Copyright question

October 26, 2009 10:12 PM

Copyright question: if I'm doing a report for school can I copy and paste someone elses graph into my report if I cite them?

Someone made up a really good chart and I want to make sure I wont get in trouble for using it. I took it off their website but I am crediting them as the source. Anon because I'm embarrassed to have to ask.

posted by anonymous to writing & language (17 comments total)

It depends. Is the graph a major point of the homework or are you just using it for illustrative purposes? If the latter, you should be fine, as long as you properly cite the site you got it from.
posted by peacheater at 10:13 PM on October 26

I don't think that copyright is really an issue. The question would be whether your instructors thought you were committing plagiarism. If you yourself created the majority of your report, I can't see it as being an issue. But if your report is little more than a paraphrase of that other person's article, I think it would not be OK.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:25 PM on October 26

The only right answer is that of your instructor's. So ask them.
posted by grouse at 10:32 PM on October 26 [2 favorites]

My general feeling...

If the graph is in support of your conclusion, then it's okay. Just follow the proper citing guideline.

If the graph is your conclusion, then no.
posted by sbutler at 10:36 PM on October 26

Definitely ask your instructor. Do not be embarrassed. This is a very normal question, and part of what you're learning in school is proper research/citation technique. "I've found a very good chart that really makes the point well, how can I use it appropriately in the report? How do I cite this kind of thing?" etc.

In general, err on the side of citing everything you possibly can. Be absolutely crystal clear that you're not trying to pass the chart off as your own work; it's a useful illustration made by Bob Smith (or whatever) and you'll be making your own points about it.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:36 PM on October 26 [3 favorites]

The answers given here have been great. A rundown of them:

It's certainly not a copyright issue, since you're not taking someone else's work and making money off of it or stealing money from them by otherwise distributing it in its original form.

It's not a plagiarism issue since you're properly attributing the graph to the person from whom it came, and since you're not trying to fool anybody into thinking it was your own creation.

It might be a 'you didn't do your assignment - you just found this graph on the internet and stuck it on here!' kind of issue if your teacher expects you to make a graph yourself for this report.

Verdict: ask your teacher if it's okay. This is the kind of question they expect to answer when they give you a report to do, so don't be embarrassed; it's perfectly reasonable to ask questions.

posted by koeselitz at 11:47 PM on October 26

Metafilter's communal understanding of copyright infringement is historically atrocious. This is, prima facie, a copyright question. However, the situation you outline falls squarely under Fair Use, so you're fine to use it and correct to cite the source. You have no legal problem.

The question of if you have a scholastic problem is not one we can definitively answer. It is standard in academic papers to reference, quote and borrow charts from other work as source material with the proper citations. The issue of plagiarism is eliminated with the citation, so unless your teacher or professor specified completely original work, I would go ahead and use the lovely chart, assuming this paper is due tomorrow.

If it isn't due tomorrow, the question to ask the person in question is "I would like to use a chart from XYZ in my paper to support an argument. What method of citation should I use?" That will give your teacher/professor the opportunity to ixnay the chart if there is some kind of odd issue for this particular paper - which there should not be.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:02 AM on October 27 [4 favorites]

DarlingBri's response is excellent, but it's worth making the point that Fair Use is a US concept, and the equivalent laws in other countries are slightly different. So if Anon is outside the US, the legal situation may be different (though I suspect it probably isn't).
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:54 AM on October 27

Well, whether or not it's a copyright issue is kind of besides the point because 1) The original author will never find out about it, and 2) if they did it wouldn't be worthwhile to sue you and 3) They couldn't really recoup monetary damages anyway because it's not an ongoing infringement.

In terms of copyright, it's no different then emailing the graph to a friend.
posted by delmoi at 4:42 AM on October 27

I would suggest that even if formation of a graph of your own is a key element of your homework, then you might still consider putting the other graph in, as an addition to your own work, and commenting on correlation, etc.
posted by biffa at 4:58 AM on October 27

I've done this for school, and seen it done in other published work. If you make it extremely clear that you did not create the graph, e.g. "Image from X" I can't see a problem with it.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 6:11 AM on October 27

Don't ask "what method of citation should I use" because that's not your question and it makes it sound like you didn't pay attention in class, or read the assignment or where ever they said what style you should use. A simple straightforward question is much better: "I would like to use this graph and cite it in support of my conclusions. Is that acceptable?"

