COPYRIGHT, FAIR USE, PUBLIC DOMAIN, & OPEN ACCESS

Intellectual honesty is the foundation of an academic community. As a student at Weber State University, you are responsible for using the materials you collect and incorporate into your assignments and papers in an ethical manner. This means that you must:

• respect the rights of authors by attributing original sources for all information you use
• think critically about quality
• do your own research and writing

Intellectual property rights are the rights of a creator to control the works they have created. This includes, but is not limited to, books, articles, music, software, paintings, games, plays, photographs, and movies.

COPYRIGHT

The term copyright means the author or creator has the right to own and sell a copy of the work they have produced. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, when a work is created, it is copyrighted. Ideas, facts, and theories are not covered by copyright. They must be written, performed, or shared in some media format for copyright protection to cover them. How copyright law is enforced varies from country to country, but the basic idea is to protect the creators of intellectual property, whether it be music lyrics, computer code, books, or sculpture. One reason for this is that the creators of these works earn a living from the sales of their creations. Copyright covers every part of an author or creator’s work, not just specific portions. Sometimes, however, U.S. copyright law says that copies of their work may be used without charge, under certain conditions — this practice is known as fair use. U.S. government works are typically not covered by copyright — they are in what is considered public domain.

FAIR USE

The fair use doctrine is a limitation on the copyright holder’s rights, and is commonly used in education. Four factors are used to determine whether something is considered fair use. These are:

1. The purpose and character of your use. In other words, is the material being used to help create something new (has it been transformed?), or merely copied word for word into another work?
2. The nature of the copyrighted work. Copying from factual works (e.g., a biography) is more likely to be fair use than copying fictional works (e.g., a novel). Also, copying material from a published work is more likely to be considered fair use than copying from an unpublished work, because with unpublished works that author has the right to determine how their work is first published or shown.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken. In general, the less you copy, the more likely it will be considered fair use. The exception to this factor is when the portion taken — even if it is small — is the “heart” of the work (the most memorable aspect of a work, such as an easily recognized part of a song).
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market. This factor deals with whether the use deprives the copyright owner of income in some way, which is grounds for a lawsuit.

Many believe that the last factor is the most important. None of these is more important than the other. They should all be considered equally.

It is the fair use doctrine that allows you to quote information, use pictures, etc. in research papers and presentations. So what’s okay under fair use? Usually, you may do the following for research papers, class presentations, and art projects:

• Quote brief passages from a book, article or website if you give proper credit
• Copy a map or chart into a research paper if you give proper credit
• Use a small snip of music if you give proper credit
• Use an image if you give proper credit
• Use downloads and software that are explicitly labeled by the creator as free to use
• Make copies for your own use (e.g., printing/downloading/photocopying a journal article for your own use)

And what’s NOT okay under fair use?

• Sharing copyrighted files, such as songs or book chapters (unless you have explicit permission, preferably written and signed, from the owner of the material)
• Posting copyrighted material on a website without permission
• Profiting from or selling copyrighted material (most commercial uses of copyrighted material require special licenses from the copyright owner)

Music piracy or other copyright infringement is illegal. In an academic setting, it’s also considered unethical. If you choose to engage in this activity, be prepared to deal with any consequences. While most lawsuits involve major players like published authors or radio stations, the Recording Industry Association of America and other groups have been pursuing lawsuits against private individuals, especially college students. For example:

• A Boston University student was ordered to pay $675,000 for illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs: https://www.informationweek.com/government/piracy-verdict-gets-student-fined-675-000
• A Minnesota woman was fined $1.9 million for illegally downloading 24 songs: https://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/

In general, the more contained the use of the information (e.g., for one class) and the more educational the purpose, the more likely something is to be allowed under fair use. Use for commercial or strictly entertainment purposes is rarely allowable under the fair use doctrine.

