Copyright

Original works of authorship, including not only writings but also artistic works, music, films, photographs and web pages are protected by copyright. A work is protected as soon as it is put into a fixed form (manuscript, print, painting, score, recording, web page) - the author does not have to apply for copyright. It is illegal to copy, reproduce or perform the work thereafter without permission of the copyright holder. Fair use allows limited quotations from copyrighted works for non-commercial purposes of scholarship. These quotations, or paraphrasing from copyrighted works, should be footnoted and attributed to the original author when preparing your own paper, report or dissertation.

Copyright also applies to creation of web pages. Rather than copying material from one web page onto your own web page, you should create a link to the page and acknowledge the original author.

Copyright is a LEGAL concept. Plagiarism is an ETHICAL concept. Both require that you acknowledge the original work of others.

Some further sites for information on copyright: