Our primary source databases include all types of content - images, diaries, posters, buttons, audio, etc. It can be a little tricky to know how to cite all these different materials. Here's our best advice to you:
Does the database provide a citation generator? If so, select the citation style you are using for your text sources and use the citation provided.
If no citation suggestion is provided, you will have to create your own citation. Remember - the idea is to provide proper credit for the entity that is providing this for you! It should include these five pieces:
Title
If no title is provided, you can create a description of the material.
Initial Source/Author
You may find that there are multiple people or entities that need to be recognized - for example, you may want to list an artist's name and the name of the museum that owns and makes their work available online.
License/Permissions/Copyright
Many of these materials are available via the public domain. If you can spot the words public domain anywhere on the page, that is what you would put into this part of the citation.
You may encounter materials that say they are under copyright, or have "all rights reserved." In these situations, you may still use the items under the Fair Use part of copyright law. You will need to make it clear in your citation that the author retains their rights.
Database Retrieved From
Give credit to the database that holds the materials.
"Used under Fair Use"
Most of the materials held in these databases are still under copyright. You are putting them in your project, in limited quantities, for educational purposes. So add the phrase "used under fair use" at the end of your citation to make this clear to your audience.
See Examples of Primary Source Citations
If you embed the image/media and the embedded content automatically links back to its database page, you do not need to provide additional citation.
These guidelines apply for items with any Creative Commons or public domain license that you find via Google Images or other sources.
For these items, you are expected to adhere to Creative Commons best practices for attribution/citation by listing three elements:
For example: 
Title: Indianapolis Museum of Art-IMA
Author: Serge Melki
Source: Indianapolis Museum of Art-IMA, Wikimedia Commons
License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license
Indianapolis Museum of Art-IMA by Serge Melki is licensed under CC-BY 2.0.
Note the hyperlinks:
"Indianapolis Museum of Art-IMA" is hyperlinked to the original Flikr page source.
"Serge Melki" is hyperlinked to the artist's profile.
"CC-BY 2.0" is hyperlinked to the license deed.
Include this attribution in the caption field or on the same page where the image/media is being inserted.
If you make modifications to the work, you will need to expand the attribution to include the changes you made.
See Examples of Best Practice Attribution
See Examples of Image Citations
If the image/media comes from your technology tool, or a free search embedded in your technology tool, then no additional citation is necessary. If you embed the image/media, and the embedded content automatically links back to its host site (such as a YouTube video), you do not need to provide additional citation.
Try your best to place the citation with the work (for example, by putting the image citation in the caption field).
If that isn't possible or aesthetically pleasing, put the citation at the bottom of the same page and use labels (like header image, or image credits clockwise from top left) to help the audience match the citation to the right work.
Image credit: Screenshot of Google Sites by astarkel. Used under Fair Use.
Use the digital format to your advantage - even within your citations!
Image credit: [technology] by kaboompics. Used under CC0
For this project, you may be creating a couple of different things - a website, a timeline, a storymap, etc. Do your best to make sure that your citations are contained within each individual piece.
If you used source information in your timeline, cite it within the timeline. If you create a storymap, put the sources into the storymap. Make sure it's not easy for the work to be separated from the citation.
CC-BY Attribution
You can:
Share-- Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt-- Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under the following terms:
Attribution-- You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
CC-BY Non-Commerical
You can:
Share-- Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt-- Remix, transform, and build upon the material
Under the following terms:
Attribution-- You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
Non-Commercial-- You may not use the material for commercial purposes
CC-BY ShareAlike
You can:
Share-- Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt-- Remix, transform, and build upon the material
Under the following terms:
Attribution-- You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
ShareAlike-- If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original
CC-BY No Derivatives
You can:
Share-- Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Under the following terms:
Attribution-- You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
No Derivatives-- If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material
Public Domain/ No restrictions
This icon waives all copyright or database rights, and all interests that may exist in the work worldwide.
You can:
Share-- Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt-- Remix, transform, and build upon the material
Under the following terms:
No terms or requirements for these works
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