Unethical use of information extends beyond just music. For example:

• Many Instagram users are finding their images on others’ sites: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/us-news-blog/2013/feb/05/instagram-users-fightback-stolen-photos
• Shepard Fairey’s Obama poster controversy, in which the famous “Hope” poster of Obama was found to be based on an AP photo taken several years earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_%22Hope%22_poster
• YouTube videos posted by gamers are coming under scrutiny for copyright violations: https://www.wired.com/2015/03/nintendo-youtube-creators/

Another interesting fact about U.S. copyright law is that it has a time limit, and once that has passed, the information passes into the public domain, so anyone can use the information without charge.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Public domain means the work is no longer protected by copyright, so it mostly includes older information. You must still give credit for public domain works or you are guilty of plagiarism. Examples of materials in the public domain include:

• Most federal publications (e.g., Congressional reports, Supreme Court decisions).
• Works where the copyright has expired. This one is tricky because the law keeps changing and it is different in the U.S. from other countries. In the U.S., this includes all works published or recorded before January 1, 1927 and some works published between 1924-1964. While a work like Tom Sawyer may be in the public domain, a specific version of the work may still be copyrighted or the introduction and the notes may be copyrighted.
• Things NOT protected under copyright. This includes short phrases (e.g., “Make my day” from the movie Dirty Harry) and facts, theories and ideas (someone’s interpretation or writings about facts, theories and ideas IS copyrighted).
• Works where the author has explicitly declared that the work is in the public domain (e.g., some free music downloads, free software, items under Creative Commons licensing).

There are several groups whose mission is to make public domain materials freely accessible on the Internet. One of the more well-known groups is Project Gutenberg. This organization makes books available to anyone with Internet access. Many of these books are no longer subject to copyright or copyright permission has been provided (Project Gutenberg, 2016). The Hathi Trust Digital Library is another organization that focuses on the preservation and digitization of information, though some of what they focus on are materials that have always existed in digital format. When using any online repository, it is important to read their terms and conditions for proper use of materials. As technology changes, some of these materials would no longer be accessible if not for these groups.

OPEN ACCESS

The open access movement is trying to change the way information is published. Rather than publishers making information available to those who want to purchase it (e.g., the articles you can access from library databases that are purchased by the library, or your course textbooks), this model is set up so that the creators pay for the costs of publishing the open access publications, but they get to keep the copyright. This means the information can be available to the public at no cost. Not having to go through the traditional publication process also means the information may be circulated more quickly.

CREATIVE COMMONS

Some open access works are published under a Creative Commons license, an alternative to the standard license that accompanies a copyright. Remember that a work is automatically copyrighted when you create it — if you make it, it’s yours. That means the way people use your creation is strictly limited. If someone wants to do more with it, they have to get your permission and license your work (pay for the privilege of using it) for that particular use. This is often represented by the small copyright logo: ©. Creative Commons makes it easier for the creator to allow others to re-use their work, without relinquishing copyright. This means they loosen the automatic restrictions put in place by copyright but don’t move the work all the way into the public domain (e.g., free to anyone to use for any purpose). There are several Creative Commons license types that give different levels of permission for use of the work.

The Creative Commons licenses were first developed and released in 2002 by Creative Commons, a non-profit organization founded in 2001, and they have continued to develop them since then. “Our vision,” they write on their Institute for Open Leadership webpage, “is nothing less than realizing the full potential of the Internet – universal access to research and education, full participation in culture – to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity” (2014, Background section). You can learn more about Creative Commons at https://creativecommons.org.

FINDING IMAGES

If you wish to use images that were created by someone else in a paper or presentation, you must be sure you have the right to reuse the image without the creator’s explicit permission. There are several good sources for images that may be reused without having to directly contact the creator for permission. Examples include images created under a Creative Commons license or those created by the United States Government. Both may be reused with a simple attribution.

Here are some places to look and tips for using these sites:

1. https://www.usa.gov
   First search for a term in term in the general search box:
   
   On your results page, refine the results to include only images, by clicking on the “Images” link:
   
   Be sure to consult the guidelines to help you determine if you can reuse the particular image you find: https://www.usa.gov/government-works
2. Google Image Search: https://images.google.com/
   Enter your search term from the main search page. On the results page, click on Tools, and limit your results to images with Creative Commons licenses:

   

3. Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
   Wikimedia Commons is another excellent resource for images, just be sure to obey the usage rules for each particular image.
4. ARTstor: Located in the Stewart Library online databases (https://library.weber.edu/) under the letter “A”
   ARTstor contains millions images, including thousands of open access images located within their Public Collections.

