Using the Licenses: Citation vs. Attribution
Even though they share similar features, citations and attributions have different responsibilities in different areas. The Oxford English Dictionary defines citation as "The action or an act of quoting or referring to a passage, text, author, legal precedent, etc., especially as an authority or in support of an argument; quotation." Citing is a common practice used among scholars to identify the origins of a resource.
Attribution is the starting point when using a resource or text with an open-copyright license. This legal requirement states that users must provide attribution (give credit to the creator). In a CC BY license, the "CC" stands for Creative Commons and the "BY" stands for the attribution, or whom the work is "by."
Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International license
CC BY 4.0
An attribution statement is used to give credit to the original creator, and it is similar to a citation. Best practice says the statement should include three elements:
See the photograph of a library at the bottom of this page for an example of an ideal attribution for a CC-licensed image.
When using text from another open educational resource, be clear in your attribution statement which part of the material contains the information.
The following table illuminates how attribution is a legal practice while citation is more of a scholarly practice, but both are based on ethical considerations.
| Citation | Attribution |
| Academic and legal purposes (to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement) | Legal purposes (to follow the rules of Creative Commons licenses) |
| The rights of the copy (meaning copyright) are not shared with the general public by the copyright holder. | Copyright is shared with the general public by the copyright holder by marking the work with an open-copyright license. |
| Protects an author who wants to be a restricted copyright holder. | Author of an open work has given advanced permissions to use their work. |
| Used to quote or a paraphrase a limited portion of a restricted work. | Used to quote (or paraphrase) all or a portion of an openly licensed work. |
| Can paraphrase but cannot change the work without permission. | Author has given advanced permission to change work. |
| Many citation styles are available: APA, Chicago, MLA. | Attribution statement styles are still emerging, but there are some defined best practices. |
| A reference list of cited resources is typically placed at the end of the resource. | Attribution statements are found on the same page as the resource. |
Citation vs. Attribution table is adapted from Lauri M. Aesoph's Self Publishing Guide, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Using the Licenses: How to Give Attribution
The Creative Commons organization states that you can use CC-licensed materials so long as you follow the license conditions.
Here is an example of an ideal attribution of a CC-licensed image:
"Academic Library, Mills College" by Melinda Young Stewart is licensed under a "CC BY-NC-ND 2.0"
This is an ideal attribution because it includes the following elements:
How an individual or group authors a Creative Commons work will depend on whether they modify the content, if they create a derivative, if there are multiple sources, and other considerations.
For further information or help, visit the Creative Commons Wiki page, "Best Practices for Attribution."