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How to Cite a Painting or Artwork in APA, MLA, or Chicago

When writing a research paper it is important to properly cite your sources. But what if the source you want to cite isn’t a book or website, but a painting? And does it make a difference if you see the painting in person at a museum, or through a secondary source like a webpage? This article will tell you how to cite a painting you see in person or online in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. In the spirit of Independence Day, the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware is used for examples.

What you will need

Citing a painting typically requires a bit more information than citing a book. The information you will need is:

• Current location of the piece
• Size dimensions
• The medium (e.g., sculpture, painting, etc.)
• Artist’s name
• Title of the piece
• Date the painting was created

If you’re citing a painting you viewed online, you’ll also need:

• Website URL
• Name of the website
• Date the page was published
• Date you accessed the page (if needed)

Citing a painting you see online in MLA

MLA citation format :

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork OR description. Year of creation. Name of Website , URL.

Leutze, Emmanuel. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851. The Met , www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417.

In-text citation:

Here’s how the above example would be cited in an in-text citation:

(Artist Last Name)

Formatting notes

Artist’s name: 

Write the artist’s name with their last name first followed by a comma and then their first name, just as you would the author of a book. If they have a middle initial or name list it after the first name. Put a period after the first name or middle name/initial if one is given. If the artist is listed or described as “Anonymous,” put Anonymous. If no artist is credited for the work, just start with the next step, the title of the work.

Title of the piece: 

After the author’s name, put the title in italics, followed by a period. Capitalize nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adverbs. If there is no title given, provide a short and un-italicized description with regular sentence capitalization. For example, you could write “Untitled portrait of King Henry VIII” or “Red rose on yellow background.”

Year and location: 

Next you will need to write the year the painting was made followed by a comma. Then put the piece’s current location by writing the name of the website where you accessed the painting in italics. And finally, include the URL of the artwork’s webpage, starting with “www.” Add a period at the end of the citation.

Citing a painting you see online in APA

APA citation format: 

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Initial. (Year). Title of painting [Description of material]. Museum, City, State Abbreviation/Country. URL

Leutze, E. (1851). Washington crossing the Delaware [Painting]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, United States. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417

(Artist Last Name, Year)

(Leutze, 1851)

Artist’s name:

Write the last name of the artist followed by a comma and then the first initial and middle initial if one is given followed by a period. If the artist is unknown, then skip this step and start the citation with the title of the work as described in the next step. If the artist is listed as anonymous/unknown, use that as the name.

Year and title of the piece:

After the artist’s name put the year the painting was created in parentheses followed by a period. Then put the title of the painting in italics using sentence case. Then put the medium or materials used in brackets, followed by a period.

After the medium put the name of the museum where the piece is currently on display followed by a comma. Then put the city where the museum is located followed by a comma. Next, if the museum is in the United States, put the abbreviation for the state followed by a comma, and then put United Staes followed by a period. For all other countries, put the name of the country instead of the state followed by a period.

Next add the direct URL for the webpage where you viewed the painting, including https://www. You should not put a period after the URL.

Citing a painting you see online in Chicago (notes-bibliography style)

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Painting. Year painting was created. Description of materials. Dimensions if available. Museum, City. URL.

Leutze, Emmanuel. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851. Oil on canvas. 149 x 255 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417.

Here’s how the above example would be cited in the note:

1. Artist’s First Name Last Name, Title of Painting , Year painting was created, description of materials, dimensions, Museum, City, URL.

1. Emmanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware , 1851, oil on canvas, 149 x 255 in, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417.

Start with the last name of the artist followed by a comma and then the first name and a period. If the author is listed as Anonymous, use that as the name. If no artist is credited simply skip this step and begin the citation with the title from the next step.

Title of the piece:

After the name and a period, write the title of the painting in italics followed by a period. Use title case, so capitalize all nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adverbs.  If no title is given, you may simply skip this step. You do not need to provide a description or write “Untitled.”

Next list the year the painting was completed followed by a period. If no date is provided, put “n.d.”

Medium and size:

List the materials used to make the artwork in sentence case followed by a period. Then put the dimensions followed by a period. You may use metric or imperial measurements, just be sure to keep it consistent throughout your paper. If this information is not available, simply leave it out.

Put the name of the museum where the piece is currently housed followed by a comma and the city where the museum is located.

Website and access date:

Lastly, put the URL (including https://www) at the end of the citation followed by a period. Note that Chicago style does not require an access date unless there is no listed publication date for the source. If you do need to include an access date, it should be formatted as follows: Accessed Month Day, Year.

Citing a painting you see in person in MLA

To cite a painting you see in person in MLA style, simply follow the same format as online, but replace the name of the website with the name of the gallery/museum (not italicized) followed by a comma and the city where the museum is located.

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork OR description. Year of creation, Museum, City.

MLA example :

Leutze, Emmanuel. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Citing a painting you see in person in APA

Follow the format for citing a painting viewed online, but end the citation after the city and state/country information of the museum. However, even if you saw the painting in person, if it is available online, you should still include the URL, and the citation will be the same as the citation for viewing a painting online in APA.

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Initial. (Year). Title of painting [Description of material]. Museum, City, State Abbreviation/Country. URL (if available)

APA example:

Citing a painting you see in person in Chicago (notes-bibliography style)

Follow the same format as for a painting viewed online, but omit the URL.

Chicago style citation format: 

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Painting. Year painting was created. Description of materials. Dimensions if available. Museum, City.

Leutze, Emmanuel. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851. Oil on canvas. 149 x 255 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

1. Artist’s First Name Last Name, Title of Painting , Year painting was created, description of materials, dimensions, Museum, City.

1. Emmanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware , 1851, oil on canvas, 149 x 255 in, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

For your next essay, get a free grammar check with up to 5 free suggestions at EasyBib.com! In addition, you can also read the EasyBib grammar guides and learn how to properly use possessive nouns , linking verbs , an adverb clause , and other parts of speech. 

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To cite a painting in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the name of the artist, title, name of the museum, place, and URL (uniform resource locator). The templates for in-text citation and reference list entry of a painting, along with examples, are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

Artist Surname (Publication Year)

Thomas (1921)

Parenthetical:

(Artist Surname, Publication Year)

(Thomas, 1921)

Reference list entry template and example:

Artist Surname, F. M. (Year of Publication). Title of the painting. Name of the museum or gallery, place of the museum or gallery. URL

Thomas, A. H. (1921). Formes et couleurs: vingt planches en couleurs contenant soixante-sept motifs decoratifs [Painting]. The Met Museum, New York, NY, United States. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/591870?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&high=on&ft=Art+Deco&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=3

Note that the first name and middle name, following the author’s surname, are abbreviated and separated by a space. The title of the painting is set in italics, followed by the word “[Painting]” in brackets.

To cite a painting in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the artist, title, and museum name and location. The templates for in-text citations and works cited list entries of a painting along with examples are given below.

In-text citation templates and examples

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the artist in the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the artist. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the artist.

Citation in prose examples:

First mention: François Boucher …

Subsequent occurrences: Boucher…

Parenthetical template:

Parenthetical example:

Works cited list templates and examples

Viewed online

Artist Surname, First Name. Title of the Painting. Year of creation, Name of the Museum or Gallery, City of the museum or gallery. Title of Website , URL.

Boucher, François . Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist and Angels . 1765, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. The Met , www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435744?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ao=on&od=on&ft=painting&offset=0&rpp=80&pos=29.

Viewed in person

Artist Surname, First Name. Title of the painting. Year of creation, Name of the Museum or Gallery, City of the museum or gallery.

Matisse, Henri . Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat). 1905, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

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How to Cite Images and Paintings in APA, MLA, and Chicago

Last Updated: April 29, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Marissa Levis and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Marissa Levis is an English Teacher in the Morris County Vocational School District. She previously worked as an English director at a tutoring center that caters to students in elementary and middle school. She is an expert in creating a curriculum that helps students advance their skills in secondary-level English, focusing on MLA formatting, reading comprehension, writing skills, editing and proofreading, literary analysis, standardized test preparation, and journalism topics. Marissa received her Master of Arts in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 120,279 times.

You may need to use a painting as a source for a research paper, particularly if you're writing about art history or a related field. To cite a painting, you need more information than you would for a standard text source. Typically, you'll also need to include the current location of the work, its dimensions, and its material or medium. The specific format for your citation varies depending on the citation style you use. Three of the most common citation styles are Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), and Chicago style.

