the work.
- How do you cite a figure in MLA?
- Label it Fig. with a number and put the source in the caption below it. If the caption gives the source in full, separate its parts with semicolons — Fig. 1. Vincent van Gogh; The Olive Trees; 1889; … — and you need no works-cited entry unless you also cite the source in your text.
- Is a figure the same as an image citation?
- No. This tool writes the label, title and credit that sit with a figure you reproduce in your paper. To cite an image you only discuss, in your reference list or works cited, use the Image Citation Generator.