Question

As a student, when you use other people’s work for school-based assessment, you don’t need to seek permission from the copyright owner, as long as you

Answer 1

As a general rule, you don’t need to seek permission if the use is covered by the education/fair-dealing exceptions — but that only applies if you meet the conditions. In practice that means you should:

- only use the work for the purpose of your school assessment (research/study/education) and not for commercial or public distribution;
- use only a reasonable amount (short excerpts rather than reproducing whole books, films or entire songs);
- include correct attribution/citation and a bibliography so the original author is acknowledged;
- comply with any school/assessment rules or any statutory licence your school uses; and
- avoid circumventing digital rights management or copying material that the exceptions specifically exclude.

If you’re unsure (for example for entire chapters, films, music or published exam materials), check your school’s copyright policy or ask your teacher — and be aware copyright rules differ by country, so local law matters.