• Example: Goya, Francisco.
• If no artist is credited, start the citation with the title of the painting. If the work is credited to "Anonymous," use "Anonymous" as the artist's name.

• Titled example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV .
• Untitled example: Rauschenberg, Robert. Glossy black painting.

Examples of Brief Descriptions

Goya, Francisco. Untitled portrait of the Duchess of Alba.

Nicholson, Ben. White relief painting.

Basquiat, Jean-Michel. Black skull on blue background.

• Example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

MLA Works Cited Entry Format

Artist Last Name, First Name. Title of Painting . Year, Museum or Collection, City.

• Book example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages , 10th ed., by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.
• Website example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. WikiArt Visual Art Encyclopedia , www.wikiart.org/en/francisco-goya/charles-iv-of-spain-and-his-family-1800.
• If you viewed the painting on the museum's website, omit the name and location of the museum. Use the name of the website and URL instead. Place a period after the year, since it refers to the date the painting was created, not the date it was published on the website. For example: Goya, Francisco, The Family of Charles IV . 1800. Museo del Prado , www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/.
• Include the medium and materials at the end of your entry if they are important or relevant to your paper. Otherwise, this information isn't required for an MLA Works Cited entry.

• Example: "One of Francisco Goya's subjects in The Family of Charles IV has her head turned away. Scholars believe this was a member of the family who was not present on the day the portrait was painted."
• If the painting is untitled, use your brief description of the painting along with the artist's name. For example, you might write: "The Duchess of Alba was widely considered to be Francisco Goya's muse, as his many untitled portraits of her suggest."

• Example: Pratt, C. (1965).
• If the artist is unknown, start your reference list entry with the title of the work. However, if the credited artist is "Anonymous," use that word as the name of the author. [7] X Research source
• If the date is not known, use the abbreviation "n.d." inside the parentheses.

• Example: Pratt, C. (1965). Young girl with seashells [Oil on board].
• If the painting is untitled, use the word "Untitled" in place of the title. Since it isn't the title of the painting, it shouldn't be italicized.

• Example: Pratt, C. (1965). Young girl with seashells [Oil on board]. Memorial University Art Gallery Permanent Collection, Corner Brook, NL.

APA Reference List Entry Format

Artist Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of painting [Description of material]. Museum or Collection, City, abbreviated state/province or name of country.

• Book example: Jacque, H. (2010). Labrador black duck [Clay tile]. Lawrence O'Brien Auditorium, Goose Bay, NL. In D. Brown, Uncommon clay: The labradoria mural (p. 18). St John's, NL: Creative Publishing. (Original work 2009).
• Website example: Shepherd, H. P. (1962). Sunday morning [Oil]. Collection of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL. The rooms (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.therooms.ca/artgallery/shepherds.asp

• Example: "Christopher Pratt's painting Young Girl with Seashells (1965) offers a glimpse of classic Newfoundland heritage."

• Example: Gogh, Vincent van.
• If the artist is unknown, simply leave this element out of your citation. If the artist is listed as "Anonymous," use that word in place of the artist's name. [13] X Research source

• Example: Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night .
• If the painting is untitled, simply move on to the next element of the citation. Chicago doesn't require you to write a description as a placeholder, or to use the word "Untitled." However, if you do, type this information in plain text rather than italics. Otherwise, it looks like the title.

• Example: Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night . 1889.

• Example: Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night . 1889. Oil on canvas. 29 in. x 36.25 in.
• As with other elements, if any of this information isn't available, simply leave it out. There's no need to make a separate mention that the information is unknown or unavailable.
• The Chicago Manual of Style doesn't take a position on whether to use imperial or metric measurements. Simply pick one and use it consistently throughout your paper and other citations.

• Example: Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night . 1889. Oil on canvas. 29 in. x 36.25 in. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

• Example: Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night . 1889. Oil on canvas. 29 in. x 36.25 in. Museum of Modern Art, New York. https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/, accessed 23 October 2018.

Chicago Bibliography Entry Format

Artist Last Name, First Name. Title of Painting . Year. Description of material. Dimensions. Museum or Collection, City. URL, accessed Day-Month-Year.

• Book example: Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night . 1889. In Bailey, Martin. Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum . London, UK: White Lion Publishing, 2018.

• In-text example: "There is a message of hope in the swirling colors and light of Vincent van Gogh's famous painting The Starry Night . 1 "
• Footnote website example: 1. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night , 1889, oil on canvas, 29 in. x 36.25 in., Museum of Modern Art, New York, https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/, accessed 23 October 2018.
• Footnote book example: 1. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night , 1889, in Martin Bailey, Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum (London, UK: White Lion Publishing, 2018), Figure 49.

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Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about citations, check out our in-depth interview with Marissa Levis .

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html
• ↑ https://guides.library.mun.ca/c.php?g=501606&p=3435023
• ↑ https://guides.library.mun.ca/c.php?g=501606&p=3435051
• ↑ https://aus.libguides.com/apa/apa-no-author-date
• ↑ https://guides.highpoint.edu/c.php?g=19559&p=4947938
• ↑ https://librarybestbets.fairfield.edu/citationguides/chicagoauthor-date
• ↑ https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/turabian/artworks

About This Article

To cite a painting in the Modern Language Association style, you only need to give the artist’s full name followed by the title of the work in italics in the body of your essay. For example, you’d write, “In Francisco Goya’s The Family of Charles IV, he creates a contrast of light and dark.” For your works cited entry, you’ll need to write the artist’s name, starting with their surname, then the name of the painting in italics, followed by the year it was painted and the museum or collection where it’s located. If the city of the location isn’t included in the museum’s name, add this at the end. For instance, you would write, “Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.” For more tips, including how to cite a painting using the APA and Chicago styles, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Cite an Artwork in APA Referencing

3-minute read

• 5th March 2021

Previously, we’ve explained how to cite an online image using APA referencing . But what about an artwork from a museum? APA has special rules for this, too, so we’ll look at how to cite an artwork using APA referencing in this post.

If you simply mention an artwork in your writing, you can cite it by giving the name of the artist and the year of production in parentheses. For instance:

One of the surviving paintings is The Goldfinch (Fabritius, 1654).

Here, for instance, we’re citing The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius.

If you have named the artist in the text, though, simply add the year of production in brackets. For example, we could cite The Wounded Deer by Frida Kahlo like this:

Frida Kahlo (1946) uses the image of the deer to express her sadness.

For images embedded in your essay, the format is the same but you should give the citation in the image caption rather than the main text. But wherever you cite it, you then need to give full details of the artwork in your reference list.

Referencing an Artwork from a Museum

In an APA reference list , the basic format for an artwork from a museum is:

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Surname, Initial(s). (Year of production). Title of Artwork [Medium]. Name of museum holding the work, Town/City, State (if applicable), Country.

The “medium” here refers to the materials used or the type of artwork. You can be general and use “[Painting]” or “[Sculpture]” or similar. You can also be more specific with “[Oil painting]” or “[Oil on canvas],” for example.

If the artwork is available to view on the museum’s website, add a URL at the end of the reference. Or Fabritius example would be referenced like this, for instance:

Fabritius, C. (1654). The Goldfinch [Oil painting]. The Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands. https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/the-goldfinch-605/

If the painting doesn’t have a title, use a description in square brackets instead.

Don’t forget that this is the format for an artwork from a museum. For other artworks accessed online, see our post on citing online images in APA referencing .

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How to Reference a Painting in an Essay

By the time you reach college, you are probably aware of the correct way to cite basic and commonly used sources such as periodicals and books, but you might need to draw information from a wider variety of sources, such as paintings. The MLA and Chicago style offer guidelines for correctly citing paintings.

Citing a Painting in MLA Style

List the painter's name, followed by a period. For example: Picasso, Pablo.

List the title of the painting in italics, followed by a period.

List the year the painting was completed, followed by a period.

List in italics the name of the institution that houses the work, followed by a comma. For example: The Smithsonian,

List the city in which the institution is situated, followed by a period.

The finished citation should read: Picasso, Pablo. Man and Blue Guitar. 1936. The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Citing a Painting in Chicago Style

List the name of the painter, followed by a period. For example: Picasso, Pablo.

