"Fair Use" rules are copyright rules for students and teachers. You may use the following without making a copyright violation:
Copyright Information for Students
- Music - 10% or 30 seconds
- Videos, etc. - 10% or 3 minutes
- A photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety – no more than 5 images of an artist or photographer and no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less from a collective work
- Book - 10% or 1000 words
- Poem – entire poem may be used but no more than one poem by a poet or 5 poems from an anthology
Additional Guidelines:
- Students may incorporate portions of copyrighted materials when producing a project for a specific course.
- Students may perform and display their own projects and use them in their portfolio or use the project for job interviews or as supporting materials for application to graduate school.
*ALWAYS CITE YOUR SOURCES! See our MLA page for help citing sources.*
Copyright Information for Teachers
- A chapter from a book (never the entire book).
- An article from a periodical or newspaper.
- A short story, essay, or poem. One work is the norm whether it comes from an individual work or an anthology.
- A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.
- Poetry: Multiple copies of a poem of 250 words or less that exist on two pages or less or 250 words from a longer poem.
- Prose: Multiple copies of an article, story or essay that are 2,500 words or less or excerpts up to 1,000 words or 10 percent of the total work, whichever is less.
- Illustrations: Multiple copies of a chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture contained in a book or periodical issue.
What Should Be Avoided?
- Making multiple copies of different works that could substitute for the purchase of books, publisher's reprints, or periodicals.
- Copying the same works from semester to semester.
- Copying the same material for several different courses at the same or different institutions.
- Copying more than nine separate times in a single semester.
When is Permission Required?
- When you intend to use the materials for commercial purposes.
- When you want to use the materials repeatedly.
- When you want to use a work in its entirety and it is longer than 2,500 words.
Additional Guidelines:
- Faculty may include portions of copyrighted works when producing their own multimedia project for their teaching in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions.
- Faculty may use their project for:
- assignments for student self-study
- for remote instruction provided the network is secure and is designed to prevent unlawful copying
- for conferences, presentations, or workshops
- for their professional portfolio
Additional Copyright Resources
http://www.copyrightandschools.org/
Works Cited
"Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide
Web." University of Maryland University College. University of Maryland,
2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.
"Copyright Information." Norcross High School. Norcross High School, 2005. Web. 7
Dec. 2009. dit.