How to Cite an Image in APA (7th Edition), Plus the Bible, Dictionaries and Songs

Most image citations follow one pattern, whatever the website, museum or database.

The pattern

Creator, A. A. (Year). Title of image [Description]. Site Name or Museum, City, State, Country. URL

What each part means

• Creator: the photographer, artist or organization. A group such as a national park can be the author.
• Year: the year the image was made or posted. Use (n.d.) when there's no date.
• Title: italic, in sentence case, so only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. An untitled image gets a bracketed description instead, such as [Photograph of a student protest].
• Description: a word in square brackets after the title, such as [Photograph], [Painting], [Illustration], [Infographic] or [Map].
• Source: the website name, or the museum's name and location. Leave out the site name when it's the same as the author.

APA format for photos and pictures

The same entry works for photographs, pictures, drawings, digital art and infographics; only the bracketed description changes. So "APA format for photos" and "how to cite a photograph in APA format" lead to the same answer as how to cite an image in APA. The APA Citation Machine builds the base of the entry from a web page; add the bracketed description by hand.

In-text citations for images

Cite the creator and year: (Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013) in parentheses, or Denali National Park and Preserve (2013) in your sentence. If you describe an image without showing it, the in-text citation plus the reference entry is all you need.

When you paste an image into your paper, it becomes a figure. APA figure format applies to every photo, chart, graph, map or drawing you show, whether you made it or found it.

The parts of a figure

According to APA's figure guidelines, a figure has:

1. Number: "Figure 1" in bold, above the image. Number figures in the order you first mention them.
2. Title: one double-spaced line below the number, brief but descriptive, in italic title case.
3. Image: the photo, chart or drawing. Any text inside it uses a sans serif font between 8 and 14 points.
4. Legend: optional, inside the image borders, explaining symbols.
5. Note: optional, below the image, for abbreviations, explanations or copyright attribution.

Where figures go

APA figure formatting gives two choices: place each figure in the text after the paragraph that first mentions it, or put each one on its own page after the reference list. Ask your instructor which they prefer.

Figures of an image you didn't make

In APA figure format, a reproduced image needs a copyright attribution in the figure note, and the source also goes in your reference list. You don't add a separate in-text citation, because the note does that job. Tables follow the same number-title-note layout; our guide to APA table format covers table notes in detail.

The copyright note starts with Note. in italics. Use "From" when you show the image as it is, and "Adapted from" when you changed it, for example by cropping it into a new chart or redrawing a map. These are patterns from APA's own sample figures and clip art page:

Do you need permission?

For a class paper, an attribution is usually enough. If you publish the work, you may need permission from the copyright holder. Public domain and many Creative Commons images can be reused, but check the license. APA figure format is the same either way; only the note changes.

APA's artwork page uses one format for paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, drawings, digital art, crafts and installations. The artist is the author, the medium goes in square brackets, and the museum's name and location form the source.

Museum artwork reference

van Gogh, V. (1889). The starry night [Painting]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States.

Art you saw in person vs. online

For American Gothic, the reference names the museum: Wood, G. (1930). American gothic [Painting]. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States. Add the museum page link if you used it, and cite (Wood, 1930). Knowing how to cite an image in APA from a museum site is safer than citing a random image site.

Whether you cite clip art depends on its license, according to APA's clip art page.

When no citation is needed

If the license requires no attribution, you don't need a reference, an in-text citation or a copyright note. Just give the figure number, title and image. APA notes that clip art bundled with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint needs no attribution.

When you must give credit

Many Creative Commons images, though not all, require attribution. Then add a copyright note under the figure and a reference entry, as in the Flickr example above.

Untitled images

Some photos have no title. Put a short description in square brackets where the title goes, and don't italicize it. That's the last piece of how to cite an image in APA.

Searches for "referencing the Bible in APA format" and "quoting the Bible in APA format" have a clear answer in APA 7. Here's how to cite the Bible in APA, based on APA's religious work references page.

