If you plan to reprint any figures or tables in your thesis, you will need to be mindful of copyright and intellectual property (IP). When you (or anyone else) want to re-use copyrighted materials, you need to consider the complicated landscape of fair use and copyright permissions. Using someone's work without permission and not as a fair use infringes on their copyright -- even if you provide a citation.
While plagiarism and copyright violations sometimes overlap, they are different issues. Plagiarism is an issue of ethics and good scholarly practice; the impact of plagiarism is usually reputational and career-related (in severe cases career-ending). Copyright infringement (and other IP law) is a legal issue and if violation is found damages can be monetary (and significant).
Now that the scare tactics are out of the way, you'll be glad to hear that it is relatively easy to avoid these issues, but there is a bit of extra work.
Give people credit for the work they have done. Academic citations / references are how scholars avoid plagiarism. For ideas, knowledge, and information that you didn't come up with, give credit to the source. Very well-known information, "common knowledge," doesn't necessarily need a citation, but the "common knowledge" threshold can be unclear. If you're in doubt about whether to cite something, cite it!
Citations are also how you build your credibility as a scholar. They communicate with people looking at your work that you have done your research, are well-informed, and they can trust you. They also enable readers to follow up on things they may want to verify or find out more about.
Copyrighted material can be legally re-used under the principles of fair use or with the permission of the copyright holder. It's important to know that in many cases, when scholars publish their work in a journal or a book they transfer their copyright over to the publisher. That means that even if you have the author's permission to use something, you may not have the legally relevant copyright permission. This is true even if it's your own work! If you publish in a journal, make sure you carefully read your author agreement to see what rights and privileges you keep and what you give to the publisher.
Fair Use is an exemption in copyright law that allows for copyrighted material to be re-used without permission under certain circumstances. A fair use evaluation looks to four factors: the purpose of the use (particularly if it is a transformative use), the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the copyrighted work used, and the effect on the (potential) market. The final word on if a use was actually "fair" happens in court, if someone is sued for copyright infringement, the claim that it was a fair use is their defense.
Getting permission from the copyright holder is the surest way to avoid potential issues. Most major publishers have a streamlined, online process for requesting permission.
You do not need to go through the permissions process for work which has been made available open access. You can identify these works by a clearly stated license (usually a Creative Commons (CC)) license on the work. As long as you follow the terms of the license, you do not need to get explicit permission to re-use the covered work. CC licenses have a few components, which clearly state the terms of the license.
For more help with using CC licensed materials, or applying a CC license to your own work, contact your librarian.
Librarians are here to help you throughout the research process. One of the places we can be especially helpful is in the topic development phase. We can help you clarify your area of interest, come up with keywords and search strategies, and point you in the direction of good resources to start with. Email me to set up a time to talk about your assignment or research project.
