How do we caption items in Word?

So how do we caption items in Word? Well, it depends what we are captioning. Luckily Word has a built-in function which we can access via the mouse: we simply select, say, our graphic, and right-click on the mouse. We then get a pop-up menu which allows us to select and insert a suitable caption. However, we need to be aware that not all items are treated in the same way. For example, the position of the caption changes depending on the item type: 

• captions go underneath graphics (which is where they are supposed to go); and 
• captions go at the top of tables (yes, tables are captioned differently)

Luckily Word will decide for us, providing we have selected whether we are inserting a table or a graphic. There are some very good online guides for all the functions we will need. For example, inserting captions is explained here (Microsoft Support, 2025a).

And if we have captioned all our tables and graphics, we can also create an automatic Tables of Figures and an automatic List of Tables to sit behind our auto-Table of Contents (auto-TOC). There is a good explainer on how to do that here (Microsoft Support, 2025b) and here (Office Tool Tips, 2024). 

Another aspect of graphics and tables is considering where and how we cite our sources. If our captioned item comes from a single source, we can simply include an APA citation, bracketed at the end of the caption for the graphic or table, as per the graphic's caption below: 

However, if we have citations from multiple sources, we could instead cite our sources in our table column headers, as per the table below:

The last thing we need to consider is when we cite our tables and figures within the run of our text, we need to create an auto-linking citation which automatically updates as things change - e.g. referring to a figure with a "See Figure 1" in brackets; then inserting another figure before it, and having the "See Figure 1" automatically update to "See Figure 2". Otherwise we will find ourselves having to manually go through and update a whole load of figure and table numbers... and if we have to manually do it, we can pretty much guarantee we will forget some. Instead we simply use Word's cross-referencing function to update our Figure/Table numbers, here (Wright, 2020).

I hope this helps!

Sam

References:

Microsoft Support. (2025a, November 18). Add, format, or delete captions in Word. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-format-or-delete-captions-in-word-82fa82a4-f0f3-438f-a422-34bb5cef9c81

Microsoft Support. (2025b, February 20). Insert a table of figures. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-a-table-of-figures-c5ea59c5-487c-4fb2-bd48-e34dd57f0ec1

Office Tool Tips. (2024, November). How to create Table of Figures and List of Tables. https://www.officetooltips.com/word_365/tips/how_to_create_table_of_figures_and_list_of_tables

Wright, E. (2020, July 7). How to Cross-Reference Tables and Figures in Microsoft Word. Erin Wright Writing. https://erinwrightwriting.com/cross-reference-tables-and-figures-in-microsoft-word/