How to Reference a Photo or Picture in APA Format

While many college students rightly focus on words and facts while compiling information for a research paper, there's much to be said for including photos and pictures, too. The best pictures can describe a scene instantly while capturing a mood, background details and facial expressions that even an accurate written summation probably cannot. And, like any good book, pictures help break up the text and provide visual relief. Hold onto the source, as you'll need it to cite the photo or picture on the references page of a research paper that follows the dictates of the American Psychological Association.
  1. Include the Facts at Hand

    • If citing sources causes you stress, remember two important tenets: there's no need to memorize the format -- all you have to do is follow a template -- and supply only the information that is available. Put another way, you cannot make up information you do not have. So relax, and for photos or pictures that are from books or magazines, follow this template: the artist's last name and first initial; the year of origination, in parentheses; a description of the photo or picture; the format, in brackets; the first initial and last name of the author or editor; the title of the work, in italics; and the page number, in parentheses and followed by a period. This information should be followed by the city and state of the publisher, the name of the publisher and the year the book or magazine was published. Formatted, it would look like this: Smith, J. (2012). Life on a tour bus [photograph]. In R. Rollings, Rock Stories (p. 78). Chicago, IL; Stern Publishing (2013). Follow this template for a picture of photo retrieved from a website: the name of the author or owner of the work, followed by a period. Place the publishing date in parentheses, followed by the title of the image in italics. Place the format -- photo, picture or mural -- in brackets, followed by a period. End the citation with the URL. Formatted, it would look like this: Smith, J. (2013). Life on a tour bus. [Photograph]. www.rockourworld.com.

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