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Papers/Presentations
Since 1978, a copyright is secured automatically when the expression is created and fixed in a concrete medium of expression for the first time. Publication is no longer a key to obtaining statutory copyright. So, this means that pretty much everything on the internet is copyrighted, too. Yes, your research papers are automatically copyrighted, too, though some professors may disagree that they are creative. A copyright is claimed when a copyright notice is included on the item. A copyright notice has three elements:
- The copyright symbol is a Circle C, ©, or the word copyright or the abbreviation COPR, or the symbol Circle P, for photo records.
- The year of the first publication.
- The name of the copyright owner or abbreviation, for example, John Doe, 1989.
A copyright notice can appear anyplace in or on the work, as long as it can be readily seen. In writings, it is usually on the first page or two.
Before you get hopelessly confused by all this, being in an academic environment has some advantages. It is called “fair use.” As a student you are allowed to use portions of others copyrighted works in your research and presentations. There are, however, guidelines on using copyrighted works, such as what is used, how much of it is used, the period of time, and whom you can share it.
So you may ask, “So how can I avoid going to jail, or violating someone’s copyright?” It is pretty easy to avoid infringing on someone’s copyright. Copy only what you need to complete your research paper or presentation. Instead of copying an entire article or chapter out of a book, just copy the portions that you will actually use. Instead of copying a whole song to use as background music for your presentation, try copying portions of multiple songs, instead. Get creative! This goes for novels, really dry textbooks, journal and magazine articles, poems, movies, music, pie charts (reformat it into a graph, facts are not protected by copyright, but the pie chart is!), cartoons, paintings, maps, plays, choreography, boat hull designs, etc.
Remember, you are allowed to copy and use copyrighted material for private study or research for non-commercial purposes. If you used copyrighted material in your research paper, you can’t sell it.
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