Homework

Databases vs. Web Sites

A database contains information from encyclopedias, dictionaries, magazines, newspapers, reference books and other sources. You can search a database to find information you need. Web sites can be created by anybody and while some websites have great information, some websites may contain information that is not accurate. On this page, our library staff has selected some of the best websites we know about to help you find what you're looking for. We've also highlighted some great databases (you can find more databases on our Teen page).

If you see a , that means the source is a library database, and to use it from home, you'll need your library card and password.

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Animals

Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia – to find quick facts on a lot of different subjects, this database is great. Text only, this site does not include graphics or photographs.
Encyclopedia Americana – contains encyclopedia articles on a variety of topics. It offers supportive information for homework assistance and research papers. It does include a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography, but does not include many photographs or graphics.
Multimedia Encyclopedia - use this database to find both information on a variety of topics, plus great graphics, photographs and sometimes video and audio clips as well.
EE Link Endangered Species - Definitions, causes, great links and current information.
Electronic Zoo- Extensive information on all kinds of animals. Just click on the "Electronic Zoo" Icon.
FINS:Fish Information Service - FINS is a database of fish information. You can search the archive for your favorite fish or browse through the catalog of marine and freshwater fish.
Fish FAQ - This site calls itself the "Bouillabaisse of Fascinating Facts About Fish." Find out the answer to such thoughtful questions as: do fish chew their food?... and do fish sleep?
Sea World/Busch Gardens - Wonder what the striped newt looks like? What about the hamadryas baboon? Find them in the very comprehensive index of photos. This database is also a good place to get quick facts OR detailed information on animals.
Threatened Animals of the World - Use the database section to look up the animal that interests you. Search by class, order, family, species, common name or country of origin.

Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Browse the MET's special collections of Islamic art, European sculpture, and musical instruments...or you may visit galleries and exhibitions floor by floor.
Smithsonian Institution Home Page - Features links to its various museums with tours and slide shows of select exhibits.
Vatican Museum - Offers images of thousands of religious and secular images, including 325 images of the Sistine Chapel.

Books & Literature

Literature Resource Center - is a great resource to use if you need to find in-depth information on an author and critical analysis of an author’s work.
NetLibrary - Download a book to listen to on your home computer.
Overdrive - Another database you can download audiobooks.
Novelist - What to read another book like Twilight? This database offers suggestions of book similar the one you just read and loved.
What do I Read Next? - This database is similar to Novelist, providing readers with suggestions of books to read next.
Author Biographies- Good source for biographical info, pictures, and questions that are answered by the authors themselves.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Look up Shakespeare's works by genre and read them scene by scene. This site will also allow you to search for words or phrases that you vaguely remember reading in a play or poem.
Teen Book Discussion Kits -The "Xtreme Read" kits are made up of 30 identical soft-cover books. They are accompanied by stickers and pamphlets for your students. The kit also includes a discussion guide to give you a helping hand. Each kit has a 6-week loan period and may be reserved and sent to the library of your choice.
Online Literary Criticism Collection - The IPL Online Literary Criticism Collection contains 4745 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality and literary period.
Project Gutenberg - You can find entire books here, such as Moby Dick and Anne of Green Gables.
Spark Notes - Online Study Guides.
Teen Ink - Teen Ink is a both a ‘zine and print publication that produces a magazine with all articles, stories, essays and poems written by teen authors. You can even submit your own creative writing and try to get published. Good luck!

Climate & Weather

America the Beautifu l – is an easy to use database with a wealth of information about the states. Includes great pictures and graphics and links to additional information. Citations provided for bibliographies.
Lands and Peoples Online – this database Contains maps, flags, and reference articles about the land, people, economy, and history of countries around the world. Some countries’ information includes recipes and links to related websites. Includes graphics, photographs and citation information.
USA Today Weather Page - Use for detailed information. Look up UV forecasts, hurricane data, or weather along major national highways!
INTELLICast - Check out the weather around the world.
Weather Information Superhighway - Links to many more weather-related Web pages.

Current Events

Courier-Journal – allows you free access to articles in our major Louisville newspaper. You may search articles written in 1999 – to the current issue. Only the text of the story is available; photographs, graphics and paid advertisements are excluded.
CQ Researcher – an in-depth examination of a current issue, CQ Researcher presents both sides of current affair issues such as criminal justice, environment, education, economy, and heath care. Great for looking at the pros and cons of issues that affect us everyday, this database is also terrific for forming debate or oral presentations on subjects. Includes a few photographs and graphics on each topic and has a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography.
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia – to find quick facts on a lot of different subjects, this database is great. Text only, this site does not include graphics or photographs.
New York Times – this newspaper database offers free articles searching for articles from the New York Times since 1980.
TOPICSearch – this database allows you to search magazine articles by topic, current event and by reading grade level. Great to use when you have a current affairs topic to research.
CNN Interactive - This site gives up-to-the-minute reports featuring pictures and text on breaking news stories.
FuelEconomy.gov - Where’s the cheapest gasoline in town? Which cars have the best gas mileage? Find out at this website.
Hot topics and Issues - One of Schoolwork.org's many up-to-date selections that will help you with homework.
Pathfinder - Time Warner's Pathfinder features up-to-the-minute news and weather, sports scores and much more from publication such as TIME, Money, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, People and Fortune.
Life Photo Home Page - Flip through Life's photo essays or feature articles. You may also search for covers by date, photographer name, or subject. Peruse "This Day in Life" to see major highlights.
National Geographic - Explore the world from your computer. Check out the maps!
USA Today - Read front page news and sports or look up the weather in your part of the world or any other.

