Figure captioning standards vary considerably across APA 7th, MLA 9th, and Chicago 17th editions. Placing figure numbers, italicized titles, source attributions, and copyright permissions correctly manually in Word often results in misplaced labels and inconsistent layouts.

This guide outlines the precise formatting rules for figures, diagrams, and visual illustrations across all three major academic documentation systems.

Figure Placement and Numbering Rules

A captioned figure has four moving parts — number, title, image, and notes — and all three major styles arrange them differently. Placing the title below the figure in APA, or omitting the figure number in MLA, is a mechanical deduction a rubric catches instantly.

Here is the placement map for each style.

Placement at a Glance

Element	APA 7th	MLA 9th	Chicago 17th
Figure number	Above, bold (Figure 1)	Below, as “Fig. 1”	Numbered caption below
Title	Above, italic, below the number	Below the image	Below the image
Notes	Below the figure (general, specific, probability)	In the caption block	In the caption or a footnote
Source attribution	In the note below	In the caption	In the caption or note

APA 7th: Everything Above Except the Notes

APA puts the figure number (bold, like “Figure 1”) and the figure title (italic, one double-spaced line below) above the image. Below the image go any notes: a general note for copyright attribution, specific notes for particular elements, and probability notes for statistical displays. Table numbers and titles follow the same above-rule; only the notes sit beneath.

MLA 9th: Everything Below

MLA keeps the entire apparatus under the image: “Fig. 1” followed by the caption on one line, with the source attribution woven into the caption. Because the caption block carries the information, MLA figures rely on the Works Cited entry for full bibliographic detail rather than duplicating it in the caption.

Chicago 17th: Captioned from Below

Chicago numbers figures and places the caption below the image, often ending with source information in parentheses or a note. In notes-bibliography style, the figure’s source may instead live in a footnote tied to the caption — the same note machinery described in understanding footnotes and endnotes in Chicago style.

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