Home Account Services Research Tools Catalog Databases Events Library Branches Good Reading About the Library Site Index

Library Site Search:

Library cardholders can access online databases for articles on specific subjects!

	Good Starting Points Biography Fine Arts History & Social Studies Good starting points; geography; government & politics (international, U.S.); history (good starting points, ancient, exploration, middle ages, 20th-century decades, U.S.) Hot Topics Language Arts Handwriting, reading, writing Languages Literature Authors, literary criticism	Math Science Good starting points, animals & biology, anatomy, astronomy & space exploration, botany, chemistry, dictionaries, environment & ecology, geology, physics, school & science fair projects, weather Speeches
	See also the library's Homeschooling links and Reference links, which connect to dictionaries, encyclopedias, international information, maps, statistics, style guides and more.

Good Starting Points

• HomeworkSpot
  HomeworkSpot is designed to be a "homework information portal," covering all curriculum areas and offering a breakdown of resources by grade level (elementary through high school). A highlighted site and special theme areas which vary with the season add a nice dimension to the permanent reference links.

• Interactives
  Interactive activities provide an interesting way to improve students' understanding on various topics in math, language, arts, history and science. For example, design a roller coaster, produce a film, view geometric shapes in 3D or write a story. Although the majority of the interactives are designed for high school students, there are several interactives for middle school and elementary-age students. The site is provided by Annenberg Media whose mission is to advance excellent teaching.

• Internet Public Library
  A top-notch resource with special sections for kids and teens. The IPL's pathfinders are research guides to selected topics. If one matches your interest (or your homework assignment), you're in luck! A few parts of this site are highlighted under particular subject topics below.

• Kid Info: Homework Help
  Quality links in a well-organized and clearly designed format. Material is selected for relevance to curriculum requirements.

• Typing/Keyboarding

• Dance Mat Typing
  Offers an entertaining touch typing program for elementary school children. Lessons are divided into four levels according to difficulty.

• Peter's Online Typing Course
  Free online typing exercises for beginners.

• TyperShark
  For a free graphics- and sound-enhanced typing practice program, click on "Play Express" to load TyperShark Basic.

• Biographical Dictionary
  More than 28,000 brief entries. Useful for ascertaining dates of birth and death, finding names of those known for a particular work or event, or as a source of ideas if you're assigned to write about a famous person.

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-present

• Biographies of Inventors
  From Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• Catalog of the Scientific Community in the 16th and 17th Centuries
  Biographical information on more than 600 scientists of this time period, searchable by name, date, nationality, scientific discipline, religion or professional society. Compiled by a professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University.

• Classical Composers' Archive
  Searchable by name, nationality or time period. Approximately 1500 entries.

• The Faces of Science
  Biographies of African American scientists.

• Internet Public Library: Biographies

• Mathematicians
  Search for mathematicians of all time periods alphabetically, chronologically or by birthplace. Each indexed entry indicates how many words are in the biography and whether or not a photo or portrait is given.

• National Inventors Hall of Fame
  Offers an alphabetically arranged list of inventions; site may also be searched by inventor's name or by timeline.

• Women's Biographies

• American Women Through Time
  A chronological presentation of American women's history featuring richly varied source material. Formats include diaries, photographs, engravings, lectures, historical newspapers, links to thematic timelines as well as illustrative audio and video clips. Contents may be browsed or searched by keyword.

• Biographies of Women Mathematicians
  Short biographical sketches, with reference sources cited.

• 4000 Years of Women in Science
  Find biographies of pre-20th-century female scientists throughout history.

• Women of the Hall
  The National Women's Hall of Fame sponsors this collection of short biographical sketches (many with photos) of several hundred 18th- through 20th-century American women. Highlights of their accomplishments in the arts, athletics, business, education, government, humanities, philanthropy and science are given.

• Women's Biographies
  Nearly 100 very good biographies from Gale Research.

• Art Terms
  For definitions of terms and illustrative examples drawn from the fields of fine art, architecture, the decorative arts and art education, consult the award-winning ArtLex Dictionary or the Art and Architecture Thesaurus On Line. ArtLex offers definitions of approximately 3,300 terms, many supported by visual examples of the technique or object under discussion. The Art and Architecture Thesaurus is text only, but covers more than 130,000 terms in relational hierarchies, and is sponsored by the J. Paul Getty Trust.

• Bissonnette on Costume
  Based upon Kent State University Museum’s fashion collection, this "visual dictionary of fashion" covers 18th- through 20th-century costume. Contents of the site can be searched by time period, subject or geography. All photos are full color and are accompanied by descriptive annotations.

• Famous Artworks Exhibition
  Includes the profiles of approximately 200 artists from the 13th century to the present, supplemented by a chronological and theme index. Color images of the artists’ works enrich the short essays.

• Timeline of Art History
  Overviews, key events and maps are featured in this geographical, thematic exploration of art from prehistory through the present. The site is sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and features items from its collections as well as links to outside resources.