Government & Politics

History Resource Center: US – similar to the New York Times Historical database, this one also gives information on United States History. It includes a chronology of events, and you can search by person or subject.
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government - Find out all about our Nation's government and history.
Capitol Impact.com - Information and tools to help you impact the political process.
The House of Representatives - Learn about the legislative process, get to know who is who and how to contact them, or look into special house committees.
Presidents of the United States - Get brief biographical information regarding election results and cabinet members related to each presidency. Find out exactly what they did during their term(s).
United States Senate - Connect with your Senators. Find out who they are and what they do.
Project Vote Smart - Your guide to anything related to the voting process. Look up information about anyone who is voted into office at the national or state level.
Students.gov - Your comprehensive information portal providing answers to your questions on education, career, government and more.
Welcome to the White House - The official home page of the President. Read biographies of the President and Vice President, look up information about our Federal government or search official White House documents.

Health and Wellness

Health and Wellness Resource Center and Alternative Health Module – research diseases and medical conditions, drugs, alternative medicine and treatments.
Medline – this database searches scholarly journals to find information on a variety of medical issues.
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection – this database searches scholarly journals to find information on a variety of topics related to psychology and behavior.
PsycInfo – similar to the Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection database.

History

History Resource Center: US – similar to the New York Times Historical database, this one also gives information on United States History. It includes a chronology of events, and you can search by person or subject.
Kentucky Encyclopedia – everything you wanted to know about our home state! This database allows you search by person or place and has a great map of the different regions and counties of the Commonwealth. You can also search the calendar for specific dates to learn if anything happened in Kentucky on that date in history.
Encyclopedia Americana – contains encyclopedia articles on a variety of topics. It offers supportive information for homework assistance and research papers. It does include a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography, but does not include many photographs or graphics.
1492 Exhibit - Discover, through a series of essays, how America came to be. Find out about the complex cultures and diverse habitats that contributed to its formation.
Anne Frank Online - Look at this while reading the diary.
Historical Documents - The full texts of many documents, most of them related to the United States. The list extends from the Magna Carta to speeches by President Clinton.
History Channel - Keep up with History Channel programming or just use this great site for research.
A hypertext on American History - Stretches from the colonial period until Modern times.

Internet

Bare Bones 101 - A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web from USCB.
Fact or Folly - How to authenticate online information, from Canada's Media Awareness Network..

Mathematics

Ask Dr. Math - A question and answer service for K-12 students and their teachers. There is a searchable archive as well as summaries of Frequently asked questions.
Mathematicians Biographies - Large collection of biographies that are searchable by name or time period.
Algebra Help - Use this website to review lesson plans and get some practice using their worksheets. Also includes a calculator to help you figure out the answer.

People

Biography Resource Center – this database is an excellent tool to find information about famous or important people in the world. It offers both brief and in-depth biographies and links to websites of related interest.
Kentucky Encyclopedia – everything you wanted to know about our home state! This database allows you search by person or place and has a great map of the different regions and counties of the Commonwealth. You can also search the calendar for specific dates to learn if anything happened in Kentucky on that date in history.
History Resource Center: US – similar to the New York Times Historical database, this one also gives information on United States History. It includes a chronology of events, and you can search by person or subject.

Places

America the Beautiful – is an easy to use database with a wealth of information about the states. Includes great pictures and graphics and links to additional information. Citations provided for bibliographies.
History Resource Center: US – similar to the New York Times Historical database, this one also gives information on United States History. It includes a chronology of events, and you can search by person or subject.
Kentucky Encyclopedia – everything you wanted to know about our home state! This database allows you search by person or place and has a great map of the different regions and counties of the Commonwealth. You can also search the calendar for specific dates to learn if anything happened in Kentucky on that date in history.
Lands and Peoples Online – this database Contains maps, flags, and reference articles about the land, people, economy, and history of countries around the world. Some countries’ information includes recipes and links to related websites. Includes graphics, photographs and citation information.
American FactFinder – this site is from the U.S. Census Bureau and offers statistical information about the U.S. population. You can search by zip code as well as state. Also includes housing, economic and geographic data.
CIA Publications - Includes the World Factbook, a listing of foreign heads of state and many others.
E-Conflict World Encyclopedia - This site gives profiles for each country. It also provides information on the government and current conflicts.
International Information Systems - This site, located at the University of Texas, is a great resource for information on many countries.
The United Nations - Learn international law, keep up with the latest UN actions, read official UN documents or check out information regarding the 185 member nations.
Yahoo Search Results - Yahoo's listing of information about various countries

