12.8 Formatting, Citing, and Documenting Visual Sources
It is just as important to cite images as it is to cite written sources. Depending upon how you come across the visual source—in person on a field trip to an art exhibition, on campus, or online from a museum’s website—you may be unclear about how to format your citation. Here are some guidelines.
Using Museum Placards to Write End Citations
This is the information as it appears next to the painting in the museum:
Jenifer K Wofford
(American, b. 1971)
MacArthur Nurses (Pushing), 2013
Acrylic on canvas
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio
This is how that same information would appear as an MLA Works Cited entry. Notice that not all of the information from the museum’s placard is included in the Works Cited entry, and most of the information is formatted differently, following MLA’s rules.
Works Cited
Wofford, Jenifer K. MacArthur Nurses (Pushing). 2013, Allen Memorial Art Museum,
Oberlin.
Citing Visual Sources Found Online
Here is the photo that Wofford’s painting is based on. The photograph is housed in the National Archives and Records Administration building in Washington, DC, but it is available online on many sites, including WikiCommons.
This is the information available on the WikiCommons site.
Gaetano Faillace
General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte, Philippine Islands.
Date 20 October 1944
National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives Identifier (NAID) 531424.
This is how the information would appear in a Works Cited entry:
Works Cited
Faillace, Gaetano. General Douglas MacArthur Wades Ashores during Initial Landings at
Leyte, Philippine Islands. 1944. National Archives and Records Administration,
Washington, DC, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Douglas_
MacArthur_lands_Leyte.jpg
Formatting and Citing Images in the Body of Your Essay
When formatting and citing images in the body of your essay, follow these guidelines:
- center the image
- number each figure, and
- for the caption, double space and write within the same margins as the essay itself.
This is the information as it appeared next to the painting in June 2021:
This is a sample in-text insertion and in-text citation of an image of that same painting:
If the image you are including in your essay is one that you took while at the museum (as in the example above), you would not need to include a URL. For more information on how to cite art and images, see Purdue OWL’s webpage on “Other Common Sources”.
Creative Commons Attributions
The “Writing about the Visual” chapter was written by Amy Scott-Douglass, other than the sections mentioned below.
The “Analyzing Advertisements” section in this chapter was compiled and edited by Justin Sevenker. “Analyzing Advertisements” contains material from “Developing Ads” in Handbook for Writers by Saylor Academy, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
The “Analyzing Graphic Novels” section in this chapter was written by Karin Hooks. Geoff Polk recommended the set of questions from Charles Hatfield’s Alternative Comics: An Emerging History.
The paragraph on GenZ and memes was inspired by a visit to John Skarl’s ENGL 162 class at Medina County Career Center in Spring 2022 as he lead his students through an exercise on analyzing memes.
Works Cited in This Chapter
Phillips, William H. Film: An Introduction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999.
Hatfield, Charles. Alternative Comics: An Emerging History. UP Mississippi, 2005.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner, 2004.
Morrison, Toni. “The Nobel Lecture in Literature.” Nobel Prize Lecture. Stockholm, Sweden.
7 Dec. 1993. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1993/morrison/lecture/
Slavin, Dale. The Gift. Sculpture. 1999, Lorain County Community College.
Ohio author mural. The Writing Center. Lorain County Community College.
Advertisements
“Coca-Cola.” Advertisement. Empire, 14 Feb. 2022, https://theempire.com/best-print-adverts/.
“Crisis Relief Services: Liking isn’t helping.” Advertisement. Brogan Partners, 14 Feb. 2022,
https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/?utm_source=google&utm_
medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
“Geico.” Advertisement. Neuromarketing, 14 Feb. 2022,
https://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/scarcity-geico.hm
“Gucci.” Advertisement. Fashion Marketing Lessons, 14 Feb. 2022,
https://fashionmarketinglessons.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/gucci2.jpg
“MacDonald’s: On your right.” Advertisement. G2, 14 Feb. 2022,
https://www.g2.com/articles/types-of-advertising
“Pedigree: A dog makes your life happier. Adopt.” Advertisement. Inkbot Design, 14 Feb.
2022, https://inkbotdesign.com/best-print-ads/
Images
Bellows, George. The Blue Snow. 1910. Columbus Museum of Art,
http://5095.sydneyplus.com/final/Portal/Default.aspx?lang=en-US
Berckheyde, Job. The Bakery Shop. c. 1680, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin.
