When you use or adapt content from another person's work, consider:
- Is this content in the public domain? If so, you do not need permission to use the material, but you do need to acknowledge/cite the source.
- Does this content have a CC-BY license? If so, you do not need additional permissions to use the material, but you do need to acknowledge/cite the course.
- Is your use covered by Fair Use laws? The most important consideration is the amount used. Brief quotation and excerpts would be covered by Fair Use, but beyond that you would need to get permission from the copyright holder.
If your use is not covered by Fair Use laws (for example, if you want to reuse a large portion / entire work), you will need to get the copyright owner's written permission. This means emailing the publisher or author. The written permission should be included in your final thesis submission.
When you use the following types of materials, you should seriously consider obtaining a permission letter from the copyright holder (adapted from the PQ/UMI® GradWorks Guide F2006):
- Graphics, pictures, photographs, figures, tables, graphs, tables, or other images. The material should be closely related to your research objectives, tied to critical analysis, and not supersede the market for the original.
- Long quotations from pre-existing materials that extend for more than one and one-half single-spaced pages.
- Reproduced publications. Examples include copies of standard survey instruments or questionnaires and journal articles. This applies even if you are the author of the original work, as the original publisher may have acquired copyright.
- Unpublished materials. Extensive reference to unpublished works raises a variety of issues about copyright and about privacy and access to collections.
- Poetry and Music Lyrics. Fair use for highly creative works is relatively limited. Lengthy excerpts will raise critical questions. Some publishers require permission for all quotations from poems.
- Dialogue from a play, screenplay, broadcast, or novel. While fair use is relatively narrow for creative and fictional works, it should allow brief quotations in the context of scholarly critiques.
- Music. Excerpts in your dissertation should be brief and should be closely tied to your research objectives.
- Computer Software. Reproducing computer programs to accompany your dissertation will almost invariably require permission. Consult any license agreement that may apply to the programs, and prepare to seek permission from the copyright owner. Shareware/Open Source programs are not necessarily freely available for copying. They are protected works made available under generous or lenient licensing terms; read the license carefully before integrating the program into your dissertation.
- Sources located on the Internet. Easy availability does not change copyright status. Materials on the Web are protected by copyright just as if they appeared in a book or on tape.
If you need guidance on copyright issues or how to get permission to reuse content, please contact the AUS Copyright Office (copyright@aus.edu).
