Journalism Subject Guide

Images, like text, have copyright. That means there are restrictions on how you can use them legally.

Fortunately, we provide access to millions of useful images that you can use, for free, and more and more people are making their images available through the Creative Commons.

A few tips:

• Always check to see if you have the right to use an image. Online images will often have a 'Creative Commons' license that will let you use images for free under certain circumstances.
  • If there is no licensing information, then you can't use the image. You can use images you get from our databases, like AP Images.
• Always attribute the image. Give credit to who took the photograph. Typically, if you can, you should also include the date and the title (if there is one).
   

Start with the databases available to you through Muskingum University: 

On the left side of the Library's website, click on "Databases." You'll see this image, with the alphabet below it:

If you already know the name of the database you should use, click on the letter appropriate to the first letter of the database and scroll until you find the one you want.

If you don't know which database(s) to use, the "All Database Types" pull-down menu is very helpful. Using that pull-down menu, look for "Images" and click on it. Many searchable image resources are now available to you. For a good search of resources, you should never limit yourself to just one database if multiple databases are suggested. Each database has a short description--reading that will help you decide which databases you might need to use.