Reusing someone else's work: licences and giving credit
Online images, music and text may be protected by copyright. A licence sets terms for reuse. Check whether your planned use is allowed, follow the terms, and give credit that helps readers find the original.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Find the licence on a piece of online media and say what it allows and what it forbids
- Credit a reused image so a reader could find the original
- Say why 'it was on the internet' does not settle whether a thing may be reused
1 · Read
Passwords help protect account access. Reuse permission is a separate question. Copyright can protect pictures, music and text. The maker or another rights holder may control copying and sharing. Being online does not give permission to reuse a work. Find the terms beside the work or through the page's copyright or licence link. Some works are in the public domain, and law allows some uses without permission. Schoolwork is not automatic permission. Ask a teacher if unsure.
Read the terms and compare them with your plan. Check whether you may share, edit or sell copies. If the terms say 'Do not crop', choose a different photo for a cropped poster or ask for permission to crop. If they say 'No selling copies, including for fundraising', they do not permit a school print sale. Adding credit does not cancel a restriction.
Save the maker's name, title if given, original-page address and licence details while the page is open. Follow the licence's credit rules, including any required notice about edits. A credit usually belongs beside the reused work or in an easy-to-find source list. Name the maker, not yourself. Credit shows where the work came from; it does not give permission.
In this practice example, Ada Lane made 'Kite'. Original: https://example.org/p/kite. Licence: https://example.org/reuse. The rules ask for her name and both addresses. Completed credit: 'Kite, Ada Lane. Original: https://example.org/p/kite. Licence: https://example.org/reuse.' The original address locates the photo; the licence address locates its rules. 'Found on a search engine' gives neither. These example addresses are for practice.
For a short quotation in a school assignment, put the copied words in quotation marks and cite the writer and source. A citation tells readers where they came from. When you use a source's explanation in your own words, cite that source too. Changing the wording does not make it your own explanation. Common knowledge usually needs no citation. Follow your teacher's citation format.
Check that your use is allowed. Follow the reuse terms and give the required credit. Cite sources for quotations and borrowed explanations.
This lesson, question bank and flashcards were written for this dataset to teach reuse permissions and source credit.
The readings Keep the terms with the picture and Make borrowed words traceable were written for this dataset.
More to read
Keep the terms with the picture
Before choosing a picture for a project, write down your plan for it. Will you show it unchanged, crop it, or sell printed copies? Check the terms for the use you actually want. Permission to share an unchanged picture does not tell you whether an edit or sale is allowed.
Keep a source note with the picture. Record its maker, title if given, original page address and licence details. Read any linked terms instead of relying on the search result. Save the details while you can still check them on the page.
Giving credit and having permission are separate checks. A credit names the source. It cannot cancel a restriction. Follow any required credit wording, licence link or notice about changes.
If the terms are missing or unclear, ask a teacher for help, contact the rights holder, or choose another picture with suitable terms. Some works are in the public domain, and copyright law allows some uses without permission. Those possibilities need checking. A school project does not automatically settle the question.
Make borrowed words traceable
While researching a report, keep each useful note beside the details of the source it came from. Record the writer, title and web address or book details. For a book passage, save the page number too. Do not guess a missing name or date.
Mark any exact wording in your notes so you do not later mistake it for your own. For a short direct quotation in your assignment, put the borrowed words in quotation marks and add a citation. The marks identify the words you copied. The citation helps readers find their source.
A paraphrase explains the source's meaning in your own words and sentence structure. It still needs a citation when you use that source's explanation in your report. Credit the source you actually read; do not claim to have read an earlier work mentioned there. Common knowledge usually needs no citation. Ask your teacher when you are unsure.
Use the citation format your teacher requests. Citation styles arrange details differently, so an author and year alone may not be a complete reference. Source credit also does not grant permission for every use of copied material.
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Optional connections
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.