Copyright in yourthesis or dissertation
Using copyrighted content

What is fair use?

Copyright protects many different types of creative
works, including text and images, so long as the work is
original and fixed in a tangible medium of expression.

Fair use is determined based on a balancing offour factors:

Copyright is instant and automatic and provides
copyright owners with the exclusive rights to copy,adapt, distribute, perform or display their work.
Many of the materials you find online, while publicly
available, remain protected by copyright. If you areusing copyrighted content in your thesis or dissertation,
you will need to determine if your use of the work ispermissible under the law. If the work you wish to use
is not already covered by an existing open license (e.g.,licensed under a Creative Commons license), you must
get permission from the copyright owner to use thecontent or look to fair use.

Getting permission: Seeking permission touse a work from the copyright owner can taketime. Do not wait until the last minute! For more
information on the permission process andsample permission request letters, visitgo.osu.edu/permission
Relying on fair use: Fair use is a defense thatpermits certain uses of copyrighted works
without the permission of the copyright owner.
A fair use of a work is not considered an
infringement. go.osu.edu/fairuse

1. the purpose and character of theuse, including whether the use is of acommercial nature or is for nonprofit
educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of theportion used in relation to the copyrighted
work as a whole; and4. the effect of the use upon the potentialmarket for or value of the copyrightedwork.
You must conduct a fair use analysis for eachindividual use of copyrighted content. Some
criteria that may weaken an argument for fairuse include:• Using material for purely decorative orentertainment purposes. Ensure thatyou are using the material to support thescholarship in your manuscript.
• Using more material than you would
actually need to accomplish your purpose.
• Creating a substitute for the original work.
Your manuscript will be openly available
online. Will this harm the market for theoriginal work?

RESOURCES:The Ohio State University Graduation Services: Grad-SchoolGraduationServices@osu.edu
Kenneth D. Crews, “Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis: Ownership, Fair Use, and You Rights and Responsibilities”

Publishing
Master’s theses, dissertations, and DMA documents must be electronicallysubmitted to OhioLINK for storage and online access. In addition, PhD andDMA documents are archived through ProQuest/UMI. The full text of yourthesis or dissertation will be openly available to the public.

Cite your sources

Publishers may consider your electronic submission to be a priorpublication; disclose and discuss this with your publisher. You may also
contact the Graduate School for more information on requesting anembargo or delay on the electronic dissemination of your work.

Provide attribution to the known
copyright owner(s) of each work
you are using. These citations
demonstrate responsible use andare a scholarly tradition; however,you cannot avoid copyright
infringement simply by crediting
the source.

Before signing a publishing agreement, pay attention to what theagreement provides. Some publishing agreements may require you
to relinquish some or all of your copyright ownership in your thesis ordissertation.

• At minimum, provide the author’s
name, title of the work
(if available), and source ofthe work.

READ the agreement. Have you transferred all of your rights?
Does the publisher grant back any of those rights?

• Include any additional
information required by terms ofuse or license.*

ASK what rights do you need and what rights do you want?
UNDERSTAND how your works may be used by yourself and others.
If the publishing agreement does not allow you to retain the rights youneed or want for future purposes, speak with your publisher. An author’saddendum may be used to secure these rights.

Manage your copyrightAs a student at The Ohio State University, you own the copyright in yourthesis or dissertation, meaning you may decide how your work may becopied, adapted, distributed, performed, or displayed. You may elect toretain all of these rights (all rights reserved) or transfer some or all of yourrights to another.

Insert your citation in a reasonablelocation, to allow readers to easily
identify the copyright owner.
This may be next to the work insmall font, as a footnote, or as anendnote. Follow any formatting
guidelines and requirements
issued by your College.
*For instructions on citing Creative
Commons licensed works, visit:go.osu.edu/cite-images.

How would you like others to be able to use your work? If you would liketo retain all rights, consider including a copyright notice to indicate yourcopyright ownership. If you would like others to be able to freely use yourthesis or dissertation without having to directly ask your permission, clearlyand publicly communicate the terms under which your work may be used.
Consider applying a Creative Commons license to your work.
Electronic submission of your thesis or dissertation into the OhioLINKETD Center is a graduation requirement. The full text of your thesis ordissertation will be publicly available. Are you including content that you
would not want to be made publicly available now or in the future?
Monitor and enforce your rights. If your work has been used without
permission (no statutory exception applies and you have not granted alicense) you may ask the alleged infringer to cease using your work orprovide information on the terms for continued use.

Copyright Services
University Libraries(614) 688-5849
Email: libcopyright@osu.edu
6/22

Disclaimer: Copyright Services is not legal counsel to the University or any members of the University community. Information provided by
Copyright Services is not legal advice. This work by The Ohio State University Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0