CITING IMAGES

Once you have found images to use, you must be sure to give attribution to the creator of the image and/or cite the image. Attribution differs from a full citation. When attributing a work, you simply give credit to the copyright holder, whereas a full citation enables another individual to find the original text cited. Most U.S. Government images are within the public domain, and can be used without attribution; however, it is generally good practice to cite any image you use, as an image with an attribution may be seen as more credible. Many works available for sharing will have a Creative Commons (CC) license. To see some examples for how to attribute images with CC licenses, visit https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/best_practices_for_attribution. For more information on citing images, please review the Citing Images section of Chapter 8.

PLAGIARISM

Incorporating the work of others is perfectly acceptable in academic writing, but you have a responsibility to let your audience know when you are using someone else’s ideas and credit those sources appropriately.

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work without giving credit. It can happen accidentally or on purpose. Either way, it is considered academic dishonesty. Examples of plagiarism include:

• using others’ ideas, thoughts, or conversation in your own paper without citing them
• paraphrasing or summarizing other people’s work without citing it
• copying images or text from the Web without proper acknowledgement
• borrowing facts or statistics that are not common knowledge without proper acknowledgement
• using someone else’s paraphrasing exact words without quotation marks, even if you include a citation for the information
• paying someone else to write a paper with your name on it

Accidental plagiarism may include things like citing something inaccurately or failing to completely cite something (for example, APA and MLA citation styles require an item to be attributed in the text as well as in a list at the end of your paper, so leaving out one of these would be plagiarism).

If you get caught plagiarizing at a university, the penalties range from losing points on an assignment to expulsion. In most instances, a student gets a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment. However, an instructor can legitimately fail a student for the entire course for one instance of plagiarism.

You might be wondering; do I have to cite everything I write? The answer is no. Sometimes, you will use information from other sources to support your argument, and you need to cite those sources. But, as a general rule, if a fact or piece of information is generally known and accepted (for example, that Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, or that Ronald Reagan was an actor before he became president of the United States) you do not need to cite the source. This is called common knowledge.

Deciding which facts or pieces of information require citation and which do not is not always easy. The concept of common knowledge can never be assumed; what is commonly known will vary widely for different audiences. Keep in mind that your professor is the primary audience for your work. If you are uncertain about whether to cite, ASK. If you do not have that opportunity, use the general rule of when in doubt, cite.

TYPES OF PLAGIARISM

There are several different types of plagiarism.

• Direct plagiarism is the most obvious. This is copying something word for word without using quotation marks or citing the author. This is considered the most serious type.
• Self-plagiarism is reusing your own work or modifying something you have already written. Using the entire paper is cheating. Even if you just use portions of the paper, you must give credit to yourself. Submitting identical or similar work in more than one course is subject to the same penalties as plagiarism. You must get permission from your current instructor and the instructor you originally turned the paper in to in order to use previous work, and once you obtain permission, you must cite your own previous paper to avoid plagiarism.
• Accidental/unintentional plagiarism is the most common type and happens when students don’t intend to plagiarize, but fail to cite sources correctly, include an in-text citation while leaving out the full reference in the bibliography, or copy too much of the source’s original wording while trying to paraphrase or summarize the passage. Remember — even when you put something in your own words, you must still cite the original source!

For example, here is the ORIGINAL text from page 927 of an article called “Can students really multitask? An experimental study of instant messaging while reading,” authored by Laura L. Bowman, Laura E. Levine, Bradley M. Waite, and Michael Gendron, and published in volume 54, issue 4 of Computers & Education and:

Students often “multitask” with electronic media while doing schoolwork. We examined the effects of one form of media often used in such multitasking, instant messaging (IM). We predicted that students who engaged in IMing while reading a typical academic psychology passage online would take longer to read the passage and would perform more poorly on a test of comprehension of the passage. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (IM before reading, IM during reading, or no IM). We found that students took significantly longer to read the passage when they IMed during reading (not including time taken to IM) than in other conditions. However, test performance did not differ by condition. Students who are managing busy lives may think they are accomplishing more by multitasking, but our findings suggest they will actually need more time to achieve the same level of performance on an academic task.

