A long web address beneath every chart is not a complete solution. Readers need a clear caption where the figure appears, a navigable list at the front or back of the thesis, and a full record in the bibliography or source list. Your institution determines the exact style. The underlying logic is stable: an image must not change identity as readers move between those three locations.
Caption, list and bibliography answer different questions
The caption explains the local use. It gives the figure number and a meaningful title; for borrowed or adapted material, it normally includes a concise attribution. A reader should understand what the item represents and where its underlying material came from without searching through an unrelated paragraph.
The list of figures supports navigation. It usually records number, title and page. Whether it repeats the short source depends on the required style. The bibliography or dedicated image-source list supplies the complete record. A URL can be part of that record, but it should not displace an available creator, title, institution, date, identifier or access date.
An original chart may still depend on a source
If you draw a graph yourself using somebody else’s data, you created the graphic form but not the observations. A caption can therefore say “Author’s visualisation based on …”. The full record identifies the dataset or report. Calling the item merely “author’s figure” incorrectly suggests that the data were collected by you.
An adapted figure retains the structure or proposition of an earlier work while changing selection, language or presentation. Label that relationship explicitly. An unchanged reproduction credits the source directly. A photograph you made of an artwork identifies both the work and your photograph. The appropriate record follows the provenance, not whether the final file happens to be PNG, SVG or JPEG.
Maintain a figure inventory during drafting
Give every planned visual a working ID and record its eventual number, title, local filename, origin, rights statement, transformations and full reference. The working ID remains useful when chapters move and automatic numbering changes. Save the original location before cropping an image, translating labels or redrawing it in presentation software.
Before submission, sort the inventory by the numbers that actually appear. Do not rely entirely on an automatically generated list. Word processors reproduce incomplete captions and spelling mistakes faithfully. Follow each list entry back to the page, then follow each short credit to one complete source record.
Diagnose the chain, not one isolated label
Four failures recur. A title changes so much between caption and list that the match becomes uncertain. A caption cites “Smith 2024” while the bibliography contains two Smith works from that year without suffixes. A reference points to a portal home page rather than the specific record. An adapted structure or external dataset is presented as wholly original.
Repair all locations together. If a figure is removed, delete its list entry and textual cross-references. If the source changes, update the caption, inventory and bibliography. If numbering shifts, inspect references in the prose instead of assuming they were updated automatically.
Seven final checks
- Compare the number of figures with the number of list entries.
- Verify number, short title and page for each item.
- Give every borrowed or adapted visual a local short credit.
- Resolve every short credit to one full reference.
- Separate the work, image, dataset and your transformation.
- Check direct links, persistent identifiers and access dates.
- Apply the institution’s required style only after the provenance is complete.
The media citation hub connects the specialist cases. Continue with charts based on external data or the guide to figures adapted from another source.