Finding & Using Images in Research

First and foremost, follow the guidelines given to you by your teacher if they have specified how to cite images in a presentation.

If no guidelines are given, it is always best practice to include at least an informal citation for all images you include in a presentation, poster, or video. You can:

• Include a full citation or short "credit" below each image.
• Include a list of images at the end of your presentation/poster/video with full citations or short credits.

Even if your teacher has not specified guidelines for citing images, it is best practice to always give credit to the source.

An informal citation underneath an image in a presentation or on a poster or other multimedia gives your audience the context they need to understand an image, credits the creator (if known), and links back to the source to both give credit and establish credibility. Here is a format you can follow: 

Short title of image, taken from source or a description of a few words if no title is provided. Date (if known). Artist/Photographer/Creator (if known). Source (linked).

Example of an informal citation underneath a picture:

Anonymous Lakota ledger drawing of a horse raiding scene. c. 1876. Smithsonian Institution.

Example of an alphabetical list of images at the end of a presentation/video/poster:

Image List

• Anonymous Lakota ledger drawing of a horse raiding scene. c. 1876. Smithsonian Institution.
• Lakota headdress. c. 1870-79. Chief Crazy Horse. Minnesota Historical Society. 
• Map of Lakota Indian Reservations in the Dakotas. Infobase.
• Portrait of Frank Howard (Hunkpapa Lakota). Septima Koehler. c. 1900. National Museum of the American Indian. 
• Sicangu Lakota (Brulé Sioux) and Oohenonpa Lakota (Two Kettle Sioux) group. No date. Alexander Gardner. DPLA. 

Follow the guidelines for citing images found in Using Images in a Paper in the specific style you are using: APA (STEM and some social sciences), Chicago Manual of Style (history and some social sciences), or MLA (English and foreign languages).

A formal citation can be placed below an image on a slide or poster, or included in an alphabetical list of images cited at the end.