Library Guides: InfoSkills4: Referencing: FAQs and Tricky Questions

Referencing for PowerPoints

Referencing PowerPoints
Public domain images

Do I have to reference the images that I use in my PowerPoint assignments?

Your lecturer may say they do not want you to reference the images in your PowerPoints but to be on the safe side always assume that you have to reference all the images unless your lecturer has specifically told you not to.

Depending on what your lecturer wants, the reference list could go either:

A the bottom of the slide that contains the image, or
On a separate slide at the end.

What about images that are copyright free or in the Public domain? Do I still have to reference them?

There are some images that you do not legally have to attribute (see the Public Domain tab above) but that doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have to reference them for your assignment. If your lecturer wants you to reference images in your PowerPoints then reference all of them including those in the public domain i.e. images without copyright protection.

If an image is in the Public Domain, does that mean I don't have to reference it?

Kind of... but you should reference them anyway...

Search for some images in Creative Commons https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org - click on the 'Licenses' link on the left to see different kinds of image licenses. Note that the two at the top - 'CC0' and 'Public Domain Mark' - say you do not have to attribute them...

You are not legally obliged to acknowledge images that contain one of these licenses:

Creative Commons CC0 license (Creative Commons Zero or "no copyright reserved") or a
CC PDM (Creative Commons Public Domain Mark).

Creative Commons Image search https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org

Creative Commons Zero license

Creative Commons icon

Public Domain Mark

Creative Commons icon Public Domain Mark icon

However, just because you are not legally obliged to acknowledge an image, it doesn't mean that you don't have to reference it to fulfill the requirements of your assignment.
If your lecturer wants you to reference images in your PowerPoints then reference all of them, including those without copyright/in the Public Domain.
In addition it is common practice to show respect to others by providing attribution even when using material from the public domain.

What about the clip art that comes in applications like Word etc?

There is an exception mentioned in the APA 7th manual that says that you do not have to cite (reference) the clip art that comes with Word or PowerPoint (APA, 2019, p. 346). However newer versions of Word and PowerPoint no longer come with clip art installed anyway. Instead when you click Insert > Online Pictures it takes you to a Bing search box and most of the images you find through Bing you will need to reference.

Basically, unless specifically told otherwise, reference all images you use in your assignments.

How to reference images for assignments

Reference the source where the image was obtained from, so if you got the image from a book, reference the book. More often than not students get images for assignments from the web. See the Referencing Guide for more examples of how to reference images from different sources.

Here's an example using APA 7th

Clip art

Image from the web

Figure 1

Stylized Mona Lisa.