Copyright for students

You don't have to ask permission to use copyright material in your uni assignments, as long as you stick to the following rules:

• You may copy a maximum of one chapter or 10% of the pages of a book (whichever is greater), or one article from a journal, magazine or newspaper (or more than one if they're on the same topic).
• You must attribute the author and source of all copied material (in a citation).
• You mustn't distribute or post assignments online or to others outside of what's required for assessment purposes.

You can also perform or read out copyright material in class without getting permission.

Are you a research student? Check out our research-specific copyright page to find out how copyright applies to data collection and thesis publication.

AI‑generated outputs don't have copyright protection because there's no human creator. If you're going to upload content to an AI tool, follow these tips:

• Check if you have the right to share content before uploading it.
• Make sure you know whether the AI tool you're using is public (uploads may be added to training data) or private (content stays internal and isn't used to train the model).
• Don’t upload personal or private information, Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP), sensitive material or anything that could risk defamation.
• Get permission or check licences before uploading content that you haven't created.

If you'd like more detail about any of these topics, download our fact sheet (PDF 161 KB).

You can perform or play copyright musical works for University events or as part of your course without getting permission (under Federation's tertiary music licence).

You can also screen films without permission, but only if your audience is Federation staff and/or students and the screening is part of your coursework.

The licences and exceptions that allow you to use copyright material for studying don't apply in non‑educational contexts. This means you can't upload any teaching or learning content (like exams, lecturer notes, assessment tasks or readings) to open websites or social media platforms unless you've been granted permission by the copyright owner.

Copying material for your own private use is generally allowed, particularly if you're format shifting or time shifting. Format shifting means making a copy of something you already own in a different format (e.g. CD to digital file). Time-shifting means recording live TV or radio to watch later.