How to Do Research

Copyright-Friendly Image Sources

If you're looking for an image, check out these sites.

Clip Art ETC -- Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse of over 58,000 clip art images

Documenting America -- American memory photos from the Great Depression to World War II

Library of Congress -- On-line catalog of searchable prints and photographs

Microsoft Office -- free downloadable photos & clip art

PD Photo -- Royalty free, public domain, stock photos

Photos 8 -- Over 10,000 free stock photos sorted in categories and searchable

Pics4Learning -- Copyright-friendly image library

Teacher Tap -- Public Domain, Copyright Free, Open Source, and Student Use Images and Media (extensive list of sites)

Wikimedia Commons -- a database of 7,108,025 freely usable media files

If you're looking for a sound clip, check out these sites.

Public Domain 4U -- Best in public domain MP3s; full of vintage recordings

Soundjay.com -- Free sound effects for podcasts or iMovies

Soungle -- Royalty Free sound effects library; use search box to access database

Teacher Tap -- Public Domain, Copyright Free, Open Source, and Student Use Images and Media (extensive list of sites)

Internet Archive -- library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts

Internet Public Library -- library resources at your fingertips

Librarians’ Internet Index -- directory of websites chosen by librarians

Library of Congress -- finest American History site on the web with thousands of primary source photographs

Library Spot -- encyclopedias, maps, online libraries, quotations, dictionaries

Google Books -- Google’s collection of digitized books

ICDL International Children’s Digital Library -- Read picture books from countries all over the world.

Project Gutenberg -- over 33,000 free e-books in the Project Gutenberg online book catalog.

Keep a list of all sources you use. Be sure to include the title, the author's name and the type of resource.
When using a source, decide if you will paraphrase the information or use a direct quote. Remember, direct quotes should not be over used.
If you decide to paraphrase, do the following.
- Read the information carefully until you understand it.
- Without looking at the source, write the information in your own words.
- Compare the source with your notes, and make sure your notes are correct. Also, change parts of your notes that are too similar to the source.
If you decide to use a quote from the source, do the following.
- Be careful to copy direct quotes exactly as they are written.
- Be sure to make note of the source of the quote
- Make sure to put quotation marks around quoted material.
Whether you choose to paraphrase or quote information from a source, be sure to give credit to the creator of the source.