I’m an artist! Why does IB care about where my ideas come from?

Because ideas come from somewhere and if you copy or use images or ideas without acknowledging the sources you may not get your Diploma.

Admittedly, it’s complicated.

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To start with, almost nothing is new or original.

Artists see stuff, and may register it consciously or unconsciously, and a week later some version of what they saw might appear in their artwork. Did they rip it off? Have they stolen someone else’s ideas?

Who knows – after all, everything’s a remix.

The  (great!) YouTube video titled Everything’s a Remix alludes to this complexity – because in many ways that’s exactly the problem – virtually everything IS a remix.

But the IB are pretty strict on this, to the extent of preventing you getting your Diploma if they suspect plagiarism – so apart from the ethics, it makes very practical sense to record all of your sources so that they can easily be traced. You know it makes sense.

IMAGES

This applies to images that you might have found on the Internet and copied (provide website and date of access) as well as images copied from books, magazines etc

TEXT

All information from other writers must be properly acknowledged

Your BIG SIX “MUSTS”

1. You must acknowledge all sources used in work submitted for assessment.
2.  This work may include audio-visual material, text, images and/or data published in print or electronic sources – but if you use the work or ideas of another person you must acknowledge the source using a standard style of referencing in a consistent manner.
3. When writing you must clearly distinguish between your words and those of others by the use of quotation marks (or other method, such as indentation) followed by an appropriate citation that denotes an entry in the bibliography.
4. The minimum information given must include name of author, date of publication, title of source, and page numbers as applicable.
5. If an electronic source is cited, the date of access must be indicated.
6. Audio-visual material, text, graphs, images and/or data published in print or in electronic sources that are not your own must also attribute the source.

Other advice/information:

• Each submitted Investigation Workbook page must contain references for all information or images on that page
• The IB does not prescribe which style(s) of referencing or in-text citation should be used by candidates; this is left to your teachers to decide (schools are free to choose a style that is appropriate for the subject concerned and the language you write in).
• Failure to acknowledge a source will be investigated by the IB as a potential breach of regulations that may result in a penalty imposed by the IB final award committee.
• Use a standard style and use it consistently so that credit is given to all sources used, including sources that have been paraphrased or summarized.

Just get into the habit of documenting EVERYTHING…

(Everything’s a remix!)