Images: finding, using and referencing

For academic projects, image research is most effective in conjunction with textual research, i.e. in a book or article, or on a website you are already consulting.

 If you are searching for images alone, here are a few tips to help:-

• Start by visualising the image you want to find and note down words to describe it
• Translate what you are seeing into words – think about things, places and people which might be featured, an action or event. Are there certain colours or feelings being evoked?​
• If looking for a specific image – write down everything you know about it – artist/photographer, content, date, location, title words​
• Think about synonyms​ and alternative terms to describe the image
• Note any technical requirements you might have – size, resolution, quality, etc.

Use these keywords to search on image websites and directories, as you would for textual-based research.

There are many websites useful for finding free photos.  Remember to acknowledge the source of images in your work and be aware that some may not be usable for educational purposes. See Referencing images for more guidance. 

Always check on the site for information about copyright restrictions. Not all images will be freely available. You may need to seek the publishers' permission before copying any image.

Many students use Google to look for images.  https://images.google.com/

• Search for the image you want as you normally would, then head to the Images section
• Click on 'Tools' to expand the filter menu
• Under 'Usage rights', you'll find the option to sort images by their license - Creative Commons or commercial use

Reverse image searching is useful when you need to find where an image was originally posted on the internet and who it was created by. This is particularly useful for correctly referencing images, as you should not reference any search engines or image sharing sites like Pinterest in your academic work. You must find the original where possible, or at the very least, cite the person who shared the image. 

New ways of searching for images, such as Content-based image retrieval (CBIR), enable you to search by other criteria, such as colour, shapes or texture, or even by uploading or drawing your own image. Find out more and explore with the links below: