Obtaining permission for the use of copyrighted material in your thesis

As a graduate student you must be aware that if your thesis includes copyrighted material, you are responsible for clearing copyright by obtaining permission from the copyright holder. Images or more than a reasonable extract (according to the Copyright Act) of another person’s work must be accompanied by written permission from the copyright holder(s). You may use either the Learning Technologies Centre's copyright permission letter generator, or the Faculty of Graduate Studies' copyright permission form to obtain copyright clearance. In some cases, copyright holders prefer to use their own permission forms and/or will provide their permission electronically. Both of these are acceptable by FGS

Obtaining the permission may take a considerable amount of time, therefore this must be taken into consideration when meeting a thesis submission deadline. A reference to written permission having been obtained must be included under the image or text. The reference should also include the date the permission was granted, and the name/title of the copyright holder(s). The original form(s) signed by the copyright holders should be retained by the student with a copy provided to FGS at the completion of the thesis/practicum.

The thesis/practicum cannot be accepted by FGS if permission has not been obtained. It is important that the student and their advisor ensure that the permission has been granted. In some cases the copyright holder cannot be located or the cost is prohibitive to using the text or image. In these situations the text or image may have to be omitted from the thesis/practicum. Subsequently, information on where the reader can locate the image or text should be included, such as the URL, title of book/journal, volume and issue number, page number, publisher, and date of publication. A description of the purpose or significance of the text or image should be provided.

(To learn more about copyright issues relevant to you as a graduate student, why not take the online U of M Libraries Copyright Quiz?)