Attributions for Creative Commons licensed content allow you to provide credit to the creator of the work you are using. Creators do not make any money when the license their content under Creative Commons, so providing attribution provides publicity, which can further increase awareness of their work.
Across the Internet, you will see attributions presented differently. Unlike style guides such as MLA and APA, there is not a strict formula that you must follow for providing attribution, but there are key elements to include and best practices to follow. The following information can be used to create an attribution, especially if one is not already provided on the website.
To create an attribution, locate the title, creator, and license for the image. With Flickr and Wikimedia Commons, this information is easy to find, but it may be more difficult to locate on other sites that appear in a Google Images search.
Once you locate the necessary information, you can create an attribution, using the following formula:
"Colourful Umbrellas" by neilhallphotos is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
There are sites that do not use Creative Commons licenses to make their content available. Instead, they might apply their own license, so it is important to look through the website for information about licensing and attribution. While not all licenses require attribution, all content created by someone else should be acknowledged in academic work.
Here are some examples of how to attribute non-CC licensed content in your multimedia projects.
The Unsplash license allows you to use images for free, for commercial and noncommercial purposes. Attribution is not required but encouraged.
Suggested attribution: Photo by [creator] on Unsplash.
Provide links to creator's page and Unsplash.com.
Videvo has four licenses for video. Licenses are listed on individual video pages:
Royalty free: free to use, attribution is not required
Video Attribution License: free to use, but you must provide attribution. The attribution can be: Video by [creator] on Videvo.
Creative Commons 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0): refer to information on this page about attributing CC licensed work
NASA Guidelines: refer to NASA Guidelines for use of imagery
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) contains writing resources and instructional materials focused on the writing process, academic writing, mechanics, grammar, punctuation, and more.
Creating a website and need to include your attributions? Not sure where to place them? Here are some suggestions.