The finished citation should read: Picasso, Pablo. Man and Blue Guitar. 1936.

• Purdue OWL: MLA Other Common Sources
• City University of New York: Using the Chicago Manual of Style

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How to Reference Artwork

• 6-minute read
• 14th December 2022

In this article, you’ll learn how to reference artwork in the APA 7th, MLA, MHRA, and Chicago referencing systems. Check out this article to learn how to reference artwork in Harvard .

How to Reference Artwork in APA 7th Referencing

In APA 7th, there are two ways to reference and cite artwork.

1. Artwork in a museum or on a museum website:

Last name, Initial. (Year) Name of painting [Medium/Format]. Museum Name, Location. URL

For example:

Da Vinci, L. (1506). Mona Lisa [Painting]. The Louvre, Paris, France.

In-text citation: (Da Vinci, 1506)

If you viewed the artwork online, include the museum website address.

Flack, A. (1988). Islandia, goddess of the healing waters [Sculpture]. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL, United States. https://harn.emuseum.com/objects/354/islandia-goddess-of-the-healing-waters

In-text citation: (Flack, 1988)

Narrative citation: Flack (1988)

If the work is untitled, include a description in square brackets in place of the title. If there’s no date available, use n.d. in parentheses in place of the date.

2. Artwork in an art exhibition

Last name, Initial. (Year/Year Range). Art exhibition name [Exhibition]. Museum Name, Location. URL

Put the exhibition curator names in the author section and the year(s) of the exhibition in the date section of the reference.

Spinozzi, A., Lasser, E., & Young, J. (2022–2023). Hear me now: The Black potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina [Exhibition]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, United States.

In-text citation: (Spinozzi et al., 2022–2023)

Narrative citation: Spinozzi et al. (2022–2023)

If the curator(s) name is not available/unknown, move the art exhibition title to the curator(s) name position.

Feminine power: The divine to the demonic [Exhibition]. (2022). The British Museum, London, United Kingdom. https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/feminine-power-divine-demonic

In-text citation: (Feminine power: The divine to the demonic, 2022)

Narrative citation: Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic (2022)

How to Reference Artwork in MLA Referencing

1. painting, sculpture, or photograph seen in person.

Artist’s last name, Artist’s first name. Titles of Artwork. Date, Museum/Institution Name, Location of Museum/Institution.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Mona Lisa . 1506, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

In-text citation : (Da Vinci)

If you want to include the medium/materials of the artwork, you can add that at the end of the entry; however, this isn’t required by MLA. If the museum/institution name of where the artwork is housed includes the name of the location, then the location isn’t needed (e.g., Istanbul Modern).

2. Artwork viewed online

In this case, use the name of the website as the container and include the website’s publisher and URL at the end of the citation. Don’t use the publisher information if it’s the same as the name of the website. And be sure to add a period after the artwork date because it’s considered optional information.

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800. Museo del Prado, museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.

In-text citation: (Goya)

3. Photographic reproductions of artwork (images of artwork in a book)

In this case, use the book as a container. Remember that the title is listed before the contributors.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Last Supper . 1498, Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan. Great Paintings of the Western World , by Gallup, Alison, et al., Barnes & Noble, 1998, p. 223.

In-text citation: (Da Vinci 223)

Narrative citation: Da Vinci (223)

How to Reference Artwork in MHRA Referencing

In MHRA, references for works of art should include:

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●  Name of the artist (if known)

●  Title of the work in italics

●  Date

●  Medium type

●  Dimensions of medium in cm (depending on the medium)

●  Current physical location/source

Please keep in mind that MHRA uses both footnote and author-date systems. We’ll focus on citations for the author-date system.

1. Artwork seen in person

Artist’s First and Last Name, Title of Artwork , Date, medium, dimension in cm, Museum/Institution Name, Location.

Henry Moore, Reclining Woman: Elbow , 1981, bronze, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds.

In-text citation: (Moore 1981)

Narrative citation: Moore (1981)

2. Artwork in a book

Artist’s First and Last Name, Title of Artwork , Date, medium, from Title of Book (Publisher location: Publisher Name, Year), page number.

Ansel Adams, Monolith, The Face of Half Dome , photograph, from Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras (San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1927), p. 24.

In-text citation: (Adams 1927: 24)

Narrative citation: Adams (1927: 24)

3. Artwork viewed online

Artist’s First and Last Name, Title of Artwork , Date, medium, dimension <URL> [access date].

Alphonse Mucha, Bières de la Meuse , 1897, color lithograph, 154.5 × 104.5 cm <http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/browse-works/object/46> [accessed 11 December 2014].

In-text citation: (Mucha 1897)

Narrative citation: Mucha (1897)

How to Reference Artwork in Chicago Referencing

There are two styles of Chicago referencing: author-date and notes/bibliography. This guide will go over the notes/bibliography style.

1. Citing paintings, photographs, and sculptures

Information on paintings, photographs, sculptures and other works of art can usually be presented in the text instead of in a note or bibliography. For works of art viewed online, add a URL at the end of the note/bibliography.

Footnote: Artist’s First and Last Name, Title of Artwork , Year, medium, dimension, location, Institution Name. URL if available.

Here are a few examples:

• Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Slave , 1513–15, marble, 2.09 m., Paris, The Louvre.
• Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory , 1931, oil on canvas, 9½ × 13″ (24.1 × 33 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York, http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79018 .
• Dorothea Lange, Black Maria, Oakland , 1957, printed 1965, gelatin silver print, 39.3 × 37 cm, Art Institute, Chicago, http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/220174.

Bibliography: Artists’ Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork , Year. Medium, dimension. Location, Institution Name. URL if available.

For example (see Section 14.235 in CMOS 17):

Buonarroti, Michelangelo. The Slave , 1513–15. Marble, 2.09 m. Paris, The Louvre.

2. Artwork reproduced in print

CMOS uses the term “illustrations” to refer to figures, artwork, or art in a book (see Section 3.1 in CMOS 17)

The abbreviation fig. is acceptable for figure, but table, map, plate and other illustration forms must be spelled out at the end of the note/bibliography. Page number(s) go before the illustration number with a comma separating them (see Section 14.158 in CMOS 17).

Footnote: Editor’s First and Last Name, eds., Title of Figure/Artwork/Table (Publisher Location: Publisher, Year), page number, table/fig./chart number.

1. Jean-Paul Chavas, David Hummels, and Brian D. Wright, eds., The Economics of Food Price Volatility (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014), 167, table 4.4.

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Art Research Guide

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Cite an Artwork

Captions & Figures

• Print Source
• Electronic Source
• Other Source

MLA: Labels, captions, and source information

Illustrations appear directly embedded in the document, except in the case of manuscripts that are being prepared for publication. (For preparing manuscripts with visual materials for publication, see Note on Manuscripts below.) Each illustration must include a label, a number, a caption and/or source information.

• The illustration label and number should always appear in two places:  the document main text (e.g. see fig. 1) and near the illustration itself (Fig. 1).
• Captions  provide titles or explanatory notes.
• Source information  documentation will always depend upon the medium of the source illustration. If you provide source information with all of your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

• All visuals/illustrations that are not tables or musical score examples (e.g. maps, diagrams, charts, videos, podcasts, etc.) are labeled Figure or Fig.
• Refer to the figure in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that corresponds to the figure. Do not capitalize figure or fig .
• MLA does not specify alignment requirements for figures; thus, these images may be embedded as the reader sees fit. However, continue to follow basic MLA Style formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
• Below the figure, provide a label name and its corresponding arabic numeral (no bold or italics), followed by a period (e.g. Fig. 1.). Here, Figure and Fig .  are capitalized.
• Beginning with the same line as the label and number, provide a title and/or caption as well as relevant source information in note form (see instructions and examples above). If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

Figures Example

In-text reference:

Some readers found Harry’s final battle with Voldemort a disappointment, and recently, the podcast,  MuggleCast  debated the subject (see fig. 2).

Figure caption (below an embedded podcast file for a document to be viewed electronically):

Fig. 2. Harry Potter and Voldemort final battle debate from Andrew Sims et al.; “Show 166”;  MuggleCast ; MuggleNet.com, 19 Dec. 2008, www.mugglenet.com/2015/11/the-snape-debate-rowling-speaks-out.