Don't be afraid to ask. Figuring out citation is difficult, and different profs have different policies on using internet sources, so it is completely within the realm of normal to have questions. If you ask by email, keep it really short and provide a link. Unless your prof/TA says they prefer email, they probably prefer that you go and ask in their office hours (assuming it's university. If it's highschool, just ask in class).
posted by carmen at 6:18 AM on October 27

Metafilter's communal understanding of copyright infringement is historically atrocious.

Isn't that the truth? The "Darling" part of your username is showing in the form of ambassadorial level tact.

I agree that this probably falls squarely into the fair use category. It's not plagiarism when you properly cite the source and make clear that the graph is copied in whole, but as others have said it could become an issue if this graph overshadows the rest of your research and analysis.
posted by caddis at 7:15 AM on October 27

I'm in charge of reprint permissions for a large foundation/thinktank that produces absurd amounts of charts/graphs/tables/reports that people like to reprint in textbooks, journal articles, papers, etc. If you called or emailed me to ask about using a chart, I'd tell you that the use falls squarely within fair use. If you told me that your professor insisted on you showing that you got reprint permissions (yes, this happens, and with stupid frequency), I would sigh and roll my eyes and send you the formal reprint permissions language, along with the citation information. The cite would include the name of the report the chart came from, the publication number, the author (in this case, the Foundation), and the date of publication. It would be up to you to put that information into the proper form according to what your professor wants.

This is in the United States.
posted by rtha at 7:23 AM on October 27

I am not adding anything new, I just think it's important to reiterate that you shouldn't be embarrassed to ask your instructor or anyone else questions about citations. This is part of what you're meant to be learning, and even people who have been doing it for years will sometimes have questions about what constitutes fair use or accurate and sufficient attribution.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:45 AM on October 27

I've taught courses requiring written assignments. If I received one that included a graph, properly attributed, I'd respond in exactly the same way I would if I received one with a block of properly attributed text: If the borrowed section made up a small fraction of the assignment and was used appropriately, fine; if the borrowed part made up a substantial portion of the assignment and/or was used in lieu of actually doing any original thinking on the part of the student, then it would be graded down (with an explanation why). In either case, so long as it's properly attributed I wouldn't treat it as plagiarism, but I might treat it as laziness or failure to meet assignment criteria if there were little else in the assignment besides the graph.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:14 AM on October 27

If you ask by email, keep it really short and provide a link. Unless your prof/TA says they prefer email, they probably prefer that you go and ask in their office hours (assuming it's university. If it's highschool, just ask in class).

Hunh. As a professor, I would expect you to (a) ask if you've got questions (but good for thinking about it---too many students just slap stuff in without attribution), and (b) handle this by e-mail unless office hours were convenient to you. I don't know that I explicitly say I prefer e-mail, but I don't know why you wouldn't handle this by e-mail unless your professor clearly does not like e-mail.

Indeed, the main issue is whether you are taking up too much space---either intellectual or page-wise---with the graph. If you are supposed to be writing a 10 page paper and this takes up a page, and you don't extend the paper another page to replace the space taken up with the figure, then that's probably worrisome. If the point of the exercise is that you need to be able to analyze your own data, a la a bio lab report or something, then it's probably not cool.

But look, as to the potential embarrassment: answering this type of question is what your professor is for. She presumably gave you the assignment, and you're supposed to be learning from it. So in addition to the learning you are doing synthesizing ideas for the report, youa re also supposed to be learning about writing in the discipline, and this includes why/how/when to include what from other sources.

Having said that, sucking crap in from random websites is something you should do sparingly, unless you explicitly were instructed to use web sources. Overall, stuff from the web is poorly sourced and may contain garbage dressed up pretty. So beware.
posted by leahwrenn at 12:29 PM on October 27