Copyright for study
As a student, you’ll both use and create copyright materials during your studies. It’s important to comply with copyright to meet legal requirements, University policies and integrity principles, as well as to develop best practices you can use throughout your career.
Note: If you are a graduate research student, please refer to Copyright for research.
Use content with confidence
Follow these best practices to ensure copyright compliance while studying and completing assessments.
- Search results provided by Library Collections Search and Google Scholar exclude pirated resources.
- Avoid websites that require uploading of material to access other material.
- Linking or embedding material does not infringe copyright.
- AI tools usually only need a link or citation in the prompt to query an academic resource. See the AI and Copyright Learning Guide for more information.
- Use the Library's Academic Referencing Tool to reference correctly.
- OERs generally have a Creative Commons or similar open licence that permits certain uses without requiring permission or relying on an exception.
- Fair dealing for research or study permits copying of a ‘reasonable portion’ of print and website material for study use.
- See the Australian Copyright Council's Research or Study Fact Sheet for more information.
- No limits apply to the amount of material you can include in a graded assessment, provided it is appropriately attributed.
- Some library databases don’t permit downloading of texts, or they limit printing and downloading to a certain number of pages. Circumventing these limits will violate the licence terms of the provider.
- For most e-resources, you will still be able to read the text online where download limits are in place.
- Uploading or sharing course materials or course readings to websites outside the University will infringe copyright in most circumstances.
- OERs (outlined above) are the exception and can usually be freely shared.
- Using material without acknowledgement may be considered misconduct under the Student Academic Misconduct Policy.
- Authors also have a legislated right to be attributed under copyright. See the Academic Referencing Tool for guidance.
- Contact the Library if you cannot locate or access a particular item in the Library Collections Search.
- Contact the Copyright Advisor for advice on how materials can be used.
Copyright ownership
The University's Intellectual Property (IP) Statute provides that students retain the IP – including copyright – created during their studies in most circumstances. This includes assignments and theses.
Consequences for breaching copyright
Not complying with copyright and licensing requirements may amount to academic misconduct and can result in serious penalties under the Student Academic Misconduct Policy. There may also be legal ramifications.
Contact us
If you require further information about copyright, please get in touch.
Some sections adapted from Copyright at Adelaide University, with permission.