help with citing a reference

[firefighter7796]

I am writing a book right now and have a question regarding citing a reference. Do I need to contact the writer or is simply making a footnote or endnote enough? What I am asking is, let say I used part of an article writing by John Doe. I referenced it correctly, now do I need to contact John Doe to get his persmission to use it?

Thanks

 

[mehastings]

I think it depends on how you reference it. If you are just going to say "In his book, BLAHHHH, John Doe claims/states/ect that this happened blah blah blah", all you need is an end note. However, if you are going to reprint a portion of his work I believe you need permission of the publisher.

 

[mamabookworm61]

mehastings is correct. Ideas cannot be copyrighted, but actual text can. So, you are free to use another's ideas without requesting permission--only a citation giving credit is necessary. But to quote or excerpt text from another source, permission may be required. The permission must come from whoever holds the copyright--often the publisher rather than the author.