Best practices for sharing news from other sites

Here's how to do it effectively, easily, and ethically.

You must credit your original source

You never want to be accused of stealing someone else’s work, so always credit your source.

Ideally, your news story headline should start with “From (news source): (Name of Article).” It makes it clear that you’re getting media coverage from other outlets, but also gives credit up front.

Once you’re working in the body text of the news story, provide a link back to the original story near the top of the news entry on your site.

‘Copy and paste’ everything isn’t necessary

You can copy and paste a news article into your site, as long as you give credit and get approval from the original publisher to do so. However, that’s not what we recommend.

Carrying duplicate content on your site is considered poor form in the web world, and you could be punished by search engines if your site has too much duplicate content.

Instead, we suggest writing 2-4 original sentences about the article, and then linking back to the original news story on the media outlet's website. That way, you’re not hosting duplicate content, plus you’re providing context while simultaneously giving credit to the original source.

Use photos with caution

Because of how our templates are set up, it’s not best practice to upload the news story photo with the “Add media” button. That’s because it doesn’t allow for photo crediting, and we already know that giving credit is crucial. We’re working on a fix for that, but it hasn’t been implemented yet.

It’s best to embed the photo in the content body and then give photo credit at the bottom of the article, if you use it at all. If you have your own photo to use instead, that’s even better.

Use University articles when possible

Keep an eye out for articles about your department or college on the main University website at http://louisiana.edu. You can share those articles on your site without asking for permission beforehand.