Images: Home
Learn about Fair use for images
- Creative Commons LicensesStep 1, start here:
Gives the conditions for sharing & explains the license types. - Use & remix (simple version)Step 2: You can use CC-licensed materials as long as you follow the license conditions. One condition of all CC licenses is attribution: brief how-to.
- Best practices for attributionStep 3, here are good (and not so good) examples of attribution.
If you want to learn more about fair use and copyright, scroll down to the bottom box on this page.
Next, Find images
These sites provide alternatives to Google Image search.
- Creative Commons SearchThis is the best!
1. Enter your search term/s in the box, e.g., Tasmania
2. Choose license/s
3. Use left menu for other limits to narrow results - OpenverseImages and audio files that are openly licensed (Creative Commons or Public Domain)
- Photography Imagesfrom GVSU Libraries Subject Guide for Photography
- Find Images: Open Media ResourcesFrom University of Washington Bothell Campus Library
Cite images
Citations must include attribution: revisit the "Learn about fair use for images" box links!
- How to Cite a PhotographAPA, MLA, Chicago; reproducing photos in figures; Q&A; from wikiHow
- How to Cite an Image Found on Google Imagesfrom Citation Machine
- How to Cite Google ImagesAPA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, from wikiHow
- HOW To Describe ImagesDeveloped by The DIAGRAM Center (Digital Image And Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials), the Poet Training Tool is a web-based image description resource that helps people learn when and how to describe various types of images. Best practice guidelines and hands-on exercises help cultivate skills for writing effective image descriptions for critical visual content.
- MLA FormatCiting online material with MLA: websites, articles, images, social media, videos, comments
Learn more about Fair use for images
- What is Fair Use?GVSU Libraries: Scholarly Communications explanations and checklist
- Creative CommonsGVSU Libraries: Scholarly Communications explanations
- GVSU Copyright PoliciesGVSU Libraries: Scholarly Communications links
- Using images the right wayA visual guide to obtaining copyright, using creative commons, public domain, or fair use
Liaison Librarian

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Mailing address: 240 Mary Idema Pew Library, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49401
- Last Updated: Aug 17, 2023 3:35 PM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/images