How to Create a Research Poster: Images and Visualizations

Creative Commons FAQs

What is the Creative Commons?

"Creative Commons (CC) is an international nonprofit organization that empowers people to grow and sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture we need to address the world’s most pressing challenges and create a brighter future for all." - Creative Commons 

What does it mean if something is licensed as Creative Commons?

Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, What can I do with this work?

What type of licenses are there?

Creative Commons provides a variety of licenses. Learn more about CC Licenses on the Creative Commons website.

Guidelines

  • Find images on the web, but be concerned with copyright. Check out this guide on legally using online images.
  • Legally use photos in four ways: 1) find photos that are licensed as Creative Commons, 2) ask permission from the photographer, 3) buy photos from a stock photo site (e.g., istockphoto.com) or 4) take your own photos.
  • Remember to cite or attribute images!  Follow these instructions for citing Creative Commons images.  While works in the public domain technically do not need to be cited, doing so will help the audience find the original work.  Visit our Citation Styles Guide for help citing images.
  • Look for larger image sizes, and do not increase the photo from the original size. Enlarging small photos will make them blurry.
  • Do not use an image as background (the text will be hard to read).  Instead, use a background color and boxes to set off text and images.

Images and Icons

URL: https://lib.pstcc.edu/posters