Referring to visual materials
To refer to a table, figure, image etc. that is within a larger work, cite using normal MLA formatting with author, title, etc.
For example, if you are citing an image from an article, your works cited would be for the entire article. The in-text citation should clearly indicate the work you are referring to.
Image of a painting found in an edited print book
Parenthetical (in-text)
Evidence of an abstract portrait can be seen Lassnig’s 1948 painting The Reader (54).
Works cited
Lassnig, M. The Reader. Maria Lassnig - ways of being, edited by Beatrice von Bormann, Antonia Hoerschelmann, and Klaus Albrecht Schröder, 1948, p.54.
Table, found in an online journal article
Parenthetical (in-text)
It is within table 1 that we can see the breakdown of how big the sample size was per year (Riddell and Riddell 337).
Works cited
Riddell, Chris, and W. Craig Riddell. “Interpreting Experimental Evidence in the Presence of Postrandomization Events: A Reassessment of the Self-Sufficiency Project.” Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 38, no. 4, Oct. 2020, pp. 873–914. https://doi.org/10.1086/706513.
Inserting visual materials into your work
According to the MLA guidelines, the use of tables/images/visual material in the body of your paper should be used sparingly. Determine if this medium will best suit your purposes and consider that an image is not a substitute for an explanation, but rather something that may enhance the reading of your paper.
Place tables and illustrations as close as possible to the related text. Here are the key rules for inserting tables and other visual materials in your text:
An inserted table
Parenthetical (in-text)
In the 1992 sample, (see table 1) 9601 people were interviewed, a number which decreased to 6309 people in 2006 (Platt et al., 2010).
Table in body or paper
Table 1
Sample Attrition by Year and Number of Interviews Completed, for Panel A and B
Alyssa Platt et al. “Alcohol-Consumption Trajectories and Associated Characteristics Among Adults Older Than Age 50.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 71, no. 2, Mar. 2010, pp. 169–79, table 1, https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2010.71.169.
Works cited
Platt, Alyssa et al. “Alcohol-Consumption Trajectories and Associated Characteristics Among Adults Older Than Age 50.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 71, no. 2, Mar. 2010, pp. 169–79, table 1, https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2010.71.169.
Photo found online
Parenthetical (in-text)
As illustrated in Three Planets Dance over La Silla (Beletsky), the phenomenon of 'syzygy' is when celestial bodies align in the sky (see fig. 1).
Image in body of paper
Fig. 1. Yuri Beletsky, Three Planets Dance over La Silla, photograph, 2013.
Works cited
Beletsky, Yuri. Three Planets Dance over La Silla. European Southern Observatory, 3 June 2013, www.eso.org/public/images/potw1322a/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
Image with full bibliographic information in the caption
Fig. 1 Fred Davis, Haida Angel. Topographies : Aspects of Recent B.C. Art, edited by Grant Arnold, Monika Kin Gagnon, Doreen Jensen. Vancouver Art Gallery, 1996.