APA Citation Style, 7th Edition: Photographs, Tables, & PDF's

There is NOT a lot of guidance from APA on citing actual photographs placed within a document or student paper. I think this is primarily because APA does not recommend adding photographs (especially in professional papers) unless you have express written consent of the author, or unless you know the photograph is in the public domain, or has a creative commons license that allows permission to be used in non-commercial documents. 

 

However, I think the best practice for citing a photograph would be to include a note underneath the photograph, sharing that you are crediting the image and then add your in-text citation. This is similar to the APA guidance on adding a "note" under a Table in a document, which is shared in various examples in the APA 7th edition manual on pages 230-250. Notice that the word "note" is in italics, following the APA examples listed on those pages. 

 

Below is an example, and please note, this is just a suggestion on best practice for in-text citations and is not shared in the APA 7th edition manual: 

 

 

Note: Image credit (Basden, 2021). 

 

The photograph would then also be listed in the references at the end of the document. In the reference below, notice that since you are ONLY referencing the photograph, not the story, you add "photograph" in brackets. 

 

Basden, S. (2021, January 6). Washington Co. commissioner, former governor among first 75+ to receive COVID-19 vaccine [Photograph]. ABC News Channel 12. https://tinyurl.com/yspb4rhz  

 

(Basden, 2021).

 

Also: If you are citing, describing, or paraphrasing a table or data visualization in the TEXT of your document, and not just using a copy of the photograph, you will create the in text citation & the reference, exactly as demonstrated on this page. 

 

There is NOT a lot of guidance from APA on citing tables (that are not original creations)  that are placed within a document or student paper. I think this is primarily because APA does not recommend adding tables (that are not original creations), (especially in professional papers) unless you have express written consent of the author, or unless you know the table or data visualization is in the public domain, or has a creative commons license that allows permission to be used in non-commercial documents. 

 

However, I think the best practice for citing tables and/or data visualizations, would be to include a note underneath them, sharing that you are crediting the table or data visualization, and then add your in-text citation. This is similar to the APA guidance on adding a "note" under an originally created table in a document, which is shared in various examples in the APA 7th edition manual on pages 230-250. Notice that the word "note" is in italics, following the APA examples listed on those pages. 

 

Below is an example, and please note, this is just a suggestion on best practice for in-text citations and is not shared in the APA 7th edition manual: 

 

 

Note: Image credit (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2019). 

 

The photograph would then also be listed in the references at the end of the document. In the reference below, notice that since you are ONLY referencing the photograph, not the story, you add "photograph" in brackets. 

 

Association of American Medical Colleges. (2019, August 19). Figure 13. Percentage of U.S. medical school graduates by race/ethnicity (alone), academic year 2018-2019 [Pie chart]. https://tinyurl.com/2edwrxjv 

 

(Association of American Medical Colleges, 2019). 

 

Also: If you are citing, describing, or paraphrasing a table or data visualization in the TEXT of your document, and not just using a copy of the photograph, you will create the in text citation & the reference, exactly as demonstrated on this page. 

If you were curious, PDF means "portable document format." It's a standard way to share documents electronically, in a safe format that generally cannot be altered (or if it is altered, it's listed in the document history). Often when you are researching demographic information or corporate information, instead of finding that information directly placed on a website, they are often compiled in a company document that can be accessed by downloading, or opening in a PDF viewable window. 

 

These PDF documents aren't necessarily books or journals (although many times, book chapters & journal articles are routinely available in a PDF format). If you are referencing a book, book chapter, or a journal article, follow that specific APA formatting advice!  The types of PDF's being referenced here, are often organizational data, or information meant specifically for company employees, company policy manuals, etc.. Often these types of PDF's DO NOT have an official "publisher" other than the company who created the document, and it can be difficult to know how to cite them in your paper. 

 

When you are paraphrasing from a PDF, you generally cite it the same way you would most other references, with the author and the year if one is available. If a specific person is not listed as the author of the PDF (and often they aren't) list the company or group as the author. For the example below, the in-text citation would look like this: (Carteret County Health Department, 2021). 

 

For the reference of this PDF resource, note that we are using Carteret County Health Department as the author, since there is not a person listed as the author. I also placed "PDF" in brackets after the name of the document, to signify how the document was being presented. The source information includes JUST the website, since the parent organization (Carteret County Health Department) is also listed as the author, and therefore does not need to be repeated in the source. 

 

Carteret County Health Department. (2021, March 3). Behavioral health/substance abuse resources [PDF]. https://tinyurl.com/rxab9wkf 

 

(Carteret County Health Department, 2021).

 

NOTE: IF you are citing a government document that is in a PDF format, please follow the instructions for formatting GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS instead of citing as a PDF.