Welcome to the 'Copyright for Students' Guide.
Almost all the learning resources that you use as a student – books, journals, videos, software, etc. - will be covered by the 'Copyright, Designs & Patents Act, 1988' (link below). This prohibits copying someone else's copyright material unless (a) you have their permission or (b) it falls within the limits allowed for 'fair dealing'.
Copyright Law:
Students can make a single photocopy of a certain amount of copyright material for non-commercial purpose or private study. It is important that students adhere to the limitations specified under 'fair dealing', and stay within the law when using copyright material.
Copyright law is intended to protect the rights of the creators of written and other works. You may not realise that you are breaking the law, but if you copy more from a book than you are legally entitled to; you may be fined.
The main permission to copy which concerns you as a student, is the ‘fair dealing’ provision, where you can make a single photocopy of a certain amount of copyright material for private study. The guidelines for fair dealing are as follows:
Source: | Permission to Copy (Fair Dealing): |
Books | 1 Chapter or 10% |
Reports/ Pamphlets (no chapters) | Up to 10% (≤ 20 pages) |
British Standards | Up to 10% |
Journals | 1 Article per issue |
Photographs |
1 Copy for research study |
OS Maps | 1 x A4 extract |
Newspapers | 1 Article per issue may be copied |
Electronic Information
Any material published electronically e.g. Internet/ CD-ROM is protected by copyright in the same way as printed material is, & the same rules for fair dealing apply. The guidelines therefore for electronic sources are:
Electronic Information | 1 Article from 1 issue of an electronic journal |
(e.g. Internet/ CD-ROM) | 10% of any other document/ electronic book |
Sometimes there will be a note on a website stating that the content can be used without restriction, but do not assume anything.
If in doubt send an e-mail to the contact name on the website. In many cases this will be granted for educational purposes. You should certainly ask permission if you want to copy images, graphs & other illustrations.
What do I need to check?
Before making copies under fair dealing, you should check:
will the copyright owner's economic interests be damaged?
If the answer is "yes" to any of these questions, fair dealing is unlikely to apply to the intended copying.
All sources must be acknowledged or you may risk incurring penalties through plagiarism and/or infringement of copyright works.
(a) Scanning:
Any scanning of copyright works is illegal without permission from the copyright owners, especially if you intend to alter the text in any way.
(b) Word Processing:
Word processing from a paper copy can only be done for criticism or review purposes and should only involve short extracts of any work. You should always acknowledge works quoted.
(c) Downloading:
CAB and BIDS are both covered by the terms of the licence. Other CD-ROMs, disks and online resouces should be treated as books and periodicals i.e. a maximum 10% of any book, one article from each issue of a periodical.
(d) SRUC Learning Materials:
Students are given access to SRUC learning materials on the understanding that they are used for personal, educational and non-commercial purposes only.
You are in breach of copyright if you copy SRUC materials and disseminate to others.
(e) Referencing:
Academic study requires you to consult the work of others. All sources used within an assignment or submission must be properly acknowledged. One of the most commonly used systems for referencing is the Harvard System. Consult the following guide for help with referencing:
(f) Turnitin:
SRUC uses 'Turnitin' for electronic submission of assignments. This software package checks submitted work for any plagiarism. Please be aware that this software checks all internet sources as well as other pieces of work, and will effectively find all instances of copying materials. Any instances of suspected plagiarism or failure to acknowledge your original sources may be considered as academic misconduct and be subject to SRUC procedures. Consult the 'Academic Misconduct Policy' (SRUC, 2017) for further details.
Source:
SRUC (2017) 'Referencing Guide' in SRUC Student Handbook. Edinburgh: Scotland's Rural College.
The information contained within these pages provides an interpretation of current copyright issues. It is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. It is the responsibility of individual academic staff and students to ensure that their use of any materials for learning and teaching complies with UK copyright law and the terms of our licences.
© Clker-Free-Vector-Images (2012), CC0
There will be times when you wish to include, or make reference to, material which is not your own (i.e. which is someone else’s copyright) when completing an assignment. It is legitimate to include quotations for the purposes of criticism and review, but you must make sure that such material is properly acknowledged or cited.
Shorter quotations of a few words or sentences may be used to illustrate a point, but not to replace using your own words. These must also be correctly acknowledged and cited.
Plagiarism: taking and using another person's thoughts, writings or inventions as your own without acknowledging or citing the source of the ideas and expressions. In the case of copyrighted material, plagiarism is illegal (Pears & Shields, 2016, p. 162).
Source:
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2016) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 10th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
SRUC defines plagiarism as: "the unacknowledged incorporation in a student’s work either in an examination or assessment of material derived from the work (published or unpublished) of another." (SRUC, 2017, p.8)
Plagiarism may therefore include:
The following guide will provide guidance on how to reference your work correctly, and how to avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism:
Source:
SRUC (2017) 'Academic Misconduct Policy', in SRUC Education Manual. Edinburgh: Scotland's Rural College, p.8.
It is important that students stay within the law when using copyright material.
Copyright Dos & Don'ts |
DO:
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DON'T:
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References for images included within this guide:
Clker-Free-Vector-Images (2012) Copyright, symbol, pink, circled, sign, capital letter. Available at: https://pixabay.com/vectors/copyright-symbol-pink-circled-sign-39594/ (Accessed: 9 October 2019).