Homework Help:

Click here to use John Muir's online Virtual Reference Library for all your research needs
(ask the library staff for user name and password, or contact rtomlin@sanleandro.k12.ca.us

B.J. Pinchbeck's Homework Helper : Features over 700 links to educational sites covering a wide range of topics from Art to Health & P.E. to Social Studies.	Multnomah County Library Homework Center: Oregon's finest public library offers a huge list of websites divided into common school subject areas. TRY THIS SITE FIRST FOR HELP WITH YOUR ASSIGNMENTS!	FactMonster: Winner of "Best Kids Site" at the July 2001 Webby awards. Don't be fooled by the fun, colorful interface: there's a lot of quality information here!
Citation Maker: Just enter your bibliographic information into the spaces provided and this program puts it all into correct citation format.	Important Supreme Court cases: A page of librarian-selected links that focus on landmark Supreme Court cases as well as information on the Court itself.	HyperHistory Online: A "synchronoptic" timeline combines maps, graphics and colors with textual information so you can simultaneously see what was happening in different parts of the earth at certain times.
Maps and Flags of the World : Ever wonder what the flag of Andorra looks like? Or Burkina Faso? Nuie, perhaps? You'll find them all here, as well as good country information.	Renaissance: What inspired this age of balance and order? Your "go to" site for content-rich links and general information focusing on this important era of human history.	Science Fair Project Resource Guide: Sponsored by the Internet Public Library, this webpage features lots of science project-related links.
The World's Healthiest Foods: In addition to plenty of exercise, good food is important to your overall health. Go here to find info on the best foods to eat.	Presidents of the United States: This site provides excellent information on every single U.S. president in addition to serving as a portal to the useful Internet Public library.	Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids: Explains the structure and workings of the American government in terms that anyone can understand. Choose from three difficulty levels.
San Leandro Public Library: Look here for hours, locations and to use the collection of online databases. Have your SLPL number ready...	Oakland Public Library: On the left-hand side, click on "Other Online Resources," then on "Articles & Databases." Have your OPL number ready...	sfgate.com: Check the San Francisco Chronicle online for those current events-related assignments.

Reference sites: (back to Top)

Refdesk.com: Touted as "the single best source for facts," Refdesk.com is like having a personal reference librarian at your fingertips. It's hard to think of reference information that this site doesn't provide a link to...and it's all free!	Columbia Online Encyclopedia: Over 51,000 articles in a FREE and easy-to-search format. This is a part of the Bartleby.com suite of reference offerings.	World Fact Book: Assembled by the CIA. If you're looking for up-to-date information and/or maps about any country on the planet, this is your site.
Online Etymology Dictionary: Find the origins of that vocabulary word here. From the site: "Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago."	Merriam-Webster Online: The classic dictionary includes an online thesaursus as well. Challenge: check out the "Word for the Day" and see if you can use it correctly in a sentence.	World Almanac for Kids: A first-stop site if you need quick information about animals, states, presidents, sports and more...the U.S. History timeline is great!
Word Central online Dictionary: Merriam-Webster's "Word Central" won the 2000 Webby Award for Best Educational Website. This site is fun and colorful, especially the "Daily Buzzword" feature.	Bartleby.com Reference: "...combines the best of both contemporary and classic reference works into the most comprehensive public reference library ever published on the Web."	Yahoo Reference: Dictionaries, thesaui, encyclopedias, world facts, news, all arranged in straightforward Yahoo style.
The Inflation Calculator: This site "lets visitors plug in a monetary amount and calculate its precise buying power between 1800 and 2002." --School Library Journal (recommended site).	Guide to Grammar & Writing: Devoted to correct grammar, punctuation, and usage from the sentence level on through to the finished essay. Easy to navigate.	Biography.com: "Search over 25,000 of the greatest lives, past and present."

Subject Directories: (back to Top)
Subject directories differ from standard search engines in that they offer a variety of logically arranged topics,categories and subject areas by which you search. Once you click on a topic/category/subject area, you're taken to a list of sites relating to that topic that you can explore. Often (but not always) these sites are pre-selected for quality; for example, before selection and inclusion into the directory, sites on the popular Librarians Index to the Internet are pre-screened by librarians.

Librarians Index to the Internet: So very easy to use! A good first subject directory to try.	Cybrary for Middle School and Beyond: "Global access to educational sources for research and homework help."	KidsClick: Developed by librarians, organized by grade level.
Infomine: Searches "2000+ academically valuable resources."	Google Directory: A unique mix of news, modern life/health, and educational subjects.	BUBL Higher Education Internet Resources: Covers all academic subject areas.

Not sure how to search the Web or evaluate the sites that you find? Try these links: (back to Top)

Guide to effective searching of the Internet: Scroll down to the Executive summary: the two-minute bottom line for a direct, easy-to-understand explanation of the best ways to phrase a search.	Evaluating web pages: techniques to apply and questions to ask. Provides clear, thorough explanations of what to look for and why when determining whether or not a website is creditable.	A short and easy Internet search tutorial: "To get the right answer, you must ask the right question. This Web search tutorial will tell you exactly how to do that!"
Student's Guide to WWW Research: This site explains about the different types of Web pages and how to evaluate their content.	Specialized Search Engines & Directories: A select list of research-oriented search engines, complete with links to take you to the search engine or directory of your choice.	Internet Scavenger Hunt: A fun page of questions that will let you test your Internet search engine skills; links on left side of this page lead back to valuable Internet "how-to" sources.

Links to popular Internet search engines: (back to Top)

Mooter: the power of relevance: This unique search engine clusters results into relevant themes for faster, more precise information retrieval.	Google: Features a clean, easy-to-use interface and a broad range. A good place to start your information search.	Ask.com: Formerly Ask Jeeves, the improved Ask uses a unique ExpertRank algorithm that provides more precise and relevant search results "by identifying the most authoritative sites on the Web."
Alta Vista: Widely respected for its coverage. Popular with librarians.	Direct Search: Searches the "invisible web" to find information other search engines might miss.	WebCrawler meta-search engine: Lets you look for information on a variety of top search engines simultaneously!