• The descriptor Example only refers to musical illustrations (e.g. portions of a musical score). Example is often abbreviated Ex .
• Refer to the example in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that corresponds to the example. Do not capitalize example or ex .
• Supply the illustration, making sure to maintain basic MLA Style formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
• Below the example, provide the label (capitalized Example or Ex . ) and number and a caption or title. The caption or title will often take the form of source information along with an explanation, for example, of what part of the score is being illustrated. If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

Print Source Caption Example

Fig. 4. Frank Duveneck, Portrait of Maggie Wilson, Oil on board, 38.10 x 30.48 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Unsuspected Genius: the Art and Life of Frank Duveneck, by Robert Neuhaus  (San Francisco: Bedford Press, 1987) 227.

Electronic Source Caption Example

Fig. 9. Amasis Painter, Lekythos; Women Weaving, 17.15 cm height, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Accessed Jan. 12, 2007 from the Reed College CONTENTdm database <http://cdm.reed.edu/u?/vrcwork,38536>.

Other Source Caption Example

Fig. 13. Columbia River at Dawn. Personal photograph by author. 13 March 2008.

MLA Citations

• Original Work of Art
• Image from Web
• Reproduction from Print

MLA: An Original Work of Visual Art

To cite an original work of visual art (a lithograph, painting, photograph, sculpture, etc.) in an institution such as a museum or in a private collection, follow this format:

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of artwork. Year. Medium. Name of institution/private collection housing artwork, city where institution/private collection is located.

Evans, Walker. Penny Picture Display. 1936. Photograph. Museum of Mod. Art, New York. Heckman, Albert. Windblown Trees. N.d. Lithograph on paper. Private collection.

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. Aristotle with a Bust of Homer. 1653. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Seurat, Georges. Man Leaning on a Fence. 1880-81? Graphite on paper. Collection of André Bromberg, n.p.

For more information, see section 5.7.6, “A Work of Visual Art,” in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.

An Image/Reproduction of a Work of Visual Art from the Web

To cite an image/reproduction of a work of visual art from the Web, follow this format:

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of artwork. Year. Name of institution/private collection housing artwork. Title of database or website. Publisher/sponsor of database or website. Medium consulted. Date of access.

Note about publisher/sponsor: When known, include if it is not related to the housing institution/collection; is a parent entity of

the database or website; or offers the source in additional formats.

Braun, Adolphe. Flower Study, Rose of Sharon. c. 1854. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Grove Art Online. Oxford

University Press. Web. 2 June 2011.

Currin, John. Blond Angel. 2001. Indianapolis Museum of Art. IMA: It’s My Art. Web. 9 May 2007.

Eggleston, William. Memphis. c. 1969. Museum of Mod. Art.

Academy of Art University Collection, LUNA. Academy of Art University. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

Lange, Dorothea. The Migrant Mother. 1936. Prints and Photographs Div., Lib. of Cong. Dorothea Lange:

Photographer of the People. Web. 9 May 2007.

For more information, see section 5.6.2.d, “A Work on the Web Cited with Publication Data for Another Medium Besides Print,” in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.

URLs are now an optional component of a citation, but it is still recommended to include this information if the reader will not be able to locate a resource without it, or it is part of an instructor’s requirements.

When providing a URL, enclose the complete address in angle brackets following the date of access, period, and a space. End the entire entry with a period after the closing angle bracket:

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of artwork. Year. Name of institution/private collection housing artwork. Title of database or website. Publisher/sponsor of database or website. Medium consulted. Date of access. <URL>.

Cloix, Emmanuel. BROUSSAI 2 visu. 2007. Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 1 June 2011. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BROUSSAI_2_visu.jpg>.

Koul, Anirudh. Golden Gate Bridge – Photographing World’s Most Photographed Place. 2008. Flickr. Yahoo! Inc. Web. 1 June 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/anirudhkoul/2535955996/>.

Moore, Albert. A Garden. 1869. Tate Britain. Art Project. Google. Web. 1 June 2011. <http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/tate/a-garden-152>.

For more information, see section 5.6.1, “Citing Web Publications: Introduction,” in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.

An Image/Reproduction of a Work of Visual Art from a Print Source

To cite an image/reproduction of a work of visual art from a print source, follow this format:

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of artwork. Year. Name of institution/private collection housing artwork. Title of print source. Author/editor’s first name last name. Publication city: Publisher, year. Page/plate number. Medium of reproduction.

Eakins, Thomas. Spinning. 1881. Private collection. Thomas Eakins. Ed. Darrel Sewell. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art in assn. with Yale UP, 2001. Plate 91. Print.

Kahlo, Frida. The Two Fridas. 1939. Museo de Art Moderno, Mexico City. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. 12th ed. Ed. Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya. Vol. 2. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. 774. Print.

Moholy-Nagy, Lászlò. Photogram. N.d. Museum of Mod. Art, New York. The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography. Ed. Richard Bolton. Cambridge: MIT P, 1989. 94. Print.

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Art: citing art mla style.

• Citing Art MLA Style
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In-text Citations

How do I refer to an artwork in the text of my paper?

Give the artist's name and italicize the title* of the work. No additional information in parenthesis is required:

Blackwood's Leaving for the Labrador Anne Meredith Barry's Passing Parade

*Exceptions: MLA recommends not italicizing buildings, earthworks, and ancient artworks (e.g. Empire State Building, Great Wall of China, Venus de Milo).

Downloadable

• How to Cite Art: MLA Style 9th ed. Download a PDF version of this guide

MLA Style 9th ed: How to Cite Art in your Works Cited List

Original Drawing / Painting / Sculpture / Photo / Etc. If artist is unknown, begin with the title. You can leave out the city, if it is part of the museum or collection name. Optional: At the end of the entry you may include the format (e.g. Marble sculpture, Photograph, Oil on canvas, etc.).

Artist. Title . Year, Museum or Collection, City.

Pratt, Christopher. Young Girl with Seashells . 1965,

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Collection, Corner Brook. Oil on masonite,

For untitled artworks, provide a generic description. Do not italicize or capitalize each word:

Westwood, Vivian. Lime green, faux crocodile

platform shoes. 1993, Bata Shoe Museum,

Image in a Library Database (e.g. Artstor) Include database name and a DOI (preferred) proceeded by “https://doi.org/” or a URL.

Artist. Title of Artwork . Year, Museum, or Collection,

City. Name of Database , DOI or URL.

Landing of Atlantic Cable in Newfoundland, 1866 .

1900, George Eastman House, Rochester.

Artstor , library.artstor.org.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/

library/iv2.html?parent=true.

Reproduction in a Book For a book with more than 3 authors/editors, start with the 1st author listed followed by “et al.” For edited or translated books, add the descriptive label "editor" or “editors" or “translator”. In the publisher's name leave out words like Company (Co.), Corporation, Inc., or Ltd. Abbreviate Press (“P”) and University (“U”). For books published before 1900, use city in place of publisher, otherwise only add city when it may help locate a book published in an unexpected place or by an unfamiliar publisher outside North America. For multiple publishers, separate publisher names with a /

Artist. Title of Artwork . Year, Museum or Collection,

City. Title of Book , Author/s or Editor/s ,

Publisher/s, Year of publication,

p. page/figure/plate #.

Jacque, Herbie. Labrador Black Duck . 2009,

Lawrence O'Brien Auditorium, Goose Bay.

Uncommon Clay: The Labradoria Mural ,

by Dorrie Brown, Creative Publishers,

2010. p. 18.

Graphic Novel/Comic A graphic novel with a single creator (i.e. same person wrote and illustrated it) can be cited similar to a print book. For multiple contributors, the names of any contributors “who are important to your discussion” can be included after the title with a description of their role (p. 150).

Title of Issue. Title of Series , Contributors, no.

or vol. #, Publisher/s, year.

Season of Mists. The Sandman , by Neil

Gaiman, pencilled by Kelly Jones,

coloured by Steve Oliff and Danny

Vozzo, vol. 4, Vertigo, 2011.

Reproduction in a Print Journal

City. Author/s. "Title of Article." Name of

Journal , vol. #, no. #, day Mon. year, p. #.

Carr, Emily. Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky .

1935, Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust,

Vancouver. Udall, Sharyn R. "Georgia O'Keeffe

and Emily Carr: Health, Nature and the Creative

Process." Women's Art Journal , vol. 27, no. 1,

2006, p. 23.

