Copyright and Your Schoolwork

For Students

As a student, you can use copyrighted materials for schoolwork like assignments, presentations, and research. But there are rules about how much you can copy and how you share it.

What You Can Do

Following the Fair Dealing guidelines and library license rules, you may be able to:

• Use parts of books, articles, and other works for coursework and research
• Share materials with your classmates or instructors if it’s part of your class

What You Cannot Do

• Don’t copy or share entire works unless permission or an exception applies
• Don’t post copyrighted content online, including your instructors work like tests (e.g. to public websites or social media)
• Don’t assume everything online is free to use, check first

Need to Use More Than Allowed?

Ask for permission from the copyright owner or talk to us to see what your options are.

Have Questions or Want More Information?

The Dalhousie Libraries Copyright Office can help you understand what you can use, how to get permission, and when exceptions apply.

Visit our comprehensive Copyright guide for more detailed and specific advice or contact us at copyright.office@dal.ca.