85.6k views
1 vote
Can you use content licensed under Creative Commons in a research paper?

A. No, the content can only be used by educators.
B. Yes, as long as you follow the license terms.
C. No, the content is still covered by copyright law.
D. Yes, as long as you ask for proper permission.

1 Answer

4 votes

Final answer:

Yes, you can use content licensed under Creative Commons in a research paper as long as you adhere to the specific terms of the license, including giving proper credit, linking the license, and noting any changes made to the material.

Step-by-step explanation:

Can you use content licensed under Creative Commons in a research paper? The correct answer is B. Yes, as long as you follow the license terms. Creative Commons licenses allow you to share and adapt content, but you must adhere to the specific terms of the license. These terms include giving appropriate credit to the author, providing a link to the license, and indicating if any changes were made. There are different types of Creative Commons licenses, such as Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC), which allows for non-commercial use only, and ShareAlike (CC BY-SA), which requires you to distribute your contributions under the same license as the original if you remix, transform, or build upon the material.

For academic purposes, using Creative Commons content can be appropriate, but always ensure that the work you are using is not under a NoDerivs (ND) license if you plan to make changes to it. In any case, you must credit the original author and the license terms with all the required attributions. If the content has different licensing permissions, it is crucial to check each license to comply properly. Failure to follow these terms can lead to copyright infringement.

User Sgtfrankieboy
by
8.1k points