Here is an example of an unacceptable paraphrase of the above passage that is so close to the original source it could be considered direct plagiarism. In this case, the student has only changed around a few words and failed to cite the original source:

College students will sometimes multitask with electronic media while doing schoolwork. Effects of one form of media often used in such multitasking, instant messaging (IM), were examined. It was predicted that students who IMed while reading a typical academic passage would take longer to read it and would perform more poorly on a test of the passage. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: IM before reading, IM during reading, or no IM. Students took much longer to read the passage when they IMed during reading than in the other groups. Students think they can do more by multitasking, but they will need more time to achieve the same level of performance on an academic task.

The preceding paragraph is also problematic because some of the words the student changed do not convey the specific meaning of the original. For example, the original text did not specify college students and was also focused on a specific type of passage (“a typical academic psychology passage online”). The author of the paragraph described the passage as a “typical academic passage,” which could refer to a print source.

Here’s another example of unacceptable paraphrasing. In this case, the student did a good job paraphrasing the original passage, but because they did not attribute the original author it is still considered plagiarism — even though the student used their own words.

In one study, researchers learned that students tend to take more time, not less, to complete tasks when they multitask — in this case, multitasking included sending instant messages and reading a scholarly text at the same time — which confirmed their hypothesis. However, a second part of the hypothesis was not borne out when multitasking students were shown to do as well as non-multitasking students on tests evaluating the students’ understanding of the text.

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a very serious offense. However, if you cite your sources appropriately in your reference or works cited list, and you correctly attribute those sources in your document by quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, you can avoid plagiarism.

Why is it so important to cite/attribute your sources?

• Citing your sources provides readers with information about where you found your sources, enabling them to locate and read these sources and pursue your topic further.
• It also places your work within the larger framework of study on your topic and adds credibility and authority to your own writing.
• Citing sources gathered during your research helps you build your argument, and makes it clear to readers which sections of your paper came from which sources, and which sections of the paper are yours.
• Appropriate citation and attribution will enable you to avoid plagiarism.

A lot of academic honesty simply has to do with good manners. If you wrote a poem, story, song, or paper, and someone else thought it was good and wanted to use part of it to build on or prove their own point, you would want them to include your name so others would know it was your work — you would want credit. At its root, avoiding plagiarism is mostly about giving credit where it’s due.

Avoiding academic dishonesty in all forms is crucial to your success and your future. Here are some good habits to follow to avoid plagiarism in your work:

1. Take complete and careful notes. Whatever note taking system you use, be sure to make the distinction between words and ideas taken from other sources and your own words and ideas. When copying passages verbatim, always use quotation marks and record the exact page numbers of the source. You will save yourself time and stress if you take complete and accurate notes the first time around. Students often get into trouble because their notes are incomplete or confused, and they run out of time to go back to check their sources.
2. Be meticulous in drafting your papers to make sure all verbatim words or passages borrowed from your sources are placed in quotation marks and that all information that requires a citation is followed by a parenthetical citation or footnote. This is especially important if you do your work on a computer. It is very easy to copy and paste text or move it around on the page. While computers make writing a paper quicker and easier, it is also easy to commit serious errors. Quotation marks and citations can get lost or confused in the drafting and revision process.
3. Keep track of the file names of the various drafts of your papers so that you don’t confuse them in the final rush to print and submit your work. Sloppy work habits and the pressure of deadlines are not valid defenses if you are charged with plagiarism or another violation. It’s also a good idea to print out a hard copy of your work periodically and to back up your files in order to avoid a crisis if your computer fails. Develop a sensible plan to keep track of your work on the computer and stick to it.
4. Don’t rely on a single source when doing a research paper. Be sure to find multiple sources that provide different perspectives and conclusions on your research topic. Your paper will be better if you refer to a variety of sources, and you will avoid any possibility of depending so much on a single source that you could be charged with plagiarism.
5. Be sure you clearly understand the instructor’s expectations and guidelines for all assignments, particularly for group work. If the rules are unclear to you, ask the professor to clarify them.
6. If you don’t understand an assignment or need additional time to complete it, ask your instructor. It is easy to give in to the temptation to plagiarize out of desperation rather than requesting an extension.
7. Give yourself enough time to do your work well and carefully. Good work takes time. Avoid waiting until the last minute when the pressure of a deadline may tempt you to get sloppy or cut corners just to finish. After staying up all night to finish a paper, you may not be thinking clearly enough to make the right choices, and you are unlikely to be doing your best work during that time.
8. Remember that in order to completely cite a source, there must be at least two pieces to the citation: one in-text attribution, and one corresponding complete entry in the Works Cited or List of References. If you use information from the same source in more than one place in your paper, there should be an in-text citation for each one, and a single corresponding entry in your Works Cited or List of References. Think of it this way: the in-text citation is a signpost, indicating to the reader that the information you’re sharing came from another source, and pointing them toward the appropriate complete citation in your List of References so that they can follow up if they wish. After all, (Smith, 2013) or (Smith, 35) isn’t very useful by itself — it needs the complete citation to provide context: Smith, A. (2013). Why the sky is blue. Journal of Natural Colors, 1(2), 35-37.

