NoodleTools Guidesheet for Citing Graphics: MLA

(created by Sally Carroll-Ricks, MLS, MM, AHIP, Library Systems Administrator/E-Resources Librarian, Assistant Professor, scarroll@tlu.edu, updated 10/30/2007)

This assumes you have already created a NoodleTools “List” and that you want to cite an online graphic or illustration which you have copied and pasted into your paper or PowerPoint from the open Internet.  The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (5th ed.) does not provide an example of how to cite a graphic within a PowerPoint presentation but the following is based on discussions with staff at NoodleTools and their discussions with staff at the Modern Language Association.

1. Go to the library home page at http://www.tlu.edu/library
2. Click the "Search" link.
3. On the next screen, click "Search by Database" or "Search by Title."
4. On the next screen, click "NoodleBib (citation creator."
5. Log on with the Personal ID and Password you created.
6. Click NoodleBib.
7. Click on a list you have created.
8. In the “I am citing” box, drop down to “Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph” and click GO.
9. Click NEXT.
10. Click the radio button for "online"  and click NEXT.
11. If your image is a documentary photograph, click the radio button for it.  If it is an undocumented photograph or something else, accept the default for “A work of art.”
12. Accept the default for “Free” if your graphic comes from the open Internet and not a library subscription database.
13. Click the radio button for "Unique URL" and click NEXT.
14. On the next screen, you will have to make decisions, based on the Web site graphic you have selected.
15. Almost always, you will need to create a description for the graphic; when you do so, keep in mind that you will be using this description in a text box on your PowerPoint slide or in your research paper and that it needs to be unique enough to distinguish it from all other citations.  It is rare to find a graphic with an official title, unless you have an art work from a museum.  Usually, you will click the YES radio button in answer to:
    
16. The key information is asterisked.  This is the minimum information you must provide.
    
    
17. In the annotation box, tell the reader what the URL for the image is, for example:  “The URL for the image is http://www.ipcc.ch/present/graphics/2001syr/small/05.16.jpg.”  If you are preparing an annotated bibliography, add your comments about or summary of the graphic.

Please note that the URL for the image is the URL for the Web page on which the image originates—not Google.  Google is an indexing engine, similar to a library catalog.  Do NOT cite Google.  In your annotation, also provide the URL for the graphic itself because this will often be the fastest way for your reader to locate it.

For example, by searching Google Images for “global warming and ipcc,” I located a graphic that illustrates a point I am discussing in my paper on greenhouse gases and global warming.  The URL on the original Website that provides the link to the graphic I am using is: http://www.ipcc.ch/present/graphics.htm and that page contains a long list of graphics, including:


The graphic I want to cite is from the “Climate change 2001 – Synthesis report,” numbered 2-3 in that report.  To get the URL to the graphic, I must right click “PPT,” “Small,” or “Large.”  When I right click “Small,” for example, and then “Properties,” the following window appears:


The URL for the graphic is:  http://www.ipcc.ch/present/graphics/2001syr/small/05.16.jpg
The graphic looks like:


My final annotated citation in NoodleTools is:


To create this citation, I typed the following in NoodleTools:





NoodleTools will suggest an in-text (parenthetical) citation for you, based on what you have typed into the boxes.  To see it, click on “Parenthetical Reference” to the rightmost side of your NoodleTools citation:


And you will be told:


Consult your professor if you need assistance.