Get Schooled! Homework & research help

Countries & geography

1. Background Notes Country and regional reports from the U.S. Department of State.
2. Country Studies More than one hundred countries and regions are featured in this database developed by the Library of Congress. Information includes a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.
3. World Atlas & Map Library from Infoplease  Includes a geography guide; a map library; country and state profiles, maps and statistics; and geography crosswords and quizzes.
4. The World Factbook Country information from the CIA.

Current events & social issues

1. Debate Central Use the resources supplied here to research the national high school debate topic. Past debate topics are listed as well.
2. Documents in the News Identifies issues archived from 1995 to the present about government-making news headlines and Web sources with additional information.
3. Librarians’ Index to the Internet A collective of very selective, high-quality Web sites carefully chosen, described, and organized by a team of librarians. Click on "Social Issues" to see the controversial topics.
4. Public Agenda Issue Guides A nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization. This site is designed to help leaders better understand the public's point of view on major policy issues and help citizens better understand critical policy issues so they can make their own more-informed and thoughtful decisions.
5. Upfront Magazine Online from the New York Times  A news magazine for teenagers published biweekly during the school year; many articles from the magazine are available on this site.

English & foreign languages

1. The American Heritage Dictionary from Bartleby.com  The online version of "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" includes illustrations, pronunciation guides, and etymology information.
2. AR BookFinderAccelerated Readers Type in a title to find reading levels and points.
3. BBC Languages Language learning material including beginners', audio and video courses.
4. French language from About.com  Brief lessons and other resources that will introduce you to basic concepts and help you expand your vocabulary. Tips and tricks to improving pronunciation, grammar usage, and writing. Search for helpful articles by topic, such as "Proficiency and tests", "Inspiration and fun", and "Accents".
5. German language from About.com  Brief lessons and other resources that will introduce you to basic concepts and help you expand your vocabulary. Tips and tricks to improving pronunciation, grammar usage, and writing. Search for helpful articles by topic, such as "Games and exercises", "Audio / listening", and "Reading German".
6. Language Learning Library Learn or brush up on Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian or Portuguese.
7. OneLook Dictionary Search A search engine that locates terms in online dictionaries from a wide variety of sources.
8. Roget’s Thesauri from Bartleby.com  Search "Roget's II: The New Thesaurus " and "Roget's International Thesaurus" at this site.
9. Spanish language from About.com  Brief lessons and other resources that will introduce you to basic concepts and help you expand your vocabulary. Tips and tricks to improving pronunciation, grammar usage, and writing. Search for helpful articles by topic, such as "Spanish-language culture", "In the news", and "Tips for learning Spanish".
10. SparkNotes Online literature study guides.
11. WordReference.com Free online translation dictionaries in Spanish, French, and Italian.
12. yourDictionary.com This site includes foreign language dictionaries for hundreds of languages, specialized dictionaries (science, industry, slang), and various thesauri, acronym, and rhyming dictionaries.

Government

1. Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government Historical documents, election process, how laws are made and more. From the U.S. Government.
2. Nebraska.gov Nebraska’s state government information portal.
3. Project Vote Smart Biographical information and voting records for all U.S. elected officials. Current issues, biographies, and financial information for candidates for office. For information about Nebraska government cliJuly 28, 2010loc.gov/">THOMAS—U.S. Congress on the Internet Describes the legislative process and committees. Full text of new bills and public laws. From the Library of Congress.
4. USA.gov The U.S. Government's official Web portal. En español

History & biography

1. AlternaTime "Browse the past and some futures" with this collection of links to hundreds of historical timelines on the Web.
2. American Rhetoric Find famous speeches in print, audio, and video.
3. Biographical DictionaryThis site covers more than 33,000 notable men and women from ancient times to the present day.

4. Biography Reference Bank Select Edition from WilsonWeb  Search 140,000+ biographies plus 32,000+ photographs. Access WilsonWeb from the library. | Access WilsonWeb at NebraskAccess from home. (Password required.)

5. Biography.com This companion Web site to the popular cable television channel provides over 25,000 biographies of people past and present.
6. Decades in 20th Century America: Doing the Decades Report A good starting point for Internet research, this site contains carefully selected and annotated links to other sites arranged by decade.
7. Discoverers Web This Web directory is filled with links to authoritative information on the "Age of Discovery" and the great explorers.
8. The History Channel website This companion site to the popular television channel provides timelines going back to 500 BC, a selection of famous speeches, and a "This Day in History" feature.
9. NebraskaStudies.org Nebraska history timeline. Offers access to archival photos, documents, letters, video segments, maps, and more.
10. NETSTATE.COM All the symbols for all the states, plus fast facts and famous people.
11. Our Documents 100 milestone documents of American history.
12. United States Historical Census Data Browser Use this site to create your own customized tables and charts of census data for any decade from 1790 to 1970.
13. Year by Year: 1900–2007 Search this site to find information about key United States and world events, statistics, sports, entertainment, and science developments for any year in the 20th Century.

Science & mathematics

1. Ask Dr. Math This online question-and-answer forum provides help with classic math problems and formulas.
2. ConvertIt!.com This collection of conversion tables will help you "convert just about anything to anything": volumes, area, energy, length, mass, pressure, temperature, velocity, and more.
3. Convert-me.Com Calculate different types of conversions with this easy-to-use converter that provides multiple conversions with one click.
4. Eric Weisstein’s Treasure Troves of Science This online encyclopedia of math and science includes resources for astronomy, scientific biographies and books, chemistry, math, physics, and more.
5. HowStuffWorks From car engines to search engines, from cell phones to stem cells, and thousands of subjects in between, HowStuffWorks has it covered. No topic is too big or too small for their expert editorial staff to unmask...or for you to understand.
6. LiveScience This site focuses on what's innovative in science and technology. It covers news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. With articles by respected science journalists and contributors.
7. MadSci Network Their FAQs answer "Why is the sky blue?", "What causes hiccups?", and other such things. You can also "Ask a Scientist".
8. Math and Science Gateway Cornell University’s Math and Science Gateway provides links to resources in mathematics and science for educators and students in grades 9 through 12.
9. Math Homework Help Covers algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus.
10. Math2.org This site provides all types of formulas, graphs, conversion tables, and other math fun.
11. Purplemath Get help with algebra and even some pre-calculus. There are worked-out examples, explained clearly, for each topic.
12. SciCentral Maintained by scientists and covering 120 specialties in science, medical research, and engineering, SciCentral contains resources for students, scientists, and everyone in between.
13. Science Fair Project Resources from ScienceBuddies  Find science projects that are of interest to you, go step-by-step through your project, or "Ask an Expert" for those science questions you just can't answer.
14. WebElements For chemistry students. It's an online periodic table with information on history, uses, reactions, and more.

Writing & research

1. A+ Research & Writing Guide to researching and writing a paper. Help finding information in cyberspace and your library. Links to great online resources for research and writing.
2. Citing Electronic Resources Basic MLA and APA citation info, plus links to wizards and style guides.
3. Citation Machine The Landmark Project's citation machine. This site will help you generate citations for your bibliography that you can paste into your word processor.
4. Citations Guideline from ProQuest  [PDF] Step-by-step instructions for citing the information you find for your research paper or project.
5. (OWL) APA Formatting and Style Guide Offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page from Purdue University.
6. You Be the Judge! from LibrarySmart.com  Presents how to evaluate information for reliability, including questions you should ask when you visit a Web site in search of reliable information.

For more research tools

See our Databases page to find magazine articles, biographies and more.

See our Links page for more helpful resources.

For more homework help links see our Kids' Homework Help page.

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