Finally, if you are unsure about whether or not to cite a source, ask your instructor. If that’s not possible, follow the basic rule: when in doubt, cite.

APA VS. MLA

The two formatting styles we focus on in this text for quoting and citing are the most commonly used styles: APA and MLA. While you have probably heard of these before, you may not know that APA is the style used by the American Psychological Association, and MLA is the style used by the Modern Language Association. When you consider these associations and what they focus on academically, this clears up some of the differences between the two styles. Consider how each of these styles cites a book, for example. They use almost exactly the same information, but they arrange the pieces differently:

Because APA is used heavily in the science disciplines (psychology, health sciences, etc.), it is logical that the focus should be on when something was written, rather than exactly who did the writing — notice that the date is the second item in the APA style citation, while the author’s name does not include the whole first name, only an initial. This makes it easy to quickly verify the currency of the sources that the author is relying on as the basis of their conclusions.

MLA, on the other hand, is used primarily in writing about literature and language, so it is logical that this citation starts with the author’s full name: it’s important to be clear about the difference between works by James Joyce, the famous Irish novelist and poet born in 1882, and John Joyce, a modern mystery writer. And if you’re writing about William Shakespeare’s work, the publication date of your sources is much less important than it would be in science writing, where currency is key; after all, most of Shakespeare’s works were published in the 1500s.

Depending on your major or your professor’s assignments, you may find that you use one of these styles more than the other, or even that you end up using a different style such as the one used by the American Chemical Society (ACS) or the American Medical Association (AMA). No matter which style you use, though, the goal is to give the reader enough information to allow them to find the same information you found, in case they are so intrigued by your paper that they want to follow up on it (or occasionally, check up on it). Because of this, they almost all rearrange and reformat the same pieces to emphasize the information most important to that discipline.

QUOTING

Quoting is used when you are copying a passage word for word. In your paper, you place those words in quotation marks, and cite the source in which you found the quote. Below are examples of quoted passages in APA 7th edition and MLA 9th edition format.

If you are quoting lengthy passages, such as whole paragraphs, use block indentation and a citation:

PARAPHRASING VS. SUMMARIZING

Many use these terms interchangeably, but they aren’t the same thing. To paraphrase, you simply restate the information from a source using your own words. A paraphrased passage will be about the same length as the original passage. A summary, on the other hand, is shorter than a paraphrased passage. A summary includes only the main ideas of a source in your own words, leaving out specific details. It is simply a brief distillation of the writer’s ideas.

You don’t use quotation marks for either, but both must be cited. It is usually a better idea to summarize, rather than paraphrase. When you paraphrase, it is much easier to accidentally plagiarize a passage because it is so similar; it is easy to use too much of the author’s original wording by mistake. A summary, on the other hand, only needs to be a sentence or two.