Lake Forest College Library: Research Guides: Find and Cite Images for Presentations

Copyright?
If you want to reproduce the image in a research paper, PowerPoint presentation, or a poster, find the copyright instructions for the individual journal and/or database (or website).

Frequently you can just do a search for the word copyright or the word permission, using the Find (Ctrl+F) command.

Some journals will give immediate permission to use the images for educational purposes, provided the source is credited properly.
Others require you to contact the author and/or publisher; generally contact information is provided, and replies to copyright requests are speedy.

For additional information, the Library of Congress' website page The Learning Page-Getting Started: Copyright answers many questions without legal jargon.

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Find and Cite Images for Papers and Presentations

As a Lake Forest College student, you have access to hundreds of online databases and journals having images of a much higher resolution than many of the search engines on the Internet. These journals also have reliable documentation as to the source and subject of the image, and so are easier to cite correctly.
You can link to these images without violating copyright laws, but be sure to cite the source as you would any quotation.

Figure 1

The development of male antennae of the wild silkmoth.
Used with permission, © 2005 PNAS.

Google's Image Search can be useful, but the images are typically best when viewed online (as in a PowerPoint presentation) and are rarely high enough resolution for printing anything larger than a postage stamp.
Look for images where at least one dimension is 500 pixels or greater.

PNAS Online (the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) has high resolution images if you click on the [Full Text] link to an article. PNAS allows reproduction of all of their images for non-profit, educational purposes without seeking permission. For example, see figure 1.

However, you will still need to cite your source and give credit to the producer of the image. Figure 1 is hyperlinked to the article in which it appeared. Figure 2 is cited with a footnote.

Scientific American Archive Online has some startlingly beautiful images for posters; permission to use the images for educational purposes is already granted on the site.

Science has a wealth of high resolution images. You must request permission to use these images for display purposes (e.g. for Student Symposium).

NBII (National Biological Information Infrastructure) Digital Image Library is developed and maintained by the Center for Biological Informatics of the U.S. Geological Survey. Images are either in public domain (copyright free) or have permission granted for use provided the creator is credited.

Wikimedia Commons is an off-shoot of the Wikipedia project. Images and other content are contributed by any photographer or graphic designer or other artist who has the authority and desire to offer copyright-free image or sound files. Give a link to the image in Wikimedia Commons and, when available, the name of the creator of the item.

Prints and Photographs Reading Room (Library of Congress) does not have scientific images at this time, but included in this digital collection are images from the early days of the conservation movement. Most are free to use for educational purposes.

Other online subscribed journals —

Online journals typically have very high qualtiy images accompanying the "Full text" document of an article; PDF files do not always have high-resolution images in a useful format.
Unless otherwise stated, it is generally required that a student contact both the journal publisher and the article author to obtain permission to reproduce an image, even for educational purposes.
For online journal images that can only be seen by those having access via a subscription, it is permitted for students to link to the image without obtaining any additional permission, as, for example, to this image of astrocytic cultures from the March 2004 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Figure 2. B. pertussis

Citing Images (Where do I find images?)

Images used in professional journals are typically the work of the authors, and so need no additional citation.
Directly below is an example of a References list citation for an image found online (Figure 2), but used in a student's research paper or presentation:

Carson, J. L. (c. 2003). "B. pertussis." [Online image] In Three genomes and whooping cough, Genome News Network. Rockville Maryland: J. Craig Venter Institute. Retrieved January 25, 2006, from http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/09_03/ whooping_cough.php

Giving the address of the image without the address of the page on which it appeared is usually insufficient information to locate the image at a later date.

Below is an explanatory footnote used to cite the same image.

¹ "B. Pertussis" [Online photograph], by J. L. Carson (c. 2003). Retrieved October 11, 2005 from http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/gnn_images/news_content/09_03/whooping/ pertusis.jpg at the Genome News Network website, GNN: Three genomes and whooping cough. Copyright 2000 - 2004 by the J. Craig Venter Institute. Available at http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/09_03/ whooping_cough.php

Accurate citation of sources is a good way to avoid plagiarsm and its consequences.

For additional information, the Library of Congress' website page, The Learning Page-Getting Started: Copyright answers many questions without legal jargon.