How to Write a Caption

Writing the Caption

Be descriptive. This first rule is the most important. Tell the reader exactly what is going on in the picture or figure. Why exactly are you including this image? The reader should be able to answer that after reading your caption. For instance, if you’re including a picture of a field in a paper about biology, your caption should tell why the field is important to your discussion.

If you are describing a table or graph, talk about variables. What does each side of the bar graph represent? Your reader should have enough information from the caption, the key, and the graph to be able to make sense of it without reading your paper.

Save humor for elsewhere. Unless you are writing a humorous paper that includes humorous graphics, generally captions are better left serious due to the need for conciseness.

Keep it concise. That is, it should be no longer than a paragraph, but really, a sentence should be sufficient, at most. In fact, captions don’t even need to be complete sentences. For a photograph, it’s okay to make it shorter than a sentence, such as “Kayley on the Ferris wheel.”

Remove anything that isn’t strictly necessary. For instance, the above caption could have said “Kayley waves her hand on the giant green Ferris wheel,” but the extra information that provides isn’t necessary for the reader to understand what’s going on in the picture.

Including Source Information

Cite your source under the graph or table if it comes from somewhere else. How you do this depends on the style guidelines you are using. Below, you’ll find how to provide source information in various formats.

Cite according to Modern Language Association style. For example: “from Bob Davis, Motorcycles on the Road, (Boulder: Mountain Road Books, 2004) 55. Print.” Note: The caption goes before the “from.”

Cite according to American Psychological Association style. For example: “Note. (caption). Reprinted from Motorcycles on the Road (p. 55), Bob Davis, 2004, Boulder: Mountain Road Books. Copyright 2004 by the University Press. Reprinted with permission.”

Cite according to Chicago Style. For example: “Source: Bob Davis, Motorcycles on the Road, Boulder: Mountain Road Publishers, 2004, 55.” Note: In this one, the source goes after the caption.