You already know how to check whether something is free to reuse, and you keep a source log of the files you use.
You will make your source log good enough for someone else to check.
- First, sort some broken credits and work out what each one is missing.
- Then write a few references of your own. Each one needs the creator, the link, the licence or permission, and the date.
Here are two credits for one photo.
Weak: "Photo from the internet."
Strong: "Harbour at dawn" by Orla Byrne, https://freeshots.example/h441, licence CC BY 4.0, accessed 4 March 2025.
CC BY 4.0 is a licence that lets you reuse the photo for free if you credit the creator. A reference shows where you found something, so a reader can check it. It also stops plagiarism, which means passing off someone else's work as your own.
- Creator: who made it?
- Link: where can someone find the original?
- Licence or permission: are you allowed to use it, and on what terms?
- Date: when did you look at it?
Talk with a partner for 90 seconds. Check each of the four questions: can the weak credit answer it? Which missing answer would be hardest to find out later, and why?
Each card below is a badly written credit for made-up online material.
- Read the card and ask what a stranger still could not check.
- Drag it into the box for what is missing. It turns green with a tick or red with a cross, and a line below says why.
- After each card, the class agrees on the words that would fix the credit.
- If two things are missing, either box is right. Say which gap stops someone finding the original or reusing it safely, and name the other.
If you have a device, sort the cards yourself and be ready to explain one choice. If not, write down your box and your fix before the class agrees.
Credit it right: what is missing?
Now you will write your own references, one line per source, using the template below.
- First, we fill in the template together for one of the starter sources.
- Then you write three references on your own, in the same way.
- Save them with your source log. At the end of the course, a classmate will check that you credited everything you borrowed.
Write one line like this for each source:
Title or description. Creator: … Link: … Licence or permission: … Accessed: …
Licence or permission means what you are allowed to do with the source. Accessed means the date you looked at it.
- you have written at least three references, for things like an image, a sound, a web page or a video clip.
- each one has the creator, the link, the licence or permission and the date you looked at it, where these apply.
- if a source has no clear licence or permission, you swap it for another one, or write "not cleared" beside it so you know not to use it.
- you have saved your references in the same place as your source log.
If you do not have sources of your own yet, use the three below for practice. For the article, write in the licence part that you are quoting one short line with credit, because you are not allowed to copy the whole article.
- A made-up free photo: title "Pier lights", creator Maeve Collins, page https://freeshots.example/pier22, licence CC0, which means anyone can reuse it for free without giving credit. You accessed it today.
- A made-up article: "Why school radio still matters" by Tomás Ó Broin on YouthWire.example, link https://youthwire.example/school-radio. No licence is given for copying the full text, but you may quote one short line if you credit it.
- A made-up sound effect: "Soft whoosh" by North Loop Audio, https://northloop.example/whoosh3, free to reuse with credit.
A good reference is more than good manners. It shows that you were honest about where your material came from and that you used it safely and fairly. The four checks are creator, link, licence or permission, and date, and if one is missing, the credit is not finished.
Name one fix you made today, on a class card or on your own list. Keep this habit in everything you make: write each credit as you go, not at the last minute.
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