Intellectual Property (commonly referred to as "IP") is a form of legal protection for creators so they have exclusive rights on how their works get used, reproduced and shared. The most common form of IP is copyright which applies to a wide range of works including books, journal articles, films, songs, and computer programs. For example, when you write a research article, you are the copyright owner by default. Trademark and patent are other forms of IP.
Under Sheridan's IP Policy, students own copyright to their work unless the material is created for:
Students who are co-authors on a project share copyright ownership unless there is an agreement stating otherwise.
If you plan to publish your work in a journal or book, you should be aware that many publishers ask authors to transfer their copyright through a contract. It is important to carefully review your contract and ask questions before signing it. You could try negotiating with the publisher to retain certain rights in your contract. For example, be able to copy and share your work for a non-commercial purpose such as sharing your work in an open access repository. Refer to the "Canadian Author Addendum" to make this kind of request with a publisher.