Citing images and figures properly is crucial in academic writing, particularly when using Turabian style. This style, commonly used in the humanities, provides specific guidelines for referencing various sources, including visual materials. Below, you’ll find three diverse examples that illustrate how to cite images or figures in a research paper using Turabian style.
This example illustrates how to cite a piece of artwork sourced from a museum, which is often referenced in art history papers or cultural studies.
In this case, if you were discussing Vincent van Gogh’s famous painting Starry Night, you would cite it as follows:
Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
This citation provides the artist’s name, the title of the artwork in italics, the year it was created, the medium, and the location of the artwork, which allows readers to locate the source easily.
Notes: When citing artworks, it’s essential to include all relevant details that contribute to the artwork’s identification.
When referencing a photograph found within a published book, clarity and detail are key for the reader’s understanding. This is particularly useful in fields like history or sociology, where visual evidence strengthens arguments.
For instance, if citing a photograph from a book about the Civil Rights Movement, you could write:
John Smith, The Struggle for Civil Rights (New York: HarperCollins, 2020), 45, photograph.
Here, the citation includes the photographer’s name, the title of the book in italics, the publication details, the page number where the photograph appears, and the description of the medium as a photograph. This format leads readers directly to the source of the image.
Notes: Always ensure to provide the page number as it helps in pinpointing the exact location of the image within the source material.
Citing a chart or graph from an online resource is increasingly common in research papers, especially in disciplines like economics or data science. This example shows how to reference a chart you found on a governmental website.
If you were using a chart from the U.S. Census Bureau’s website to support demographic statistics, it would be cited as follows:
U.S. Census Bureau, “Population Estimates by Age and Sex,” accessed October 1, 2023, https://www.census.gov/popest/data.
This citation includes the organization responsible for the chart, the title of the webpage in quotation marks, the date you accessed the information, and the URL. This structure ensures that readers can verify the data and understand its context.
Notes: When citing online sources, always include the date of access due to the potential for changes in web content over time.