It is sometimes useful to include a figure, table, diagram or image within the main body of your assignment as a means of illustrating a point more clearly. When doing this, you need to make sure the item is appropriately labelled and (if necessary) referenced.
Note: How you do this can vary between subject disciplines so this advice is intended as general guidance only - you should always follow any specific instructions set out in your assignment brief, and if necessary check with your tutors in case they have additional preferences. If including a figure or table would break up the flow of your main writing too much, consider putting it as an appendix instead. Advice on appendices is given in the separate FAQ link provided at the bottom of this answer.
Labelling a figure or table
Underneath each item you should give a figure or table number followed by a caption or title that briefly describes what the item is about. Figure and table numbers should follow sequentially through your assignment, so the first one you include is Figure 1, the next Figure 2 and so on. Tables would be a separate sequence starting with Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 etc.
Example:
Figure 1: University Logo (University of Wolverhampton, 2020)
Remember to include an appropriate citation for any item that you have reproduced from another source. The citation should include the author/organisation, published year, page number if available, and any label detail that would help pinpoint the source - for example: (Walker, 2020, p. 45, fig. 4). The corresponding reference list entry should then give the full details of the whole article or book (or other source) as normal.
If you also discuss the figure or table in the main flow of your writing, indicate this accordingly
e.g. Data shows that students greatly benefit from study skills support (see Table 1)...
What if I'm writing about someone else's figure but not reproducing it?
Sometimes you may wish to refer to somebody else's illustration, diagram or table as part of your discussion without actually reproducing the item in your work. Cite Them Right gives the following Harvard in-text citation examples for this:
- Holbein's painting illustrated the prelate's ornate mitre (Strong, 1990, p. 62, fig. 12).
- The GDP data for the UK (James, 2018, p. 12, table 2) shows that...
See Cite Them Right's Book illustrations, figures, diagrams, logos and tables (Harvard) link (login required) for more information. Again, include the full details of the whole source in your reference list.
What if the figure is my own work?
If the figure or table is your own creation, include the figure or table number followed by a caption or title. Some subject disciplines may also like you to credit yourself as the source e.g. (Source: John Smith). You wouldn't need to put anything in your reference list unless the source existed as a separate document.
