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Libraries and Learning Skills

APA 7th Edition - University of Lincoln

Figures and Tables (created yourself)

For your assignments you may include tables and figures within the body of the text. Occasionally, you may be asked to include them as separate appendices as you would if you were submitting a paper to an academic journal for publishing.

Check with your tutor for the precise requirements for each piece of work.  

Figures:

Figures are visual images to support ideas in a paper (drawings, graphs, photographs and maps). They appear as numbered figures in the assignment (Figure 1, Figure 2…etc). 

Format for figures:

  • Figures must be clear scaled to fit appropriately on the page
  • Above the figure, type the word Figure (bold) on the left - e.g. Figure 1. Number figures in the order in which they are mentioned in your paper.
  • The figure title appears one double-spaced line below the figure number. Give each figure a brief but descriptive title. Italicise the figure title and use title case capitalisation (capitalise all major words but not those such as the, in, of, and, etc.).
  • The font should be a sans-serif font such as Helvetica and not less than 8 points and not more than 14 points.
  • A figure legend, or key, if used, should be positioned within the borders of the figure and explains any symbols used in the figure image.
  • Only include figure notes if needed to describe contents of the figure that cannot be understood from the figure title, image, and/or legend alone. Figure notes are placed beneath the figure.
  • See the APA's guidance for more information on formatting figures.

Tables:

Tables include technical data in easily interpreted and comparable forms.           

Format for tables:

  • The table number comes above the table title and body in bold font - e.g. Table 1. Number tables in the order in which they are mentioned in your paper.
  • The table title appears one double-spaced line below the table number. Provide each table a brief but descriptive title. Italicise the table title and use title case capitalisation (capitalise each major word but not words such as the, in, of, and, etc.).
  • Only include figure notes if needed to describe contents of the figure that cannot be understood from the table title or body alone. Table notes are placed beneath the table.
  • See the APA's guidance for more information on formatting tables.

Reusing figures/ tables/ images

Reusing Figures/ tables or images

For non-commercial, educational purposes you can use reuse figures or images (this falls within the fair dealing aspect of copyright for educational purposes).

There needs to be a copyright attribution (instead of an in-text citation) and a reference list entry.

 

Layout of a figure or image

Above the figure/ image in bold type Figure 1 or Figure 2, etc. and then add the descriptive title of the figure in italics on a new line - following the instructions above.

The copyright attribution comes beneath the figure and would be in the following format as a journal article example:

Note. From "Welcome to College? Developing a Richer Understanding of the Transition Process for Adult First Year Students Using Reflective Written Journals," by A. Risquez, S. Moore, and M. Morley, 2007, Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 9(2), p. 3 (https://doi.org/10.2190/cs.9.2.d). Copyright 2007 by SAGE Publications.

See the APA's samples figures for more examples (the Sample line graph example shows you how to write the copyright attribution for a figure you have used from an article).
 

How you write the copyright attribution varies depending on where the source is taken from. See below for specific examples (this information is taken from page 390 of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association).
 

Figure reproduced from a journal article

From or Adapted from "Title of Article," by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Journal Title, Volume(Issue), p. x (DOI or URL). Copyright status (e.g. Copyright year by Name of Copyright Holder; OR In the public domain; OR CC BY-NC, etc.). 

Example
From "Welcome to College? Developing a Richer Understanding of the Transition Process for Adult First Year Students Using Reflective Written Journals," by A. Risquez, S. Moore, and M. Morley, 2007, Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 9(2), p. 3 (https://doi.org/10.2190/cs.9.2.d). Copyright 2007 by SAGE Publications.

 

Figure reproduced from a book or report

From or Adapted from Title of Book or Report (p. x), by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Publisher (DOI or URL - if there is one). Copyright status (e.g. Copyright year by Name of Copyright Holder; OR In the public domain; OR CC BY-NC, etc.). 

Example

From Biopsychology (11th ed., p. 34), by P. J. Pinel and S. J. Barnes, 2022, Pearson. Copyright 2022 by Pearson Education Limited.

 

Figure reproduced from a webpage or website

From or Adapted from Title of Webpage, by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Site Name (DOI or URL). Copyright status (e.g. Copyright year by Name of Copyright Holder; OR In the public domain; OR CC BY-NC, etc.). 

OR if it's a webpage with a group author which has the same name as the website:
From or Adapted from Title of Webpage, by Group Author Same as Site Name, year (DOI or URL). Copyright status (e.g. Copyright year by Name of Copyright Holder; OR In the public domain; OR CC BY-NC, etc.). 

Example

From Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2022 to 2023, by Home Office, 2023, GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/crime-outcomes-in-england-and-wales-2022-to-2023/crime-outcomes-in-england-and-wales-2022-to-2023). Crown Copyright.


You still need to include a reference list entry for the source the figure/table has been reproduced from - e.g. journal article, book, webpage, etc.


This guidance from Edinburgh Napier University is very useful: https://libguides.napier.ac.uk/APA/figuresandtables