Reproduction in an Online Journal Include database name and a DOI (preferred) proceeded by “https://doi.org/” or a URL. For URLs you can omit “http://”. If you downloaded the PDF version where other versions are available, include “PDF download” at the end of the entry.

City. Author/s. "Title of Article."Name of

Database Name , DOI or URL.

Sherman, Cindy. Untitled Film Still #56 . 1980.

Collection of Mary Harron. Townsend,

Christopher. “Art as Commodity as Art.”

Art Monthly, vol. 368, July/Aug. 2013, p. 2.

Art Index , web.a.ebscohost.com.qe2a-

proxy.mun.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?

sid=029dadbf cfc9-4324-  86a9-

558d13419658%40sessionmgr4006

&vid=1&hid=4204.

Reproduction on a Website For URLs you can omit “http://”. If the website title and the publisher are essentially the same, you can leave out the publisher. If there is no date of publication for the website, use the date you accessed it instead. Date of access goes at the end of the entry.

City. Name of Website , Website Publisher/s,

day Mon. year, URL.    

Shepherd, Helen Parsons. Sunday Morning . 1962,

Collection of Memorial University of

Newfoundland, St. John’s. The Rooms ,

www.exhibits.therooms.ca/artgallery/

shepherds.asp. Accessed 20 Sept. 2016.

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Painting or Drawing

• A-Z of Harvard references
• Citing authors with Harvard
• Page numbers and punctuation
• References with missing details
• Secondary referencing
• Example reference list
• Journal article
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article
• Online video
• Radio and internet radio
• Television advertisement
• Television programme
• Ancient text
• Bibliography
• Book (printed, one author or editor)
• Book (printed, multiple authors or editors)
• Book (printed, with no author)
• Chapter in a book (print)
• Collected works
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedia entries
• Multivolume work
• Religious text
• Thesis or dissertation
• Translated work
• Census data
• Financial report
• Mathematical equation
• Scientific dataset
• Book illustration, Figure or Diagram
• Inscription on a building
• Installation
• Interview (on the internet)
• Interview (newspaper)
• Interview (radio or television)
• Interview (as part of research)
• Act of the UK parliament (statute)
• Bill (House of Commons/Lords)
• Birth/Death/Marriage certificate
• British standards
• Command paper
• European Union publication
• Government/Official publication
• House of Commons/Lords paper
• Legislation from UK devolved assemblies
• Statutory instrument
• Military record
• Film/Television script
• Musical score
• Play (live performance)
• Play script
• Song lyrics
• Conference paper
• Conference proceedings
• Discussion paper
• Minutes of meeting
• Personal communication
• PowerPoint presentation
• Published report
• Student's own work
• Tutor materials for academic course
• Unpublished report
• Working paper
• Referencing glossary

To be made up of:

• Year (if available).
• Title of the work (in italics).
• Medium (in square brackets).
• Institution or collection that houses the work, followed by the city.

If seen online, add:

• Available at:
• (Accessed: date).

In-text citation:

(Dali, 1958)

Reference List:

Dali, S. (1958)  Madonna.  [Oil on canvas]. Tate Gallery, London.

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Harvard Referencing (2002 version)

• Number of authors
• Information for EndNote users

Artwork reproduced in a book (image, poem, painting etc)

Artwork reproduced in a published catalogue or exhibition, artwork reproduced on the internet (image, painting etc), artwork - when you have viewed the original, artwork - author unknown.

• Books and eBooks
• Chapter of a Book/eBook
• Conference paper
• Dictionary & Encyclopedia
• Government publications, ABS
• Film/Television/Radio
• Image, Tables & Figures
• Journal article
• Lecture notes/Class handout
• Newspaper article
• Personal communication
• Podcast/Blog/YouTube/Social Media
• Web site/Web document

Refer to the work in the text and then cite the book:

Author, AA year of publication, Title: subtitle , Publisher, Place of publication.

Chadwick, P 2007, Italian art, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, N.S.W.

In-text citation:

Artemisia Gentileschi’s c.1618 painting ‘Judith with Her Maidservant’ (Chadwick 2007, p. 111)

If the book has plates inserted between the numbered pages, use the plate number instead of the page number.  E.g. (Chastelle 1963, plate 11)

Treat the curator as the first editor, and reference the catalogue as an edited book.  Refer to the work in the text and then cite the book:

Editor, AA  & Editor, BB (eds) year of publication, Title: subtitle , Publisher, Place of publication.

Gianelli, I, Blackall, J & Christove-Bakargiev, C (eds) 2002, Arte povera: art from Italy 1967-2002, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW.

Luciano Fabro's 1964 scuplture Ruota (Gianelli, Blackall & Christov-Bakargiev 2002) is...

The name, caption, or your own description of the image acts as the title.

The official title of the artwork is italicised, but a descriptive title of an image is unitalicised and in 'single quotation marks'. Use “n.d.” where the date of the image is unknown:

Artist, AA year created, Title or 'Description', Medium (Photo etc),  Name of site sponsor site, place of sponsor site if available, viewed date Month, year, < URL>

Cher, V 2005, Sad teenager, Painting, Museum of Bad Art, Needham, MA, viewed 30 October 2012, <http://www.museumofbadart.org/coll6/image03.php>

Rothgeb, E n.d., Ronan the pug , Painting, Museum of Bad Art, Needham, MA, viewed 30 October 2012, <http://www.museumofbadart.org/coll8/image04.php>

But are artworks like Sad Teenager (Cher 2005) and  Ronan the Pug (Rothgeb n.d.) truly bad, or is it a matter of opinion?

Artist, AA year created, Title: subtitle , Exhibited Place (viewed date month, year). Medium (eg painting, sculpture, etc): media (oil on canvas, clay, etc).

Murakami, T 1994, And then, and then and then and then and then. Exhibited Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery (viewed 31 March, 2008). Painting: Synthetic polymer paint on canvas.

In his painting And then, and then and then and then and then , Murakami ... (1994).

‘Title of work’ (or a short description) year created (if available), medium, Title of Book, Journal or Webpage (follow the remainder of the pattern for books, journals and webpages).

‘A litter of puppies’ 2012, photograph, Choosing a puppy , RSPCA, Deakin West, Australia viewed 18 October 2012, <http://www.rspca.org.au/index.php?id=196>

As shown in this image, dogs from the same litter can have quite different markings ('A litter of puppies' 2012)...

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Several sources have multiple means for citation, especially those that appear in varied formats: films, DVDs, television shows, music, published and unpublished interviews, interviews over e-mail, published and unpublished conference proceedings. The following section discusses these sorts of citations as well as others not covered in the print, periodical, and electronic sources sections.

Use the following format for all sources:

Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2 nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

An Interview

Interviews typically fall into two categories: print or broadcast published and unpublished (personal) interviews, although interviews may also appear in other, similar formats such as in e-mail format or as a Web document.

Personal Interviews

Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview and the date of the interview.

Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 19 May 2014.

Published Interviews (Print or Broadcast)

List the interview by the full name of the interviewee. If the name of the interview is part of a larger work like a book, a television program, or a film series, place the title of the interview in quotation marks and place the title of the larger work in italics. If the interview appears as an independent title, italicize it. For books, include the author or editor name after the book title.

Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor, Interview by (unformatted) after the interviewee’s name and before the interviewer’s name.

Gaitskill, Mary. Interview with Charles Bock. Mississippi Review , vol. 27, no. 3, 1999, pp. 129-50.

Amis, Kingsley. “Mimic and Moralist.” Interviews with Britain’s Angry Young Men , By Dale Salwak, Borgo P, 1984.

Online-only Published Interviews

List the interview by the name of the interviewee. If the interview has a title, place it in quotation marks. Cite the remainder of the entry as you would other exclusive web content. Place the name of the website in italics, give the publisher name (or sponsor), the publication date, and the URL.

Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor Interview by (unformatted) after the interviewee’s name and before the interviewer’s name.

Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. Skewed & Reviewed , 27 Apr. 2009, www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1056940-skewed-%2526-reviewed-interviews-craig. Accessed 15 May 2009.

Speeches, Lectures, or Other Oral Presentations (including Conference Presentations)

Start with speaker’s name. Then, give the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the title of the particular conference or meeting and then the name of the organization. Name the venue and its city (if the name of the city is not listed in the venue’s name). Use the descriptor that appropriately expresses the type of presentation (e.g., Address, Lecture, Reading, Keynote Speech, Guest Lecture, Conference Presentation).

Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Era.” Discovering Digital Dimensions, Computers and Writing Conference, 23 May 2003, Union Club Hotel, West Lafayette, IN. Keynote Address.

Panel Discussions and Question-and-Answer Sessions

The MLA Handbook makes a distinction between the formal, rehearsed portion of a presentation and the informal discussion that often occurs after. To format an entry for a panel discussion or question-and-answer session, treat the panel members or speakers as authors by listing them first. If these people are formally listed as panelists, indicate this by following their names with a comma and the title "panelist(s)." Follow with the title of the discussion, or, if there is no title, a simple description. In the latter case, don't capitalize the description. Follow this with the title of the conference or event. End with the date and the location.

Bavis, Jim and Stein, Tammi, panelists. Panel discussion. Dawn or Doom Conference, 4 Nov. 2018, Stewart Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

Treat recorded discussions as instances of the appropriate medium (e.g., if you want to cite a recording of a panel discussion hosted on YouTube, cite it the same way you would cite an ordinary online video ).

Published Conference Proceedings

Cite published conference proceedings like a book. If the date and location of the conference are not part of the published title, add this information after the published proceedings title.

Last Name, First Name, editor. Conference Title , Conference Date and Location, Publisher, Date of Publication.

To cite a presentation from published conference proceedings, begin with the presenter’s name. Place the name of the presentation in quotation marks. Follow with publication information for the conference proceedings.

Last Name, First Name. “Conference Paper Title.” Conference Title that Includes Conference Date and Location , edited by Conference Editor(s), Publisher, Date of Publication.

A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph

Provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, and the date of composition. Finally, provide the name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (if the location is not listed in the name of the institution, e.g. The Art Institute of Chicago).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

If the medium and/or materials (e.g., oil on canvas) are important to the reference, you can include this information at the end of the entry. However, it is not required.

For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), treat the book or website as a container. Remember that for a second container, the title is listed first, before the contributors. Cite the bibliographic information as above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears, including page or reference numbers (plate, figure, etc.).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages , 10 th ed., by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.

If you viewed the artwork on the museum's website, treat the name of the website as the container and include the website's publisher and the URL at the end of the citation. Omit publisher information if it is the same as the name of the website. Note the period after the date below, rather than the comma: this is because the date refers to the painting's original creation, rather than to its publication on the website. Thus, MLA format considers it an "optional element."

Goya, Francisco.  The Family of Charles IV . 1800 . Museo del Prado,  museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.

A Song or Album

Music can be cited multiple ways. Mainly, this depends on the container that you accessed the music from. Generally, citations begin with the artist name. They might also be listed by composers or performers. Otherwise, list composer and performer information after the album title. Put individual song titles in quotation marks. Album names are italicized. Provide the name of the recording manufacturer followed by the publication date.

If information such as record label or name of album is unavailable from your source, do not list that information.

Morris, Rae. “Skin.” Cold, Atlantic Records, 2014. Spotify , open.spotify.com/track/0OPES3Tw5r86O6fudK8gxi.

Online Album

Beyoncé. “Pray You Catch Me.” Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind , Geffen, 1991.

Films or Movies

List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the film studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director's name.

Speed Racer . Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, performances by Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Ariel Winter, and John Goodman, Warner Brothers, 2008.

To emphasize specific performers or directors, begin the citation with the name of the desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate title for that person.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope . Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Television Shows

Recorded Television Episodes

Cite recorded television episodes like films (see above). Begin with the episode name in quotation marks. Follow with the series name in italics. When the title of the collection of recordings is different than the original series (e.g., the show Friends is in DVD release under the title Friends: The Complete Sixth Season), list the title that would help researchers to locate the recording. Give the distributor name followed by the date of distribution.

"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season , written by Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, directed by Kevin Bright, Warner Brothers, 2004.

Broadcast TV or Radio Program

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series or program in italics. Also include the network name, call letters of the station followed by the date of broadcast and city.

"The Blessing Way." The X-Files . Fox, WXIA, Atlanta, 19 Jul. 1998.

Netflix, Hulu, Google Play

Generally, when citing a specific episode, follow the format below.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031.

An Entire TV Series

When citing the entire series of a TV show, use the following format.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

A Specific Performance or Aspect of a TV Show

If you want to emphasize a particular aspect of the show, include that particular information. For instance, if you are writing about a specific character during a certain episode, include the performer’s name as well as the creator’s.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

If you wish to emphasize a particular character throughout the show’s run time, follow this format.

Poehler, Amy, performer. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2009-2015.

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series in italics. Then follow with MLA format per usual.

“Best of Not My Job Musicians.” Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! from NPR, 4 June 2016, www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/wait-wait-don-t-tell-me.

Spoken-Word Albums such as Comedy Albums

Treat spoken-word albums the same as musical albums.

Hedberg, Mitch. Strategic Grill Locations . Comedy Central, 2003.

Digital Files (PDFs, MP3s, JPEGs)

Determine the type of work to cite (e.g., article, image, sound recording) and cite appropriately. End the entry with the name of the digital format (e.g., PDF, JPEG file, Microsoft Word file, MP3). If the work does not follow traditional parameters for citation, give the author’s name, the name of the work, the date of creation, and the location.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Moonlight Sonata . Crownstar, 2006.

Smith, George. “Pax Americana: Strife in a Time of Peace.” 2005. Microsoft Word file.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, and National Writing Project. Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing . CWPA, NCTE, and NWP, 2011, wpacouncil.org/files/framework-for-success-postsecondary-writing.pdf.

Bentley, Phyllis. “Yorkshire and the Novelist.” The Kenyon Review , vol. 30, no. 4, 1968, pp. 509-22. JSTOR , www.jstor.org.iii/stable/4334841.

How to Write an Academic Essay with References and Citations

#scribendiinc

Written by  Scribendi

If you're wondering how to write an academic essay with references, look no further. In this article, we'll discuss how to use in-text citations and references, including how to cite a website, how to cite a book, and how to cite a Tweet, according to various style guides.

You might need to cite sources when writing a paper that references other sources. For example, when writing an essay, you may use information from other works, such as books, articles, or websites. You must then inform readers where this information came from. Failure to do so, even accidentally, is plagiarism—passing off another person's work as your own.

You can avoid plagiarism and show readers where to find information by using citations and references. 

Citations tell readers where a piece of information came from. They take the form of footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical elements, depending on your style guide. In-text citations are usually placed at the end of a sentence containing the relevant information. 

A reference list , bibliography, or works cited list at the end of a text provides additional details about these cited sources. This list includes enough publication information allowing readers to look up these sources themselves.

Referencing is important for more than simply avoiding plagiarism. Referring to a trustworthy source shows that the information is reliable. Referring to reliable information can also support your major points and back up your argument. 

Learning how to write an academic essay with references and how to use in-text citations will allow you to cite authors who have made similar arguments. This helps show that your argument is objective and not entirely based on personal biases.

How Do You Determine Which Style Guide to Use?

Often, a professor will assign a style guide. The purpose of a style guide is to provide writers with formatting instructions. If your professor has not assigned a style guide, they should still be able to recommend one. 

If you are entirely free to choose, pick one that aligns with your field (for example, APA is frequently used for scientific writing). 

Some of the most common style guides are as follows:

AP style for journalism

Chicago style for publishing

APA style for scholarly writing (commonly used in scientific fields)

MLA style for scholarly citations (commonly used in English literature fields)

Some journals have their own style guides, so if you plan to publish, check which guide your target journal uses. You can do this by locating your target journal's website and searching for author guidelines.

How Do You Pick Your Sources?

When learning how to write an academic essay with references, you must identify reliable sources that support your argument. 

As you read, think critically and evaluate sources for:

Objectivity

Keep detailed notes on the sources so that you can easily find them again, if needed.

Tip: Record these notes in the format of your style guide—your reference list will then be ready to go.

How to Use In-Text Citations in MLA

An in-text citation in MLA includes the author's last name and the relevant page number: 

(Author 123)

How to Cite a Website in MLA

Here's how to cite a website in MLA:

Author's last name, First name. "Title of page."

