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How to Cite a Photo When Writing

Citing photographs used to be easy when you included pictures with your writing. You could mention the name of the photographer, the title of the picture and the date the photo was taken and you were good to go. With the myriad sources of electronic media available today, citing photographs is more complicated. You need to know more than just the photographer's name and when he took the picture. You can use a number of citation styles to cite your photographs, including the Modern Language Association style.

Instructions

Citing Photos Found Offline
- 1
  Indicate the photographer's full name with the last name first, followed by the first name and the middle initial, if available. End this information with a period.
- 2
  Give the name of the photo in capital case with the title italicized. End the information with a period. State the year the photo was taken followed by a period, if the information is known.
- 3
  State the institution where the work is held and the city where the institution is located. Separate the two pieces of information with a comma and finish it with a period. These three steps are all the information you need if photos are from an institution.
- 4
  Cite a photo from a book by listing the information in the first three steps. Include the book's title in capital case, the book's author, the book's publisher, the publication date, the page number where the photo is found and the medium -- in this case, a book.
- 5
  String the information together. The citation will look something like this for a book:
  Smith, Jonathon. The Time Machine. 2007. The Museum of Natural History, New York.
  Greatest Photos of the Past Century. Panda Publishers. 28 February 2011. 123. Book. (The photo title and the name of the book are both in italics.)
Citing Photos Found Online
- 6
  Indicate the photographer's full name with the last name first, followed by the first name and the middle initial, if available. End this information with a period.
- 7
  Indicate the name of the photo in capital case with the title italicized. End the information with a period. State the year the photo was taken followed by a period.
- 8
  Indicate the institution where the work is held and the city where the institution is located. Separate the two pieces of information with a comma and finish it with a period.
- 9
  Indicate the name of the website where the photo is found in italics and end it with a period. State the medium of the source where you found the picture -- in this case, Web. End the reference with the date you accessed the photo online, starting with the date followed by the month and the year. End it all with a period.
- 10
  String the information together. The citation will look something like this:
  Smith, Jonathon. The Time Machine. 2007. The Museum of Natural History, New York. Images 'R Us. Web. 23 May 2011. (The photo's title and the name of the website are both in italics.)

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