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Massey University > OWLL > Referencing > Other referencing styles > Referencing visual material

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Referencing visual material in APA Style

Visual sources you could cite include photographs, images of works of art in any medium (including sculpture, installations, and performances), multimedia, graphs, maps, and other forms.

APA has specific guidelines about referencing visual material. Figures and images should contain a copyright permission footnote crediting the source. However, this is intended for work being submitted for publication (for example, in a journal). Images used in assignments do not require copyright permission from the creator. Instead, treat the image as a direct quotation. Provide a citation  in the caption, with author, year, and page number. The source should also have an entry in the reference list, according to its type (book, journal article, etc.). If you have included your own visual material, then you do not need to provide a citation.

  • Source types
    • Works in a book or article
    • Online works
    • Works in a museum or archive permanent collection
    • Works in a museum or gallery temporary exhibition
  • Missing details
    • No creator
    • No year of creation
    • No title
    • No dimensions

Source types

The format of the reference list entry depends on where you found the image.

Works in a book or article

If you retrieved the work from a book or article, begin with the name of the artist, the year of creation, and the title. If the work does not have a title, then include a description in square brackets in place of a title.

Visual material found in books, articles or other source types are formatted according to normal APA style for a secondary source. You should mention the artist in text, or in your in-text citation, but only give the primary source which contains the visual material in your reference list:

The 1912 oil on canvas painting The fate of animals by Marc (as cited in Hughes, 1991, p. 23) shows…

(Marc, 1912, as cited in Hughes, 1991, p. 23).

Hughes, R. (1991). The shock of the new: Art and the century of change. Thames and Hudson.

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

Online works

Order: Artist. Year of creation (in brackets). Title (in italics) and description (in square brackets). Hosting organisation. URL or DOI

Jevbratt, L. (2005). Migration [Digital visualisation of the internet]. http://128.111.69.4/~jevbratt/1_to_1/3/migration/

Chan, P. (2007, April 10). Stedelijk Museum - Amsterdam 17.03.2007 [Video file]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhqWXdznSmY

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in a storm [Oil on canvas]. Musee de L'Orangerie. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/

If you cannot find this information, see missing details below.

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

Works in a museum or archive permanent collection

Order: Artist. Year of creation (in brackets). Title (in italics) and description (in square brackets). Institute and location. URL or DOI

MacDiarmid, D. (1945). The immigrant [Oil on canvas]. The New Dowse Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

Burt, G. (ca.1935). Concrete mixer [Photograph negative]. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.

Note: When the date of creation is approximated, use “ca.” (which stands for the Latin word “circa”, meaning about, or approximately).

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

Works in a museum or gallery temporary exhibition

Order: Artist. Year of creation (in brackets). Title (in italics) and description (in square brackets). Exhibition name (in italics) and description (in square brackets with date of the exhibition). Museum / gallery name, location, exhibition dates.

Robinson, P. (2008). Softrock baroque [Polystyrene installation]. In Snow ball blind time [Exhibition, 13 Sep – 23 Nov 2008]. Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

Missing details

Some images are missing information: the name of the creator, the year of creation, etc.

No creator

If no individual creator can be identified, but the work is associated with a particular group or organisation, you can use the organisation as the “group author.”

Royal New Zealand Ballet. (n.d.). [Untitled image of dancer from Sleeping Beauty]. Royal New Zealand Ballet. http://www.nzballet.org.nz/node/845

If there is no group author, the title of the work is promoted to the start of the reference. See no author for details.

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

No year of creation

If you cannot find a year of creation for a work, use “n.d.” (which stands for “no date”).

[Untitled illustration of fern]. (n.d.). Tourism Export Council. http://www.tourismexportcouncil.org.nz/wp-content/header-images/fern-page-image.jpg

If the source details give you an approximate date, however, you can include it in brackets, with “ca.” (“circa”) before the year.

Burt, G. (ca.1935). Concrete mixer [Photograph negative]. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

No title

If the work has no title, you can include a descriptive title of your own in square brackets.

Royal New Zealand Ballet. (n.d.). [Untitled image of dancer from Sleeping Beauty]. Tourism Export Council. http://www.nzballet.org.nz/node/845

[Untitled illustration of fern]. (n.d.). Tourism Export Council. http://www.tourismexportcouncil.org.nz/wp-content/header-images/fern-page-image.jpg

6th editionThe earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

References and further reading

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). [Massey Library link]

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Last updated on 26 February, 2020

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