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The Copyright Law of the United States provides legal protection for intellectual property. In your search for information you should assume that all materials you find are copyrighted unless the document specifies that it is public domain which can be used freely by anyone. Information does not have to be registerd with the Copyright Office to be covered by copyright law. It is copyrighted as soon as it is created.
The Doctrine of Fair Use allows copyrighted works to be used for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship ro research. Fair use can be used for nonprofit, educational purposes. However, when you use someone else's materials or ideas in your research you must acknowledge the original author. The accurate citing of sources is a key element in avoiding plagiarism. Following are referrals to style manuals that will assist you in formatting citations.