Sometimes the best table or figure for your paper is one someone else made. You can use it, but you need to give credit. How you do that depends on your format and on whether you changed it.
- Reprinted: you used it exactly as it was.
- Adapted: you changed it. For example, you used part of someone's table in a new table of your own.
PERRLA builds your table or figure and formats it for your style. You type the credit. This article shows you what to write.
Before You Start
- Decide if you reprinted or adapted it.
- Check if you need permission. Some work is protected by copyright, and some is free to use. Your format's rule is below.
- Check with your instructor. If your instructor or school has its own rules, follow them.
APA 7
In APA 7, the credit is called a copyright attribution. It goes at the end of the note below your table or figure.
The attribution has four parts:
- From (if you reprinted it) or Adapted from (if you adapted it).
- The title, author, year, and source.
- The copyright status: "Copyright [year] by [copyright holder]," a Creative Commons license (for example, "CC BY-NC"), or "In the public domain."
- Only if you asked for and got permission: "Reprinted with permission" or "Adapted with permission."
The attribution takes the place of an in-text citation for that table or figure. The source still goes in your reference list.
Do I need permission? Creative Commons and public domain works don't need permission, but they still need the attribution. Copyrighted works sometimes need written permission, depending on the publisher and on fair use. If you get permission, hand in a copy with your assignment.
Reanalyzed data: If you reanalyzed someone's data to get new numbers, you don't need an attribution. Use a regular in-text citation instead.
APA 7 Examples
These sources are made up to show the pattern.
- A table adapted from a copyrighted journal article:
Adapted from "Sleep and Study Habits in First-Year Nursing Students," by M. R. Alvarez and T. K. Brandt, 2022, Example Journal of Nursing Studies, 14(3), p. 212 (https://doi.org/10.1234/example). Copyright 2022 by Midlands Academic Press. - A reprinted figure with a Creative Commons license:
From "Rainfall Trends Across Three River Basins," by L. Okafor and J. Lindqvist, 2021, Example Hydrology Letters, 8, p. 5 (https://doi.org/10.1234/example2). CC BY 4.0. - A figure from a U.S. government website (public domain):
From Average Daily Steps by Age Group, by National Center for Example Statistics, 2023 (https://www.example.gov/steps-by-age). In the public domain. - A figure reprinted with the publisher's permission:
From "Classroom Noise and Reading Scores," by P. Nguyen, in S. Whitfield (Ed.), The Example Handbook of Learning Spaces (2nd ed., p. 88), 2020, Harbor University Press. Copyright 2020 by Harbor University Press. Reprinted with permission.
MLA 9
Tables: Put the source in a caption right below the table. If you changed the table, start with "Adapted from:" Any notes go below that, labeled a, b, c.
Figures: Put the label (Fig. 1) and caption right below the figure. The source goes in the caption.
You can write the source two ways:
- The full source in the caption. Write it like a Works Cited entry, but don't flip the author's name. If you don't cite the source anywhere else in your paper, it doesn't need a Works Cited entry.
- A short caption. Separate the parts with commas, and put the full source in your Works Cited list.
Do I need permission? The MLA Handbook doesn't cover permission. MLA's website says that in a student paper, a permission credit is a courtesy. Ask your instructor if you're not sure.
MLA 9 Examples
These sources are made up to show the pattern.
- An adapted table (caption below the table):
Adapted from: Riverside Example Survey Office. Annual Reading Survey, 2023 ed., June 2023, table 4, www.example.org/reading-survey/table4. - A figure with the full source in the caption:
Fig. 1. Clara Whitcombe. Morning on the Harbor. 1891, Example Museum of Art, Boston, MA, United States. Oil painting. - A figure with a short caption:
Fig. 2. Jonah Pell, River Crossing, engraving, 1702.
And in your Works Cited list:
Pell, Jonah. River Crossing. 1702, Example Museum of Art, Boston, MA, United States. Engraving.
Turabian 9
Credit the source of any data you didn't collect yourself. That's true even if you put it in a new form, like a graph you made from someone else's table.
Tables: Add a source line below the table. Start it with Source: in italics. If you changed the data in any way, include the words "adapted from."
Figures: Put the source at the end of the caption, below the figure. For a photograph, map, or other image you didn't make, credit the creator instead (for example, "Photograph by Clara Whitcombe.").
Notes-bibliography style: Write the source like a full footnote, plus the table number or page it came from. It doesn't need a bibliography entry unless you cite it somewhere else in your paper.
Author-date style: Write it like an in-text citation, without the parentheses. Then put the full source in your reference list.
Do I need permission? Turabian only covers permission for dissertations going to an outside repository. Those may need formal permission to use copyrighted tables or figures. Check with your dissertation office.
Turabian 9 Examples
These sources are made up to show the pattern.
- An adapted table (notes-bibliography):
Source: Data adapted from Mara Quint, Reading Habits in River Towns (Riverside, CA: Example University Press, 2019), table 4. - An adapted table (author-date):
Source: Data adapted from Quint 2019, table 4. - A figure made from someone else's data:
Figure 3. Average monthly rainfall, 2010–2020. Data from National Center for Example Statistics, "Monthly Rainfall Averages," revised March 3, 2021, https://www.example.gov/rainfall. - A photograph you didn't take:
Figure 4. The old mill at dawn. Photograph by Clara Whitcombe.
Adding the Credit in PERRLA
Microsoft Word and Google Docs
- Place your cursor where the table or figure should go.
- Open PERRLA.
- Click Insert Table or Insert Figure.
- Enter the details. For a figure, choose the image and type the caption.
- In APA 7, check Include notes.
- Click Insert Table or Insert Figure.
- Add the credit.
APA 7: at the end of the note.
MLA 9 and Turabian 9 tables: PERRLA adds a source line below the table. Replace its text with your credit. If the table is your own work, delete the line.
MLA 9 and Turabian 9 figures: at the end of the caption.
PERRLA Online
The steps are the same, with a few extras:
- In MLA 9, a new figure's caption ends with "Type the source for the figure here." Replace it with your credit.
- Tables in PERRLA Online don't get a source line yet. In MLA 9, type the source on its own line right below the table. In Turabian 9, check Include notes when you insert the table, then replace the note with your source line, starting with "Source:"
- To add a note to a table that doesn't have one, right-click the table and choose Add Notes.
- To add a note to an APA 7 figure that doesn't have one, right-click the figure and choose Add Note.
- A citation can't go in a figure's caption. In MLA 9 and Turabian 9, type the source in the caption as text.
PERRLA doesn't write the credit for you, but it puts your table or figure, its notes, and its source line in the right place, formatted for your style.