The internet is truly one of the world's richest sources of homework help around. Here are a few examples of how the Net can help students track down some sources and information for their assignments.
Nine Steps to Doing Research & Homework Online

Taken from Classroom Connect

• Step One: Get Organized
  Getting homework done takes organization whether you use the Internet or not. Do your homework at the same time every night, gather your materials together, and turn off the radio or TV.

• Step Two: Read the Assignment
  You're organized and ready to work. Now, read the assignment carefully. Be sure to understand what is required of you and what subject areas the homework assignment covers.

• Step Three: Available Time?
  The Internet can help you with the long-term research projects and short-term overnight assignments. But if it's easier and faster to use a book or magazine to complete your work, use them! Don't spend time searching for information on the Net if you can find it faster somewhere else.

• Step Four: Which Internet Resources
  First, ask yourself if the Internet is the best tool for your assignment. If you're writing a paper, the Internet can definitely deliver sources of information that will make your work better. But if your assignment asks you to define a list of words scattered throughout a textbook chapter you're reading, using the Internet isn't the best way to complete the assignment. Next, think about which Internet resources will help you most. You can use tools in all kinds of ways for all sorts of homework assignments. Here are just a few of the things you can do:
  • Communicate with people one on one: You can use email to complete the assignment by talking to other students, experts, and others willing to help you. These people are like online penpals, so they're called keypals. Try Online Experts
  • Track down the most up-to-date information: The Internet is full of up-to-the-minute news reports form hundreds of newspapers worldwide, thousands of up-to-date databases, and even satellite images taken every hour of every corner of the globe. Try News and Weather

• Step Five: Internet Search Tools
  Determine which Internet Directories and Search Engines can best help you find the information you need. Then, decide which "keywords" will give you the best search results. Most of the time you'll be looking for sites with information you need. For that, you'll use directories or search engines. Try these search engine indexes: Classroom Connect Searching Searching You can connect to and then make bookmarks for these sites to be used for future Internet Searches.

• Step Six: Search Strategy?
  Once you've got your keywords, decide how much time and how many search engines you want to use. You should run your key words through at least three search tools (such as HotBot, Alta Vista, and MetaCrawler). Remember that you'll need to give yourself plenty of time to visit at least some of the sites the search engine returns to you.

• Step Seven: Go Online
  You've gone through each of the previous steps. You've got your keywords. You've created a killer game plan to tackle your homework as quickly and efficiently as possible. Now its time to fire up your computer and get started. Force yourself to stay focused while online. Sure it's fun to surf the net with no purpose, but this won't help you complete the assignment. Use a timer if necessary. Give yourself about an hour or so to find the information you need. If the timer runs out and you still haven't found the info yet, turn off the computer and look elsewhere. An hour of searching is more than enough time to discover whether the Internet will help you or not!

• Step Eight: Critically Judge the Information
  If your internet search returned some useful sites, it's time to use your information literacy skills. Before you use the information from a site for your assignment, take a critical look at it to determine whether the information is authentic and valid. Why should you do this? Because anything can be published to a worldwide audience in seconds via the Net. This "information" could read like something from your textbook. But it could contain inaccurate, unsubstantiated, or misleading facts. The Internet has no "information police officers." Gone are the editors and proofreaders of the real world who question, sometimes rewrite, and check the validity of information in an author's work. In the real world, only after this time-intensive editing process does a book, newsletter, magazine or article get published. This is not so with the Net. As you retrieve information from the Net to do your homework, think about whether it's "good" information you can trust.

• Step Nine: Cite the Internet Information
  Now that you've found the information for your assignment. Go ahead and use it, but be sure to cite the online sources in your bibliography. You'll find information on how to cite Internet sources at www.classroom.net/classroom/CitingNetResources.html

• LibrarySpot
  An award-winning library and reference portal that features the very best free research tools on the Web in one user-friendly spot. From the site quickly and easily find dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, style guides, libraries, maps, statistics, quotations and much more.

• HomeworkSpot
  A free K-12 homework resource portal that simplifies the search for the best resources for working on homework projects. Organized by grade-level and topic, sites featured on HomeworkSpot.com are selected by our team of educators, librarians and journalists for their educational quality and utility. Students will find resources for English, math, social studies, science, foreign language, health, life skills, co-curricular activities and much more.

• MuseumSpot
  A free cultural information center that brings the best museums, zoos and online exhibits from around the world into one user-friendly spot. From the site explore national parks, botanical gardens, and everything from the Louvre in Paris to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
   

• Homework Help
  Set up by the staff of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis to put teachers in touch with students all over the country. Students simply click on one of the links on the home page including math, English, literature, social studies/civics and science--and are instantly linked to a general discussion on that subject. This site also contains enormous collections of Web links divided by subject. All designed to help students solve their homework dilemmas.

• Blue Web'n
  Blue Web'n is a searchable database of outstanding Internet learning sites categorized by subject area, audience, and type (lessons, activities, projects, resources, references, & tools). Blue Web'n does not attempt to catalog all educational sites, but only the most useful sites -- especially online activities targeted at learners.

• Electric Library
  The Electric Library makes it possible for students of all ages to conduct real research over the Internet using a deep database of reliable sources.
• Kids Connect
  Favorite Web Sites for K-12 Students. Point-n-click your way to the web sites KidsConnect school library media specialists have found to be most helpful.

• Researchpaper.com
  This site boasts the world's largest collection of topics, ideas, and assistance for school-related research topics. Your students will find idea directories relating to Art & Literature, History, Science, Business and Society live discussion areas to get help from their peers, and a writing center to improve the style and presentation of their report.

• The Library of Congress Online
  Documents, photographs, movies, and sound recordings that tell America's story. Resources for Educators: The Learning Page. New Collections: The George Washington Papers and The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures. Collection Previews: Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library and The African American Odyssey Exhibition. New Feature: Today in History.

• Ask the Experts
  Are your students looking for a site to help them decipher a passage of Old English from a Shakespeare play, or information about about current volcanic eruptions. Here is a brief listing of some the the best sites to ask the experts.

• More Homework Sites
  A list of other helpful homework sites .