Do you need a reference entry?

Yes. The first rule of how to cite the Bible in APA 7 is that religious works now get a reference list entry, a change from the 6th edition. List the version you actually read. Religious works are usually treated as having no author, so the title goes first.

Reference entry for the Bible

An online Bible uses the webpage format; a printed Bible uses the book format. When the original publication year is known, add it at the end:

King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769)

Italicize the title of a specific edition, such as King James Bible. Don't italicize general names for versions, such as King James Version or New Revised Standard Version.

The in-text citation names the title and year. When there are two dates, give both with a slash, the earlier first: (King James Bible, 1769/2017).

Book, chapter and verse

Religious works use canonical numbering instead of page numbers, so add the book, chapter and verse after the year. For example (illustrative): The psalm opens with a statement of trust (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Psalm 23:1). APA's own example follows the same order: (Kaiser & Garrett, 2006, Genesis 1:20).

Other classical religious works

The same rules apply to the Qur'an, the Torah and the Bhagavad Gita. APA's example: The Bhagavad Gita (E. Easwaran, Trans.; 2nd ed.). (2007). The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. Cite it as (The Bhagavad Gita, 2007). That's how to cite the Bible in APA and any other sacred text.

Dictionary APA format is the most searched topic in this cluster, and the rules are short. They come from APA's dictionary entry page.

Online dictionary entry

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Culture. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture

The publisher is the author, the date is (n.d.), the entry word is in plain type, and the dictionary name is italic. Because online dictionaries are updated and not archived, dictionary APA format asks for a retrieval date, the day you looked the word up.

Print dictionary entry

In dictionary APA format, a print entry uses the publication year instead of n.d., puts the edition and page number in parentheses after the dictionary title, and needs no retrieval date.

Quoting a definition

Cite the definition number in place of a page: Semantics refers to the "study of meanings" (Merriam-Webster, n.d., Definition 1). That's APA's own example.

When to cite a dictionary

Use dictionary APA format when you quote a definition or the exact meaning matters, not for common words. Dictionary APA format works the same way for encyclopedias.

Here's how to cite a song in APA, following the APA Style blog on song references and Section 10.13 of the Publication Manual.

The song pattern

Artist, A. (Year). Title of song [Song]. On Title of album. Label.

• Artist: the recording artist. Solo artists are inverted (Swift, T.); group names and single names appear as written (Coldplay & BTS).
• Title: sentence case, not italic, followed by [Song].
• Album: "On" plus the album title in italics. Leave this out for a single with no album.
• Label: the record label; separate two labels with a semicolon.

Knowing how to cite a song in APA also covers albums: swap [Song] for [Album] and italicize the album title.

Song and album examples

• Coldplay & BTS. (2021). My universe [Song]. On Music of the spheres. Parlophone; Atlantic.
• Swift, T. (2022). Anti-hero [Song]. On Midnights. Republic.
• Swift, T. (2022). Midnights [Album]. Republic.

Streaming links, covers and classical music

Include a URL only when it's the only way to get the track, such as an artist's own website. For a cover, cite the version you heard. Classical music names the composer and adds the original year: (Beethoven, 1804/2012). If you cite a song and its album by the same artist, add a and b after the year. That covers how to cite a song in APA for most class assignments.

These errors show up often.

One more check

Every source cited in your text needs a reference entry, except clip art with no attribution required. For the rest of the page setup, see our APA format guidelines.

Now you know how to cite an image in APA, use APA figure format to reproduce it, and handle the Bible, dictionary entries and songs in the same reference list. The reference list stays alphabetical by the first word of each entry, so King James Bible files under K and van Gogh under V.

When you're ready to build the list, let the APA citation generator format your books, articles and web pages, then add the bracketed descriptions above by hand. Start your paper with the APA Title Page Generator, and browse more topics on the student writing guides page.