Need Help With Homework?

Need help with homework? Looking for information or last minute sources? Check out these helpful websites. Or come in and talk with us – we’ll be glad to point you in the right direction. Need help with citing a particular source? Citation Machine is a great tool to use if working on a research paper or assignment. Click the logo above to access this service. A collection of digitized historical documents spanning the beginning of the Americas to the present day. You can search by time period or subject such as the Great Depression, WWII, African American or Native American History, and more. Click the logo above to access this service. Find it Virginia is a collection of databases that provide free access to newspapers, magazine and journal articles,images, podcasts, videos and books such as encyclopedias. Materials are divided by elementary, middle and high school levels. Also, you can get live help from a state-certified teacher in a virtual classroom.

Using an online whiteboard and chat window, students grades 3 through 12 can work one-on-one in real time with a teacher to solve homework problems, edit papers or expand on lessons taught in school on reading, writing, match and science. Click the logo to the right to access this service for free. Valid library card required. Freading includes fiction and nonfiction books as well as SparkNotes which provide guides to literature and biology, chemistry, economics, health, math, physics, and sociology. Click the logo to the left to access this service for free with your library card number required. The Gilder Lehrman Institute presents American History by Era, online exhibits, digitized source materials, essays, an AP Study Guide for American History, videos and more. Augusta County Library is a Public Library Affiliate of The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Click to logo to the left to access this database. LearningExpress Library includes tutorials and interactive practice tests to improve math skills, reading comprehension, writing, grammar, social studies, vocabulary, spelling, social studies, science and even trigonometry. Units are organized by elementary, middle and high school levels.

Learn Physics Today (a part of ThinkQuest) allows high school students to attempt to solve a problem several times before providing the correct answer. Kids can really try to tackle topics like mechanics and electricity on their own, which can be a very helpful way to learn. However, the site’s layout leaves a lot to be desired, as it isn’t too aesthetically pleasing or simple to navigate (made even more difficult by the fact that there is no search engine). Still, the decent examples and quizzes on this site, despite its narrow content, make it a passable source for studying. Regents Prep is most appropriate for high schoolers who want to reinforce what they’re learning in school. We found that most of this site is geared toward explaining specifics on topics like energy, waves, and mechanics, so this may not be the best source for initial learning. Regents Prep includes helpful labs, quizzes, and visual aids as supplementary materials, so if a student need to brush up on a specific science subject, this site can be useful. Plus, it loads quickly, so kids can find what they need without wasting time waiting.

Despite the fact that, as Shakespeare said, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” the pen itself is not enough to make an effective writer. In fact, though we may all like to think of ourselves as the next Shakespeare, inspiration alone is not the key to effective essay writing. You see, the conventions of English essays are more formulaic than you might think – and, in many ways, it can be as simple as counting to five. Though it may seem formulaic – and, well, it is – the idea behind this structure is to make it easier for the reader to navigate the ideas put forth in an essay. You see, if your essay has the same structure as every other one, any reader should be able to quickly and easily find the information most relevant to them. The principle purpose of the introduction is to present your position (this is also known as the “thesis” or “argument”) on the issue at hand but effective introductory paragraphs are so much more than that.

Before you even get to this thesis statement, for example, the essay should begin with a “hook” that grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to read on. Examples of effective hooks include relevant quotations (“no man is an island”) or surprising statistics (“three out of four doctors report that…”). Only then, with the reader’s attention “hooked,” should you move on to the thesis. The thesis should be a clear, one-sentence explanation of your position that leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind about which side you are on from the beginning of your essay. Following the thesis, you should provide a mini-outline which previews the examples you will use to support your thesis in the rest of the essay. Not only does this tell the reader what to expect in the paragraphs to come but it also gives them a clearer understanding of what the essay is about. Finally, designing the last sentence in this way has the added benefit of seamlessly moving the reader to the first paragraph of the body of the paper.