Copyright Info for Students

"Fair Use" rules are copyright rules for students and teachers. You may use the following without making a copyright violation:

• Music - 10% or 30 seconds
• Videos, etc. - 10% or 3 minutes
• A photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety – no more than 5 images of an artist or photographer and no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less from a collective work
• Book - 10% or 1000 words
• Poem – entire poem may be used but no more than one poem by a poet or 5 poems from an anthology

Additional Guidelines

• Students may incorporate portions of copyrighted materials when producing a project for a specific course.
• Students may perform and display their own projects and use them in their portfolio or use the project for job interviews or as supporting materials for application to graduate school.

*ALWAYS CITE YOUR SOURCES! See our MLA page for help citing sources.*

Copyright Info for Teachers

"Fair Use" rules are copyright rules for students and teachers. You may copy the following without making a copyright violation:

• A chapter from a book (never the entire book).
• An article from a periodical or newspaper.
• A short story, essay, or poem. One work is the norm whether it comes from an individual work or an anthology.
• A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.
• Poetry: Multiple copies of a poem of 250 words or less that exist on two pages or less or 250 words from a longer poem.
• Prose: Multiple copies of an article, story or essay that are 2,500 words or less or excerpts up to 1,000 words or 10 percent of the total work, whichever is less.
• Illustrations: Multiple copies of a chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture contained in a book or periodical issue.

What Should Be Avoided?

• Making multiple copies of different works that could substitute for the purchase of books, publisher's reprints, or periodicals.
• Copying the same works from semester to semester.
• Copying the same material for several different courses at the same or different institutions.
• Copying more than nine separate times in a single semester.

When is Permission Required?

• When you intend to use the materials for commercial purposes.
• When you want to use the materials repeatedly.
• When you want to use a work in its entirety and it is longer than 2,500 words.

Additional Guidelines

• Faculty may include portions of copyrighted works when producing their own multimedia project for their teaching in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions.
• Faculty may use their project for:
  • assignments for student self-study
  • for remote instruction provided the network is secure and is designed to prevent unlawful copying
  • for conferences, presentations, or workshops
  • for their professional portfolio

*ALWAYS CITE YOUR SOURCES! See our MLA page for help citing sources.*  Want a pdf document of this information to print? Click here.

Works Cited

"Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide
     Web."  University of Maryland University College. University of Maryland,
     2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.
"Copyright Information." Norcross High School. Norcross High School, 2005.
     Web. 7 Dec. 2009.

Copyright-free Resources

Access the "Delicious" list of copyright-free resources here. You'll find music clips,  images, photographs, etc. that you may use in your project.

Use this document that explains copyright and fair use guidelines for teachers in an easy-to-read chart format.