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Copyright and Fair Use

This guide provides resources and information about copyright and fair use.

References & Citations

Often a publisher, copyright holder, permission grantor(s), or license for use of an image, figure, table, scales/questionnaires etc., will specify the wording that you must use for the copyright attribution. This can also include specifying the placement of such credit within an illustration or table. This exact wording specified in the license is required and supersedes any of the wording found in style guides such as APA, MLA, etc. 

Reminder: Attribution does not equate to permission. In addition to using citations, make sure you obtain permissions for any work which requires them for use. 

APA Style

A copyright attribution in APA style should indicate if the material is reprinted (“from”) or adapted (“adapted from”), list the author, year of publication, and source; identify the material’s copyright, and include a permission statement if permission was obtained (“adapted with permission”). 

Here is a general format example:

From Title of Webpage or Publication, by A.A. Author, year, Site Name (DOI or URL). Copyright [year] by Name, OR In the public domain., OR Creative Commons license such as CC BY-NC. Reprinted with permission. OR Adapted with permission.

Here is an example using that format:

Adapted from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., p. 390), by the American Psychological Association, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000). Copyright 2020 by the American Psychological Association.)

The last statement, reprinted or adapted etc. is included only if permission has been sought and obtained.

Chicago Manual of Style

In addition to author, title, publication details, and (occasionally) copyright date, the credit line should include any page or figure number, If the work being credited is listed in the bibliography or reference list, only a shortened form need appear in the credit line.

Examples:

Reproduced by permission from Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1978), 162.

Reproduced by permission from George B. Schaller et al., The Giant Pandas of Wolong (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), 52. © 1985 by the University of Chicago.

Reprinted by permission from Duncan (1999, fig. 2).

MLA

For permissions granted under copyright restrictions, include author, title, then page number, plate number, or figure number, copyright date, and copyright owner. Use the full bibliographic reference, followed by a standard credit line (e.g., “Reprinted by permission of . . .”), or wording stipulated by the copyright holder in the permission letter or license, if it differs. 

Example:

Reprinted, by permission, from John Rewald, Post-Impressionism: From van Gogh to Gauguin, p. 443. © 1978 by The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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