An overview of Creative Commons (YouTube VIDEO)

Creative Commons is "a global nonprofit organization that enables sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge through the provision of free legal tools". Creative Commons provides a number of different open licenses that rightsholders may select for their works. When a work is made available under a Creative Commons license, any user in the world has permission to use the work, for free, so long as they follow the terms of the license.

What is Creative Commons? by Victor Grigas (Wikimedia Foundation) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Using Creative Commons Images

Creative Commons Licenses

How do I cite images including my own work?

Image with attribution required

Figure 1 Lava the Sled Dog

Note. From Lava [Photograph], by Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/). CC BY 2.0.

If the license associated with clip art or a stock image says that attribution is required, then provide a copyright attribution in the figure note and a reference list entry for the image in the reference list. NOTE* Many (but not all) images with Creative Commons licenses require attribution.

The reference list entry for the image consists of its author, year of publication, title, description in brackets, and source (usually the name of the website and the URL).

Example citation:

Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/ 8639280606/

To cite clip art or a stock image without reproducing it, provide an in-text citation for the image instead of a copyright attribution. Also provide a reference list entry.

Parenthetical citation: (Denali National Park and Preserve, (2013)
Narrative citation: Denali National Park and Preserve (2013)

How you cite your own work depends on what it is, and whether or not it has been published.

Figure 1

Note. photograph of 2023 dollhouse. Own work.

Unpublished photographs, illustrations, art

Unpublished photographs and works of art created for the assignment (or appearing only in the assignment/paper and no where else) are not cited - so they do not have a formal in-text citation or an entry in the reference list. Treat it as a figure, and add any necessary details in the Note section under the image.

Add "Own work" to the image if you feel it needs to be made clear that this is an image you created yourself.

About me...

My name is Deidra Herring and I work at OSU Thompson Library. I'm originally from Columbus, Ohio and currently live in the city with my cat Pepper Pots Herring. I love working with Ms. McComas to help you better understand how to give credit to works that are not created by you to avoid plagiarism.

I read your posts and was excited to meet you. Great pictures! Attached is one of my favorite hobbies which is to create miniature dollhouses at 1/6 scale. I especially like making things as real as possible.

Enjoy!

Best practices for citing images

To make citing easier, as you conduct your research, we recommend you keep track of:

Image creator's name (artist, photographer, etc.)
Title of the image
Date the image (or work represented by the image) was created
Date the image was posted online
Date of access (the date you accessed the online image)
Institution (gallery, museum) where the image is located/owned (if applicable)
Website and/or Database name

What is an attribution?

Unless a link below states that the site provides free stock photos, with any image you locate and use, credit must be given to the creator with a citation. That's called attribution.

There are special requirements for using clip art and stock images in APA Style papers. See the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Sections 12.14 to 12.18 and the Concise Guide Section 10.1 Example

Common sources include:

Getty Images
Adobe Stock
Shutterstock (free version)
Pixabay
Flickr
Microsoft Word clip art
Microsoft PowerPoint clip art

Below are examples in APA style citations by type.

Images from a electronic source

Author (Role of Author). (Year image was created). Title of work [Type of work], Retrieved from URL (address of website)

Kulbis, M. (Photographer). (2006). Men pray [Photograph], Retrieved from http://accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl

Note: If you can only find the screen name of an author (such as a photographer on Flickr), that will do as the author's name.

If the screen name is all lowercase, keep the name lowercase in the in-text citation and the references list.

Images from a electronic source (No Author, No Title, No Date)

Many images found on the Web are of this category, but you should still look for this missing information: try clicking on the image, and/or looking at the bottom of the image.

[Format and subject of work]. Retrieved from URL (address of website)

[Untitled photograph of a baby chimpanzee]. Retrieved from http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jdtr/struc/chimp3.htm

Image with attached information to attribute

“Furggelen afterglow” by Lukas Schlagenhauf is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

This is an ideal attribution because it includes the:

Title: “Furggelen afterglow”
Author: “Lukas Schlagenhauf“—with a link to their profile page
Source: “Furggelen afterglow“—with a link to the original photo on Flickr
License: “CC BY-ND 2.0”—with a link to the license deed

How you attribute authors of the CC works will depend on whether you modify the content, if you create a derivative, if there are multiple sources, etc.

Image with no attribution required

If the license associated with clip art or a stock image states “no attribution required,” then do not provide an APA Style reference, in-text citation, or copyright attribution.

For example, this image of a cat comes from Pixabay and has a license that says the image is free to reproduce with no attribution required. To use the image as a figure in an APA Style paper, provide a figure number and title and then the image. If desired, describe the image in a figure note. In a presentation (such as a PowerPoint presentation), the figure number, title, and note are optional.

Example citation:

Figure 1 A Striped Cat Sits With Paws Crossed

Image with attribution required

Figure 1 Lava the Sled Dog

Note. From Lava [Photograph], by Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/). CC BY 2.0.

The reference list entry for the image consists of its author, year of publication, title, description in brackets, and source (usually the name of the website and the URL).

Example citation:

Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/ 8639280606/

To cite clip art or a stock image without reproducing it, provide an in-text citation for the image instead of a copyright attribution. Also provide a reference list entry.

Parenthetical citation: (Denali National Park and Preserve, (2013)
Narrative citation: Denali National Park and Preserve (2013)

How you cite your own work depends on what it is, and whether or not it has been published.

Figure 1

Note. photograph of 2023 dollhouse. Own work.

Unpublished photographs, illustrations, art

Add "Own work" to the image if you feel it needs to be made clear that this is an image you created yourself.

About me...

Enjoy!

Best practices for citing images

To make citing easier, as you conduct your research, we recommend you keep track of:

Image creator's name (artist, photographer, etc.)
Title of the image
Date the image (or work represented by the image) was created
Date the image was posted online
Date of access (the date you accessed the online image)
Institution (gallery, museum) where the image is located/owned (if applicable)
Website and/or Database name

What is an attribution?

Unless a link below states that the site provides free stock photos, with any image you locate and use, credit must be given to the creator with a citation. That's called attribution.

Common sources include:

Getty Images
Adobe Stock
Shutterstock (free version)
Pixabay
Flickr
Microsoft Word clip art
Microsoft PowerPoint clip art