Getting Images onto Your Computer from the Internet Plus a Tip about Giving Credit

Many times students need a image to place in their Word document or in their PowerPoint presentation to enhance their assignment. This can be done quite easily if it is done correctly.

Saving images from Internet websites to a computer document can be done just by right-clicking on the desired image that is on the web page that actually holds the image. In other words, do not try to save a image that is on a Google page since they are not the originating website holding the image. Those images saved will not work and all sorts of problems may very well occur.

You need to click on the image you want that is found by the search engine and then make sure it's on the originating web page. Then you can right-click on the image and then select "Save image As...," and then save the image on the server under "My Pictures." Be sure to write down where you found the image since you will need to give credit in MLA citation form.

NOTE: Keep in mind that many photos you see on the Web may be protected by copyright, whether or not a copyright notice appears on the page. Photos are really "intellectual property," meaning that they belong to someone else and not to you, unless you actually purchase the rights.

After you finish saving the images you want on the server, you'll want place the cursor on the Word document or PowerPoint slide wherever you want the image to appear. In Word or PowerPoint, simple go to Insert, then images from File, and find the image of your choice and click Insert or OK.

You can resize the image if you click and drag on the corners of the image (not the mid-sections) to make it whatever size you need in the space allowed. NOTE: If you make the image larger than what it was originally, it will pixilate or make the image look blurry and ugly. You don't want that, do you?

Finally, you have to give credit where credit is due. Remember: the image you are taking from a website is not yours! You are merely using it to enhance your work. That work must be given credit to the photographer, the artist, the creator, or the publisher of the image. If you don't cite your source, you are plagiarizing. Yes, plagiarism applies to copying other people's original images and just someone else's original words!

To give credit to graphics and media, use the following as a model for your citation.

For additional information to give credit for an image, painting, photograph, or sculpture, read the following:

Several different types of examples can be found on the Purdue University OWL website http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/557/ under "An Image, Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph."