It should also help graduate students protect their own copyrights. Although this guide focuses on doctoral dissertations, its principles extend as well to master's theses and many other works. Indeed, this overview hardly touches the depth of copyright law-it is only an introduction to some of the most common situations. It cannot serve as legal advice. If, after studying this text, your circumstances raise copyright issues that you are not prepared to address alone, talk with your faculty advisor and consult an attorney.
Some campuses offer legal assistance services.
Appendix C lists sources of further information, including mention of an international email discussion list where subscribers may post questions and elicit insights from experts throughout the country and the world. The author gives special thanks to William Savage at UMI who has supported and fostered this project for many years. David J. Billick, now at Microsoft Corporation, conceived the original project and made the first edition possible.