Copyright Guide for Students : Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) licenses are a way that copyright owners allow others to use and sometimes remix their work without first asking permission. Sources with a CC license allow re-use of the work under certain conditions depending on the license chosen by the copyright holder.

The 3-minute video linked from this page explains why Creative Commons licenses are how they work:

A Shared Culture, Creative Commons

Each Creative Commons license explains what the copyright holder expects in return for allowing people to re-use their content. Depending on the license chosen by the copyright holder, the person re-using the material will need to provide attribution (cite their source) and may not be able to use the newly created work commercially or may need to add a similar license to the newly created work. 

When creating a new work that will incorporate text, images, or audio created by someone else, searching for Creative Commons or similarly licensed works that meet that need is an easy way to ensure you're in compliance with copyright law. Creative Commons hosts a Creative Commons Search page that links to multiple search engines that include Creative Commons-licensed material but licensed content can be found in many common search engines including Google (Google Search Help page on searching by usage rights).