Caillebotte, Gustave. Paris Street; Rainy Day. 1877. Art Institute of Chicago,
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/20684/paris-street-rainy-day
Cassatt, Mary. After the Bath. 1901. Cleveland Museum of Art,
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1920.379
Constable, John. Wivenhoe Park, Essex. 1816. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC,
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.1147.html
de Vlaminick, Maurice. Tugboat on the Seine, Chatou. 1906. National Gallery of Art,
Washington DC, https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.106379.html
Demuth, Charles. Modern Conveniences. 1921. Columbus Museum of Art,
http://5095.sydneyplus.com/final/Portal/Default.aspx?lang=en-US
Faillace, Gaetano. General Douglas MacArthur Wades Ashores during Initial Landings at
Leyte, Philippine Islands. 1944. National Archives and Records Administration,
Washington, DC, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Douglas_MacArthur_lands_Leyte.jpg
Gorzani, Giovanna. Portrait of Zaga Christ. 1653, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin.
Hilliard, Nicholas. Portrait of Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northants. c. 1590-
93. Cleveland Museum of Art, https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1926.554
Hassam, Childe. Winter, Midnight. 1894. Columbus Museum of Art,
http://5095.sydneyplus.com/final/Portal/Default.aspx?lang=en-US
Hicks, Edward. The Cornell Farm. 1848. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC,
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.50261.html
Lawrence, Jacob. Summer Street Scene in Harlem. 1948. Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester,
https://magart.rochester.edu/objects-1/info/522
Mount, William Sidney. The Power of Music. 1847. Cleveland Museum of Art,
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.110
Pippin, Horace. Harmonizing. 1944. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin,
https://allenartcollection.oberlin.edu/objects/10131/
Singer, Clyde. Wind on the Avenue. 1937. Columbus Museum of Art,
http://5095.sydneyplus.com/final/Portal/Default.aspx?lang=en-US
Tanner, Henry Ossawa. The Seine. c. 1902. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC,
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.52624.html
Unknown artist. Interior Scene. c. 1840. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC,
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.59892.html
van Gogh, Vincent. Wheat Field with Cypresses. 1889. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436535
Verspronck, Johannes Cornelisz. Portrait of Andries Stilte. 1639-1640. Columbus
Museum of Art, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51668973#/media/File:Johannes
_Cornelisz_Verspronck_-_Portrait_of_Andries_Stilte_(1639-40).jpg
Wiley, Kehinde. Portrait of Andries Stilte II. 2006. Columbus Museum of Art,
https://ww.columbusmuseum.org/my_cma_masterpiece/
?asset=969-wl-20f97001-22c1-4c3f-8579-39657f5ac3c5
Wofford, Jenifer K. MacArthur Nurses (Pushing). 2013, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin.
Films
The Great Gatsby. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Warner Bros., 2013.
The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. PolyGram, 1995.
The Wolf of Wall Street. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Paramount, 2013.
Memes
Meme Collection 1
Person Reading. Adapted from Jacques Louis David. Madame Francois Buron. 1768.
Frog with complex math. Adapted from Peppa Pig.
See https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/252673621/peppa-pig-frog
SpongeBob. Still image from “Survival of the Idiots/Dumped.” Season 2, episode 8.
SpongeBob. Nickelodeon. 6 Oct. 2001. https://nickstory.fandom.com/wiki/
October_6,_2001
“You Just Got Vectored.” https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-just-got-vectored/
photos/templates. 27 Mar. 2023.
Meme Collection 2
“The Right Man…” someecard. Facebook post by Peter’s Puppies.
https://www.facebook.com/peterspuppies. 5 Feb. 2023.
“My Reaction When My Husband Asks Where Did This New Horse Come From.”
Facebook post by Pattens Stud. 9 Mar. 2020. https://www.facebook.com/pattenshorses/
photos/a.462317480623559/1254980811357218/?locale=ms_MY
“Is it Wine-o-Clock Yet?” Meme Generator. https://memegenerator.net/business-cat
27 March 2023.
“For the Love of God Stop Sending Me Game Requests.” Facebook post by
Josh Blue Comedy. 19 Oct. 2013. https://www.facebook.com/officialjoshblue/
photos/a.189541697750560/612138665490859/
