Cite figures within the text of your research paper by using parenthetical references. Figures should be identified as "fig." and organized by number.
Check your parenthetical reference using this example: (see fig. 1)
Create a caption for the figure which will also be the full citation. Write "Fig." and the number followed by a period. Write all available source information in note form. Write the author's given name, followed by his surname, the title of the figure, the publication information in parentheses: (location: publisher, year), and relevant page numbers. Note that in MLA note form, commas are used where periods would normally appear in the citation.
Check your full citation using this example: Fig. 3. Bill Smith, Canadian Butterflies and Global Warming (New York: SUNY, 2009) 74. Print.
Assign each figure a number and cite accordingly within your research paper. For example: Figure 4, Figure 5, etc.
Create a caption below the figure. Begin the caption with the word "Figure" and the figure number, both in italics. Write an explanation for the figure that will also be its title. Write the source of the figure unless it is one you have created yourself to illustrate a point. If the figure is from an outside source, write "Adapted from" or "Reprinted from" followed by the title of the article, in quotation marks, followed by a comma and the author's name. Follow with another comma, the year of publication followed by a comma, the title of the journal followed by a comma, the volume followed by a comma, and the page number(s) followed by a period. Write "Copyright" and the copyright year and then "by" followed by the name of the copyright holder. Finish your caption citation with "Adapted with permission" or "Reprinted with permission."
Format the source information, if the figure was not authored by you, according to the following example: Figure 2. Canadian Butterflies and Global Warming. Reprinted from "Canadian Wilderness in Peril," by B. R. Smith, 2009, Nature, 41, p. 231. Copyright 2009 by Macmillan Publishers Limited. Reprinted with permission.