Website. Website Publisher, date. Web. Date

retrieved. <URL>

With information from a real website, this looks like:

Morris, Nancy. "How to Cite a Tweet in APA,

Chicago, and MLA." Scribendi. Scribendi

Inc., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2021.

<https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/how_to_cite_a_website.en.html>

How Do You Cite a Tweet in MLA ?

MLA uses the full text of a short Tweet (under 140 characters) as its title. Longer Tweets can be shortened using ellipses. 

MLA Tweet references should be formatted as follows:

@twitterhandle (Author Name). "Text of Tweet." Twitter, Date Month, Year, time of

publication, URL.

With information from an actual Tweet, this looks like:

@neiltyson (Neil deGrasse Tyson). "You can't use reason to convince anyone out of an

argument that they didn't use reason to get into." Twitter, 29 Sept. 2020, 10:15 p.m.,

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1311127369785192449 .

How to Cite a Book in MLA

Here's how to cite a book in MLA:

Author's last name, First name. Book Title. Publisher, Year.

With publication information from a real book, this looks like:

Montgomery, L.M. Rainbow Valley. Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1919.

How to Cite a Chapter in a Book in MLA

Author's last name, First name. "Title of Chapter." Book Title , edited by Editor Name,

Publisher, Year, pp. page range.

With publication information from an actual book, this looks like:

Ezell, Margaret J.M. "The Social Author: Manuscript Culture, Writers, and Readers." The

Broadview Reader in Book History , edited by Michelle Levy and Tom Mole, Broadview

Press, 2015,pp. 375–394.

How to  Cite a Paraphrase in MLA

You can cite a paraphrase in MLA exactly the same way as you would cite a direct quotation. 

Make sure to include the author's name (either in the text or in the parenthetical citation) and the relevant page number.

How to Use In-Text Citations in APA

In APA, in-text citations include the author's last name and the year of publication; a page number is included only if a direct quotation is used: 

(Author, 2021, p. 123)

How to Cite a Website in APA

Here's how to cite a website in APA:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year, Month. date of publication). Title of page. https://URL

Morris, N. (n.d.). How to cite a Tweet in APA, Chicago, and MLA. 

https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/how_to_cite_a_website.en.html       

Tip: Learn more about how to write an academic essay with  references to websites .

How Do You  Cite a Tweet in APA ?

APA refers to Tweets using their first 20 words. 

Tweet references should be formatted as follows:

Author, A. A. [@twitterhandle). (Year, Month. date of publication). First 20 words of the

Tweet. [Tweet] Twitter. URL

When we input information from a real Tweet, this looks like:

deGrasse Tyson, N. [@neiltyson]. (2020, Sept. 29). You can't use reason to convince anyone

out of an argument that they didn't use reason to get into. [Tweet] Twitter.

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1311127369785192449

How to Cite a Book in APA

Here's how to cite a book in APA:   

Author, A. A. (Year). Book title. Publisher.

For a real book, this looks like:

Montgomery, L. M. (1919). Rainbow valley.

Frederick A. Stokes Company.

How to Cite a Chapter in a Book in APA

Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In Editor Name (Ed.), Book Title (pp. page range).

With information from a real book, this looks like:

Ezell, M. J. M. (2014). The social author: Manuscript culture, writers, and readers. In

Michelle Levy and Tom Mole (Eds.), The Broadview Reader in Book History (pp. 375–

394). Broadview Press.

Knowing how to cite a book and how to cite a chapter in a book correctly will take you a long way in creating an effective reference list.

How to Cite a Paraphrase in APA

You can cite a paraphrase in APA the same way as you would cite a direct quotation, including the author's name and year of publication. 

In APA, you may also choose to pinpoint the page from which the information is taken.

Referencing is an essential part of academic integrity. Learning how to write an academic essay with references and how to use in-text citations shows readers that you did your research and helps them locate your sources.

Learning how to cite a website, how to cite a book, and how to cite a paraphrase can also help you avoid plagiarism —an academic offense with serious consequences for your education or professional reputation.

Scribendi can help format your citations or review your whole paper with our Academic Editing services .

Take Your Essay from Good to Great

Hire an expert academic editor , or get a free sample, about the author.

Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing transformed into a great one. Scribendi's in-house editors are unrivaled in both experience and education, having collectively edited millions of words and obtained numerous degrees. They love consuming caffeinated beverages, reading books of various genres, and relaxing in quiet, dimly lit spaces.

Have You Read?

"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing"

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How to Do an In-Text Citation for Art in MLA

Melanie forstall, 28 jun 2018.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) is a system for formatting academic papers and citing sources. It is important to understand general MLA style for formatting your writing. As a standard rule, MLA formatting guidelines require a 1-inch margin on all sides of the paper and a 12-point font, in a highly readable style, such as Times New Roman. You also want to make sure there is a clear contrast when the font is set to italic. Use only one space after a period and indent half a space for each new paragraph.

Explore this article

• Giving Credit
• How to Cite Art
• MLA Examples

1 Giving Credit

While students may enjoy on-demand access to relatively unlimited information, it is important to be clear about what content you generate, and is your own original idea, and what content actually belongs to someone else. It is very important for you to give credit to the sources you used for several reasons.

According to MIT Libraries, giving credit to your sources is important because it shows that you have actually done thorough research, and by doing this you are giving credit for the idea or content to its original author. Also, by citing works, you are making it clear that these are not your original ideas, therefore not plagiarizing the information. Lastly, citing your sources gives the reader information about the origins of the work, so they can find the original source if needed.

2 How to Cite Art

MLA is predominantly used in literature and humanities classes required for just about every major. It is important to understand the specific requirements for citing historical artwork in an academic paper. You may choose to include the exact image within the body of the text. If so, label the image as a numbered figure and give a brief caption (ex., Fig. 1. Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, Wichita Art Museum.) It is important to note that if the caption under the image within the paper is a complete citation, it is not necessary to add the citation into a works cited list at the end of the paper.

To cite a piece of artwork, such as a photograph, painting or sculpture, apply the following MLA guidelines: Artist’s full name(last name first), complete title of the artwork in italics, date of creation, medium (i.e., oil painting, sculpture, photograph), name of institution that currently houses the piece and location of institution.

3 MLA Examples

An example of MLA citations would look like this:

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. Aristotle with a Bust of Homer . 1653, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Finally, the works cited list goes at the very end of the paper, after any final notes. You should start the list on a new page and follow the general MLA formatting guidelines for margins and font.

• 1 Modern Langauge Association (MLA): Home
• 2 MIT Libraries - Citing Sources: An Overview
• 3 The Perdue Online Writing Lab - MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources

About the Author

Melanie Forstall has a doctorate in education and has worked in the field of education for over 20 years. She has been a teacher, grant writer, program director, and higher education instructor. She is a freelance writer specializing in education, and education related content. She writes for We Are Teachers, School Leaders Now, Classroom, Pocket Sense, local parenting magazines, and other professional academic outlets. Additionally, she has co-authored book chapters specializing in providing services for students with disabilities.

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Cite A Artwork in Harvard style

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• Select style:
• Archive material
• Chapter of an edited book
• Conference proceedings
• Dictionary entry
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• DVD, video, or film
• E-book or PDF
• Edited book
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• Government publication
• Music or recording
• Online image or video
• Presentation
• Press release
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Use the following template or our Harvard Referencing Generator to cite a artwork. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator .

Reference list

Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.

In-text citation

Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.

Popular Harvard Citation Guides

• How to cite a Book in Harvard style
• How to cite a Website in Harvard style
• How to cite a Journal in Harvard style
• How to cite a DVD, video, or film in Harvard style
• How to cite a Online image or video in Harvard style

Other Harvard Citation Guides

• How to cite a Archive material in Harvard style
• How to cite a Artwork in Harvard style
• How to cite a Blog in Harvard style
• How to cite a Broadcast in Harvard style
• How to cite a Chapter of an edited book in Harvard style
• How to cite a Conference proceedings in Harvard style
• How to cite a Court case in Harvard style
• How to cite a Dictionary entry in Harvard style
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• How to cite a E-book or PDF in Harvard style
• How to cite a Edited book in Harvard style
• How to cite a Email in Harvard style
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How to Improve Your Essay Writing Skills in 10 Simple Steps

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Updated: May 5, 2024

What makes an A essay different from a B essay? What makes one essay stand out among countless submissions while others barely make the grade?