Reference

Kentucky Encyclopedia – everything you wanted to know about our home state! This database allows you search by person or place and has a great map of the different regions and counties of the Commonwealth. You can also search the calendar for specific dates to learn if anything happened in Kentucky on that date in history.
Encyclopedia Americana – contains encyclopedia articles on a variety of topics. It offers supportive information for homework assistance and research papers. It does include a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography, but does not include many photographs or graphics.
Multimedia Encyclopedia - use this database to find both information on a variety of topics, plus great graphics, photographs and sometimes video and audio clips as well.
Citing Electronic Resources - Many people want to know how to cite information that they find on the Internet in school papers, theses, reports, etc. The Internet Public Library has gathered some sites with recommended electronic information citation guides.
Dictionary.com - Your guide to dictionaries on the web. Look up words at this site or connect to other resources such as Roget's Thesaurus or Bartlett's Quotations.
High School Hub - Portal to excellent free online academic resources for high school students..
The Quotations Page - The oldest quotation site on the Web, established 1994. It has a searchable database of over 15,000 quotations, Quotes of the Day, Motivational Quotes of the Day collections of quotations Author and by Subject, and much more.
Reference Rolodex - A collection of frequently asked or odd reference questions compiled by the Evanston Public Library.
Research-it! - A very handy site to look up word pronunciations, acronyms, translations into major foreign languages....OR use any of their research, library, geographic, financial, or mailing tools.
Schoolwork.org - Created by the Rockland County, NY Library Association, Schoolwork.org is a listing of great sites organized into categories.
Virtual Reference Desk - All sort of reference tools are available here!

Research Papers

Academic Search Premier – find full-text magazine articles from many different journals for your assignments. Full-text means you will have access to all the text of the original magazine article, which you can print, email or save to a disk.
Courier-Journal –allows you free access to articles in our major Louisville newspaper. You may search articles written in 1999 – to the current issue. Only the text of the story is available; photographs, graphics and paid advertisements are excluded.
CQ Researcher – an in-depth examination of a current issue, CQ Researcher presents both sides of current affair issues such as criminal justice, environment, education, economy, and heath care. Great for looking at the pros and cons of issues that affect us everyday, this database is also terrific for forming debate or oral presentations on subjects. Includes a few photographs and graphics on each topic and has a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography.
Encyclopedia Americana – contains encyclopedia articles on a variety of topics. It offers supportive information for homework assistance and research papers. It does include a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography, but does not include many photographs or graphics.
Literature Resource Center - is a great resource to use if you need to find in-depth information on an author and critical analysis of an author’s work.
New York Times Historical – What were the headlines on the day you were born in 1930? This site will tell you and you can check for what happened on this day in history. An interactive historical timeline of American events is also available on this easy-to-use database.
Oxford English Dictionary – What exactly is a brimborion? Look it and any other word up to learn its meaning. You will find pronunciation as well as the history of how the word was used.

Science

Encyclopedia Americana – contains encyclopedia articles on a variety of topics. It offers supportive information for homework assistance and research papers. It does include a citation generator if you are creating a bibliography, but does not include many photographs or graphics.
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedi a – to find quick facts on a lot of different subjects, this database is great. Text only, this site does not include graphics or photographs.
New Book of Popular Science - provides basic information on science, biology, chemistry and more.
CELLS alive! - Watch cells in action as both the good and the bad do their daily doings to either invade or protect your body.
Chemicool Periodic Table - Another good site for your "element"ary needs. Use the online chemistry calculator or supplement your knowledge by reading the details on each element.
Common Weights and Measures - Exactly how big is an acre? What precisely is a dram? This is the place to find out. From the U.C. Berkeley College of Chemistry
The Heart: A Virtual Exploration - Venture into the life-preserving world of the heart. Discover the heart's functions, learn the terminology, and look back at the history of heart science. A definite for budding cardiologists.
Human Anatomy Online - Excellent way to review the parts of the body.
The Interactive Frog Dissection - Follow through a very clean and odorless, step-by-step primer on pinning, cutting, and exploring each layer of a frog's anatomy.
Understanding our Planet through Chemistry - Did you know that virtually every sample of the Earth is composed of all natural elements in some amount? Read the chapter style entries to discover more chemistry-related facts about our planet.
WebElements - The basic periodic table is presented. Just click on an element to get more detail on it. The table will also provide nuclear, biological and electronic information on each element.

Statistics

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - A little difficult to start with but has loads of info.
FedStats - More than 100 federal agencies produce statistics you might like to see. Check them out here.
RobertNiles.com - Hard to describe there's so much here.
Social Statistics Briefing Room - Provides access to current Federal social statistics.
U.S. Census Bureau - From the U.S. Department of Commerce

Test Preparation

Learning Express Library.com – an extensive collection of practice tests, including the SAT and ACT. Also includes high school skills improvement, military entrance, citizenship, law enforcement, and many more exams.