Copyright law applies to everyone. Writing assignments means reading, researching, exploring ideas and forming your own opinions. You cannot just cut and paste stuff from the internet, and stitch it together with a few words of your own! This is called plagiarism! You will be found out and you will get no marks for it!

To make you and the University legally compliant you cannot use someone else’s work unless:

1. the work must be used solely to illustrate a point;
2. the use of the work must not be for commercial purposes;
3. the use must be fair dealing;
4. it must be accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement (reference).

You may copy up to the following under the University’s copyright Licence:

• One whole chapter from a book
• One whole article from a journal issue
• One short story, poem or play (not exceeding 10 pages in length) from an anthology
• One whole scene from a play
• One whole paper from a set of conference proceedings
• One whole report of a single case from a volume of judicial proceedings Or 10% of the total publication, whichever is the greater

For more information, read the Copyright Guidance for Academics [PDF] and visit: GOV.UK - Exceptions to copyright