Planning a poster, presentation or report? Adding an image, video or audio clip can help your audience understand your ideas and engage them with your argument.
The Library has a number of sources of multimedia which you can use in your coursework assignments and teaching. Why not explore some of the resources listed below in order to enrich your projects with pictures, audio and video that illustrate your point?
Multimedia can be a persuasive addition to your argument – but remember to consider it critically, as with any source, and reference images and clips appropriately giving credit to the original source.
Images
Our main resource for images is Britannica Image Quest – it includes over 2.7 million images from various collections including National Geographic, Getty Images, National History Museum and more.
University image collections
The University also has several image collections available – Special Collections have many images of the objects in their collections on their website which can be used in unpublished and non-commercial works. Special Collections covers many areas including Samuel Beckett, early English coins, early anatomy books and publishers’ archives. Please contact them if you want to know more about using these images.
Video & Audio clips
Our main collection of videos and clips is Box of Broadcasts (BoB), where you can view over 2 million TV & radio broadcasts from free-to-view channels from the 1990s to the present day. Create a clip from a film, documentary or news item, or search and view clips and playlists from academics at other UK universities. Videos can be streamed for use in teaching materials or student coursework, but only in the UK.
Get on the right side of the law!
All the resources listed here have guidance on how you may use the content on the access page to help you operate within the rules! For further guidance on using multimedia for educational purposes legally, see the University’s advice on copyright.
Citing multimedia
Like everything you refer to in your academic work, you need to cite the author of your image or clip and where you got it from – see our advice on how to cite different types of material or the BUFVC’s guide on citing audiovisual materials.
There are lots of other resources for images, video and audio available – some specifically for certain subjects. See what’s available on our image and sound page.
Need further advice?
For more guidance contact your subject liaison librarian.
This is one of a series of tips to help you save time and effort finding or using information.
This tip was written by Natalie Guest, Multimedia Manager.