A picture is worth a thousand words, and we all know the value of using images in our blogs, presentations, and even essays. But how do we search for and find the best images? And once we have found them, how do we determine how we may use them? These concerns about copyright and creative commons also apply to our own original images.
Navigate the information boxes below on images sources, copyright and creative commons, and citing images.
The ARTstor Digital Library has close to 2 million art, architecture, humanities, and science digital images. You can search and browse in ARTstor for images from museums, libraries, archives, and estates.
Oxford Art Online is not an image database; it consists of Oxford's art reference materials as well as articles and bibliographies. However, all the images available in the Oxford art reference works are available through this database.
Photography: The World Through the Lens assembles collections of photographs, photograph albums, photographically illustrated books, and texts on the early history of photography found in libraries and archives across the globe.
In academic writing you always cite the original souce of an idea or quotation. Similarly, when you use images in your academic work, you should cite the source of that image.
When you cite an image you should usuallly provide:
** Always follow your professor's instructions when citing images and sources. This guide is general, whereas your professors might have specific instructions.
Citation management tools allow you to organize your research. In addition to saving citation information and linking to PDFs, many programs also assist with in-text citations and bibliography formatting. Visit our guide on citations and citing to learn more.