The answer lies in both the content and the execution of your writing. Strong content that is poorly executed can lead to disappointing results, just as weak content cannot be saved by writing style alone.

A strong essay needs to be balanced. The writing should be informative and exciting but also fun to read. At the same time, your grammar, syntax, and punctuation should be on point.

If you’re struggling to make the grade and are unsure what you’re doing wrong, this article will cover ten basic strategies for improving your writing skills.

With a bit of understanding and a steady commitment to improving your craft, you should see a noticeable increase in your essay grades.

These strategies will help refine your writing style and structure while enhancing your analytical thinking and argumentative skills. We’ll also discuss some AI tools you can use starting today to make the essay writing process more fun and manageable.

1. Read a Lot

To truly master the art of writing, you must read as much as you can. To the best of your ability, immerse yourself in various texts and read across different genres and disciplines.

One of the best things you can do in essay writing is study published essays and periodicals to better understand how accomplished writers develop their arguments and maintain flow.

Of course, reading is a time-consuming activity. If you want to expand your knowledge without spending hours at a time in the library, consider using Smodin AI to help.

Smodin’s AI Summarizer can help you take long pieces of text and create an extractive or abstractive summary. This way, you can read a portion of the text and use AI to grasp the main points and key arguments without dedicating too much time to each piece.

Using this approach, you can cover a broader range of materials in a shorter time, particularly useful if you’re juggling multiple assignments or subjects during midterms or finals week.

2. Understand the Topic

A solid understanding of your essay topic is crucial to producing an engaging and insightful piece of writing. One of the worst things you can do as a student is to submit a paper without thoroughly researching and understanding the topic.

In other words, read the instructions before writing a single word. Invest however much time you need in researching and gathering relevant information.

Don’t rush the process, and take the time to build a strong foundation for your arguments. Study the counterarguments and ensure that your thesis is factually accurate and thoroughly thought-out.

That said, if you’re sitting at your desk, struggling to figure out where to start, or need help comprehending the topic, Smodin’s AI Chat can help you gather your thoughts.

The chat can help you understand complex topics using real-time Google Insights and provide instant access to a wealth of information with a single click.

3. Outline Your Essay

Even the best writers outline their writing before they begin. Creating an outline is crucial to organizing your thoughts and structuring your essay so it flows logically and cohesively.

When writing an essay, your topic will often take on new dimensions as you delve deeper into your research. Sometimes, your essay ends far off course and entirely different from what you envisioned.

An evolving outline can help you manage these ideas and ensure they are woven into your essay in a way that is meaningful and makes sense.

Any piece of writing needs a roadmap, whether it’s essays, articles, short stories, novels, or nonfiction books. Your ideas need to progress logically from one point to another so that they are persuasive and easy for your reader to follow.

Remember, effective time management is one of the secrets to writing an effective essay. That’s why it’s essential to use AI tools like Smodin to optimize your outlining process.

4. Master the Basics

A strong command of grammar, syntax, and punctuation is fundamental to writing an A-level essay. While most teachers and professors will not deduct points for an occasional misspelling or comma splice, too many mistakes will leave a negative impression on your reader.

The good news is that mastering the basics of writing has never been easier, thanks to the rise of AI. Do your best to practice the basics of good writing using ordinary resources like grammar guides and books, then use AI to enhance your knowledge.

In this area, Smodin has several tools that can help. The AI Rewriter can help you rewrite or completely recreate a piece of text to optimize the content so it is polished and easy to read.

You can also use the AI Chat feature to ask any question you like about grammar rules or stylistic choices, ensuring that you understand the fundamental principles of good writing.

5. Nail the Intro

The introduction of your essay sets the tone and hooks the reader. It also helps you make a strong impression and stand out among your peers.

A compelling intro should start with a strong first sentence that piques curiosity and leads the reader to the second sentence. That second sentence should lead the reader directly to the third, and so on.

Always do your best to think of a solid opening statement or pose a thought-provoking question. Remember, your essay is just one of many essays the teacher or professor must read, so you must do everything possible to stand out.

You want a clear and concise thesis that sets up the arguments you will develop throughout the body of your essay. Smodin’s AI Essay Writer can help you craft essays with compelling titles and opening paragraphs.

If you want to go the extra mile, consider trying the “Supercharge” option to tap into the power of a much more advanced and sophisticated AI model to take your writing to the next level.

6. Use the Active Voice

Generally, the active voice is more engaging and easy to read than the passive voice. Active voice constructions are more direct and energetic. They keep the reader engaged and make statements that are easier to visualize.

For example, compare the active sentence “The scientist conducted the experiment” with the passive “The experiment was conducted by the researcher.”

The active voice allows you to clearly identify who is taking action. This helps make your writing more assertive and easy to understand.

However, there are situations where the passive voice is appropriate or even necessary. For instance, if the person taking action is unknown, irrelevant, or obvious from the context, the passive voice might be the better choice.

For example, in scientific or formal reports, the passive voice is often used to create an impersonal tone and to emphasize the action rather than the person.

In most cases, you should use the active voice to make your arguments more engaging and your prose easier to follow.

7. Avoid Repetition

If you’ve ever tried to “word stuff” an essay to get to a specific word count, you know how easy it can be to repeat yourself accidentally. To keep your essay engaging, always do your best to avoid unnecessary repetition of words or ideas.

Never use the same word too often, especially in the same paragraph. Varying your language and sentence structure can help keep the reader engaged and create a pleasant cadence for your essay.

Always avoid rehashing the same ideas twice unless necessary to your thesis or argument. When in doubt, use Smodin’s Essay Writer to help structure your essays with a clear flow and easy-to-understand introductions and conclusions.

8. Get Feedback

Receiving feedback is one of the most effective ways to improve your writing. Of course, your teacher’s or professor’s feedback matters the most, but what if you want feedback before the final submission?

Seek constructive criticism from peers or tutors who can look at your writing and give you feedback to help you improve your writing. Being able to seek out and incorporate feedback is one of the most vital skills a student can have.

Also, consider using an AI tool like Smodin that can draw upon hundreds of thousands of published and peer-reviewed academic articles as a basis of comparison. By tapping into the unlimited power of AI, you can easily create essays that match college-level writing standards.

9. Organize Your References

Managing and organizing references can become overwhelming during the research phase of writing an essay.

It’s crucial to keep track of all the sources you consult to maintain academic integrity and avoid plagiarism. This is where tools like Smodin’s Research Paper Generator come into play.

Smodin’s Automatic References tool utilizes AI-powered algorithms to generate accurate citations. It pulls information from reliable databases like Google and Google Scholar, ensuring each reference is precise and meets academic standards.

This feature is a time-saver and a crucial component for any student who wants to ensure their work is appropriately credited and free of plagiarism concerns.

This tool streamlines the process of citation creation. The Automatic References feature formats each reference correctly according to your chosen style guide, whether it’s APA, MLA, Chicago, or another academic citation format.

This allows you to focus more on the content of your essay rather than the tedious task of manual citation. It’s like having a personal assistant at the click of a button.

10. Revise, Revise, Revise

The single best thing you can do to improve your writing is to get into a habit of constant revision. Try to write your essay as far in advance so that you can let it sit for a while and revisit it with fresh eyes.

You may be surprised how many areas of improvement become apparent after taking a short break. Allowing your writing to breathe after the initial draft can dramatically enhance its quality.

The three main things you want to look for are ways to improve clarity, strengthen your argument, and refine your language.

Of course, Smodin’s Rewriter Tool can help you do just that. Using this tool, you can easily see and improve sections that need rephrasing. Use this technology alongside your own manual refinements to create a tone and style that aligns with your voice and creates a unique style.

Then, once you’re 99% done and happy with your essay, run it through the Plagiarism and AI Content Detector to ensure its complete academic integrity.

Ultimately, your ability to improve your essay writing skills will depend on your level of dedication. Spend as much time as you can mastering the above techniques and consistently practice.

Remember, AI tools like Smodin have made essay writing more accessible than ever before. If you need help with essays and consistently bring home B, C, or even D-level papers, Smodin’s array of AI tools is what you need to take your writing to the next level-

• AI tutoring for students
• AI content detection
• Plagiarism checker
• Essay, research paper, and article writing features
• Text summarizer
• Homework solver

When you sign up for Smodin, all this and more comes standard. If you’re ready to get started, click here to try it!