All images/diagrams/figures used in your work must be attributed and labelled.
Attribution means that you are giving the author/creator of the work credit in the main body of your work. This means that credit is given where it's due and establishes the difference between your ideas and those of others. It is good practise to attribute all images, even those that state that attribution is not required.
Just as with any text you are quoting from, you must provide enough information for the reader to trace the image back to its source, together with the terms under which it is being used (examples are below).
Images taken from online sources.
Make sure you add the following information:
Title: The title of the image.
Author: The name of the creator.
Source: The URL where the image is hosted (plus optional link to author profile).
License: The type of Creative Commons license it is available under, including a link to the relevant license.
Here is an example: (in this example the URL is added as a link to the image title and the authors webpage as a link to their name)
Fruits by Frank van Leersum is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Fruit Heart by GDJ. Public Domain CC0.
Images taken from Books or Journals
When using images from a book or journal please reference them as you would any text taken from the book. If you are using more than one image/chart/figure in your work it is a good idea to label them too. Add a simple attribution under the illustration.
For example:
Figure 1. Various types of cells within the human body. (Colbert, 2012, p.58).
Then add the full reference in the Reference List / Bibliography.
Colbert, B., Ankney, J. and Lee, K. (2012) Anatomy and Physiology for Nursing and Healthcare Professionals. Harlow: Pearson Education.
More information on citing book illustrations, figures, diagrams, logos and tables can be found on the Cite Them Right website.
Seeking permission to use a copyrighted image
If you come across an image which has no copyright information, you should assume that the owner has retained copyright in full. You will also see images marked as '© All rights reserved'.
If you cannot find a similar, free to use image and really wish to use the copyright protected image you have located, it is worth contacting the owner. Very often permission will be granted for use in educational resources. Give the owner as much information as possible regarding details and location of the image online, who you are and how you would like to use it, and ask what attribution should be included if permission is granted.
Using your own images
You don't legally need to attribute and reference a photograph that you have taken yourself. However, so we know that it's your photo and not someone else's we advice that you do attribute/label and reference it.
Figure 2. Rose. (Cooper, 2020).
Reference List
Cooper, T. (2020) Rose [Photograph].