Links from the library's list of Homework Web sites.

• Handwriting
• Reading
• Writing

• Handwriting
  
  

• ABC Teach — Handwriting: Cursive Writing
  Download pages to practice writing letters using the D'Nealian cursive method. Some pages are available to members only.

• Amazing Handwriting Worksheet Maker
  Make custom handwriting worksheets to practice basic printing and D'Nealian cursive.

• Basic Handwriting For Kids
  Includes blank practice pages, alphabet tracing sheets, and single word images for downloading.

• Enchanted Learning — Writing Letters and Numbers
  Printouts of letters and numbers to practice D'Nealian cursive and printing. Many worksheets are available for free; site members have access to additional pages and formats.

• Mr. Kidzone — Cursive Writing Worksheets
  The site includes printable worksheets for cursive handwriting practice and custom tracer pages using cursive, Zaner-Bloser, and D'Nealian fonts.

• Learning Page
  A free membership gives you access to worksheet pages to practice the Zaner-Bloser and D'Nealian methods.

• Reading

  See the library's Booklists for Preschoolers, Elementary Age Children and Teens; as well as the Children's Literature, Early Literacy and Teens sections of the library's links for Readers.

• Writing

• Glossary of Poetic Terms

• Guide to Grammar and Writing

• Poetry Forms and Terminology
  Explanations and examples of various poetry forms, along with links to glossaries.

• Resources for Writers
  Purdue University offers this valuable set of guidelines on various aspects of writing. Topics include General Writing Concerns; Writing Research Papers and Citing Sources; Writing for the Job Search and Professional Writing; English as a Second Language; and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling.

• Strunk's Elements of Style
  A classic guide on the basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage, and writing style.

• Ethnologue
  The site offers a wealth of information about the world's languages. Find out where Utugwang is spoken, how many people speak Dutch in countries around the world and more.

• Language Dictionaries
  Freelang provides language dictionaries for more than 100 languages or language variants. Enter a word to translate either from English or to English.

• Online Language Courses
  
  

• BBC — Languages
  Gauge your fluency level in French, German, Spanish or Italian; and enroll in online courses or view interactive videos to further your understanding. The site also provides some information on other languages including Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Greek and Urdu.

• Free Online Language Courses
  This site contains links to free online courses for many languages; both the quality and quantity of material vary from course to course.

• FSI Language Courses
  Free language courses developed by the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. More than 30 languages are listed; the courses include text and audio downloads.

• Language Learning Library
  Includes information on grammar, common phrases and nouns, numbers, time, alphabet and basic pronunciation, dictionaries and culture for the following languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.

• LanguageGuide
  View images and see how the word is spelled while you listen to its pronunciation. The site offers information on 11 languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese).

• Authors
• Literary Criticism

• Authors
  
  

• African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
  This online collection from the New York Public Library offers material from the works of more than four dozen 19th-century African American women writers. Includes fiction, poetry, autobiography and essays. Reproductions of book bindings, title pages and illustrations enrich this primary resource.

• American Studies
  Under the sponsorship of the University of Virginia's American Studies program, this Web site presents an online collection of more than 50 classic texts representative of American culture. In many cases, supplementary links to additional materials enrich the electronic version of the original work.

• American Writers
  American Writers: Journey through History and American Writers II: the Twentieth Century are Web-based offerings of written and streaming video materials examining American writers "who influenced our nation's history." Originally appearing on C-SPAN, each segment discusses the author's background, literary significance and characteristics of the time period during which he/she wrote.

• Great Writers and Poets
  Links to Web sites devoted to various authors.

• Shakespeare

• Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
  Well-chosen links relating to many aspects of Shakespeare's life and works.

• The Works of the Bard

• Literary Criticism
  
  

• Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
  This site developer describes the contents as "a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas of ways to use them in the classroom and collections of books and activities about particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes and professional topics."

• Online Literary Criticism Collection
  An excellent resource from the Internet Public Library. Originally designed to offer resources for the study of British and American literature, this site has expanded to include materials touching on more than 20 national literatures. Certain sections are still under development, but coverage is available for Canadian, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Latin American, Japanese, Chinese and selective Slavic, African, Australian and classical literatures.

• The Transcendentalists
  Information on this literary and philosophical movement of 19th-century New England. The site also includes links to more information on Thoreau, Emerson and others.

Links from the library's list of Homework Web sites.

Links from the library's list of Homework Web sites.

• History and Politics Out Loud
  A searchable multimedia database of authoritative material that captures "significant political and historical events and personalities" of 20th-century America. Many entries offer both audio and transcripts, and contents are searchable by subject, speaker, date or title. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with Michigan State University.

• The History Channel: Speeches and Video
  This site contains hundreds of streaming audio and/or video clips of famous speeches in the fields of politics and government, the arts, entertainment, science and technology, and military/war. Items can be e-mailed.

• The History Place: Great Speeches Collection
  Dozens of selected speeches, each with prefatory material to place it in proper historic context.