Understanding Copyright, Fair Use and Plagiarism Laws

                                                               

Welcome Parents, Students and Faculty members.  The National Megaphone is designed to inform you about the latest areas of discussion within our school.  My first blog is to inform everyone on Copyright, Fair Use and Plagiarism laws.  Since we will be asking our students to produce papers using all types of media, it is important that we all know about these laws.

Ask yourself this: Did I copy it? Did I use it? Did I abuse it (using it more than once)?  Chances are you did.  Understanding the do’s and don’ts of Copyright, Fair Use and Plagiarism laws will keep you safe and informed.

What is the Copyright Law?    

According to Wikipedia, “Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution.”  In short it provides legal protection for original works by the creator.

What is the Fair Use Law?

The Fair Use Law allows the use of portions of copyrighted works without the permission from the owner.  It was created to allow copyrighted works for several entities such as, classroom instruction, news reporting and research to name a few.

Education and Fair Use          

The Fair Use law allows educators use of the copyrighted materials such as:

A single chapter in a book, a poem of 250 words or less, a chart, diagram and even pictures from a book.  It also allows sheet music to be copied and includes video tapes to be used for lessons.  To read full details go to Education World.

Students as well can use these examples, however we must remember it is for educational purposes.  Now you may say to yourself, “I will just copy it from the internet”, the internet is not public domain meaning internet information was created by someone and in most cases is copyrighted.  For more information click here copyrightkids

Students may also use Creative Commons.  Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has teamed up with entities such as Flickr and You Tube to allow students and teachers to use their works freely.

What is Plagiarism?  

Plagiarism is simply copying someone’s work.  An example would be copying a sentence word for word out a textbook on an essay.  You can, however, use someone else’s work if you quote it and reference it at the end of your work.  For more information click Avoiding Plagiarism.

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is rephrasing or summarizing in your own words what you read or heard.

Conclusion

It is my hope that this blog informed you and your student on Copyright, Fair Use and Plagiarism issues.  It is in the best interest of our students as well as our parents and teachers to understand the dos and don’ts of these laws.  If you have any question or concerns pick up that megaphone.

References

Copyright. (2016, September 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:26, September 19, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Copyright&oldid=739727167

Education World - Copyrights and Copying Wrongs,  http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280a.shtml

Comparative Media Studies/ Writing, Avoiding Plagiarism, MIT 

http://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-center/avoiding-plagiarism/

DISCLAIMER: This blog is an assignment for an educational technology course at National University.