Last modified: October 28, 2022

Copyright and Citation

Copyright

All information will be used in accordance with copyright law and within acceptable educational fair use guidelines. Academic integrity requires that proper credit be given to authors and creators of original works.

The Internet is not “free.” You should assume that all materials found on it are copyrighted. Copyright is the exclusive right of a creator to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform, display, sell, lend or rent their creations. It is an “intellectual” property right of the creator of the work and covers:

1. Literary works
2. Musical works
3. Dramatic works
4. Pantomimed and choreographed works
5. Pictorial, graphic and sculpted works
6. Motion pictures and audiovisual works
7. Sound recordings

Fair Use is a legal concept that allows the reproduction of copyrighted material for certain purposes without obtaining permission and without paying a fee or royalty. Purposes permitting the application of fair use generally include review, news reporting, teaching or scholarly research. The idea of fair use originally arose for written works. But with the advent of digital technology and the Internet, fair use has sometimes been applied to the redistribution of musical works, photographs, videos and computer programs.

The four Fair Use exemptions are:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
5. The Public Domain includes those creative works no longer protected by copyright, which may be freely used by everyone. This includes any work published in the United States before 1923 or those published before 1964 whose copyright was not renewed.

The Research Project Calculator is based on the MINITEX project developed in part by University of Minnesota Libraries.

Resources For Teachers

• United States Copyright Office
• Copyright Criminals
• Copyright Lesson
• Exploring Copyright
• Exploring Plagiarism, Copyright, and Paraphrasing
• Take the Quiz
• Plagiarism Prevention and Awareness

Cite It Right

Use the following guide to cite a source correctly:

Citation Machine

Use this online tool to help you cite sources.