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Speech Research Guide

Seaching for Images that are in the Public Domain

Video Collections

Images in Library Databases

**Please note: images from the databases below have copyright restrictions. These are not in the public domain.**

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Using Images:Tips & Advice

  1. Almost any image you find online or in library databases, or scan from a book, or photograph yourself may be used under the educational fair use policy for class papers, class presentations, and even websites if they are closed sites only available to your own educational community.
  2. You should still cite every image you use for the educational purposes above, describing the original creator and the source of the image you're using.
  3. For any work you publish formally (even in a department newsletter or anything publicly accessible online), you should use only non-copyrighted images (public domain or creative commons images) or those made available for the purpose with a creative commons license; or you must obtain explicit permission from the copyright holder (sometimes you have to pay the copyright holder for the right to reproduce an image).
  4. Any published / publicly available images you use in your work should be clearly cited, describing the original creator and the source of the image, and the permissions you were given to use it, if required.

Works of art and images of works of art are copyrighted: that means United States Copyright Law (a federal law) grants the creator of an original work the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute their work. However, the rights are limited in duration and subject to some exceptions, or limitations, which permit people the use of a copyrighted work without the copyright holder's (the creator's) permission, under certain conditions. 

  • Here is a link to Brown University Library's guide for images and copyright:

Copyright and Ethics of Image Use by Karen Bouchard

One often permitted use of copyrighted material is for purposes of "fair use".

The policy of "Fair Use" allows scholars, students, teachers, and others to use works that are still in copyright protection for the purpose of education and criticism. This does not mean that any use is fair as long as it is for educational purposes, but education is specifically mentioned as a favored purpose. For more info, here is a link to the MIT Libraries' guide for images and fair use:

Using Images: Copyright and Fair Use by Ellen Duranceau

Public Domain and Creative Commons Items

One way to avoid violating anyone's copyright is to find public domain images for your presentations. Copyright.gov explains the public domain as follows: "A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner." Because such works can be used without first seeking permission, they are ideal for many projects, particularly those that will extend beyond educational uses.

If you can't find Public Domain media that fit your needs, you can also use Creative Commons-licensed content as long as you ensure that you correctly attribute this content to its creator and otherwise meet the terms of the license under which the image is offered. You can find more information about this on the Creative Commons FAQ.

I've made note of items on this page if they fall under one of these categories. If you plan on using media for purposes outside the classroom, use items that fall under one of these two titles. Looks for notes in the description of the item. 

 

The sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association does not have guidelines for images, artwork, sculpture, photographs, etc.  However, here are some guidelines from the APA Style Blog:

SOCIAL MEDIA PHOTO, GRAPHIC, OR PHOTO ALBUM

Creator, A. (Date Posted). Caption text [Medium]. Retrieved from http://website.url

  • If no caption is provided, place a description of the image in brackets in its place.
  • If you are are citing a photo album, replace the caption text with the title of the album. Italicize the title.

EXAMPLES

VISUAL ART PIECE

Arist, A. (Year Created). Title of work [Medium]. Location of work: Institution housing work.

  • If you are viewing the piece online, leave off the location information for the piece. Instead, end your citation entry with "Retrieved from http://website.url"

EXAMPLES

Online Image Collections

****Please note: most of the images from the databases below have copyright restrictions. **