Images on the Internet are easy to download and copy, but that does not mean that they are not protected by copyright. In fact, many images are under copyright and may not be used without permission. 

Look for statements of image use, often listed as "Terms and Conditions" or "Rights and Restrictions".

When you find an image, make note of where you found it and what the rights for that image are. When you use an image, make sure that you give credit and note where the image is from and what the rights are.

The APA Style blog did a helpful series of posts on navigating copyright for reproduced images. It covers information on copyright as well as how to cite the images in APA style:

Part 1: Understanding copyright status

Walks you through the common copyright statuses and what they mean.

Part 2: Determining whether permission is needed

Explains when you need to seek permissions.  Note: the links for images on the Finding Images tabs were chosen because they usually do not require you to seek permission.

Part 3: Securing permissions

Walks you through the process of requesting permissions.

Part 4: Writing the copyright statement

Provides templates for the citation and copyright statement to go in the caption of your image.

If you're trying to find the source of an image, one thing that can help is to run a reverse image search. 

1. Save the image somewhere on the desktop of your computer.
2. Go to Google Images
3. Drag the image on to the Google search bar, it should change to say "Drop Image Here."
4. You'll see a list of results of pages that include the image you searched on. 

What is copyright?

 “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries” (U. S. Constitution). 

Copyright serves as a legal means of balancing the right of creators to benefit from the fruits of their labor with broader use of intellectual property that ultimately serves the larger societal benefit of progress.

Ownership of Course Materials You (or Your Group) Create:

“Individuals engaged in scholarly, pedagogical or creative efforts produce a great variety of copyrightable materials they may want to protect from unauthorized use. …When a member of the faculty or staff or a student authors a copyrightable work, that individual will own the copyright in the work….”  from https://apps.carleton.edu/handbook/communications/?policy_id=867534

Incorporating Copyrighted Materials in Publicly Available Projects:

While course projects are afforded “fair use” that allows for broader uses of copyrighted materials in the interest of larger societal benefits associated with education, class projects that will be made publicly available typically don’t qualify.  You will need to request permission use copyrighted materials. from https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/copyright/user/request_permission/