As the Cognella team will secure all permissions for third-party text included in your book, we need your help to clearly identify this content and its sources.
Why do I need to complete a Readings and Excerpts Log?
What should I include in my Readings and Excerpts Log?
- Any third-party text you’d like to include in your text, including your own previously published work. If the content is altered in any way, we may need to seek permission from the original publisher to use it.
- Any material you’d like to include that falls within the public domain. Including public domain sources in your log will help the Cognella licensing team determine the specific version of content you’d like to use in your textbook. It will also help them confirm that the content is truly within the public domain and doesn’t require additional permissions or licensing.
- Your Readings and Excerpts Log provides space for you to document any contributors to your text, as well as their contact information. Our team will need to send any and all contributors legal releases to ensure we have their express permission to publish their content.
Do not include information regarding images you’d like to reprint in your text in your Readings and Excerpts Log. We have a separate Image Log we’d like you to complete that is specific to images and includes columns in where you can list figure numbers and captions.
This quick guide will walk you through the steps for completing your Readings and Excerpts Log, from selecting the content for your book to filling out your log to submitting your completed log to the Cognella team.
Definitions of key terms used in this guide
Third-party material: any text that has been previously published in another book, journal, newspaper, or website, whether being used in part or in full. This content may also be referred to as “outside” or copyrighted content.
Original material: any text or images that you (or a co-author) create specifically for your book and which have not been published elsewhere. No other party or publisher holds the rights to this material.
Contributor content: any text created by someone who is not the primary author or editor but which is specifically created for your book and has not been published elsewhere.
Library content: any readings sourced from the Cognella Digital Library, located at library.cognella.com.
Paraphrase: to express the meaning of a writer or speaker or something written or spoken using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity. Please note that changes must be more significant than changing a few words to effectively paraphrase content.
Fair use: the doctrine that brief excerpts of copyrighted material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the rightsholders. (Please ask your project editor for further explanation of fair use as it pertains to your book project and for specific Cognella guidelines.)
Public domain: text that is no longer under copyright protection and is free to use. For more information, watch our video on finding and using public domain content at vimeo.com/96847303.
Open source content: content that is readily available for public viewing. This content, despite its availability, may still require licensing considerations.