Other Help

• 4Girls HealthSite for adolescent girls offering basic information about puberty, fitness, mental health, nutrition, healthy relationships, safety, and substance abuse prevention. Created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• It's My Life Site is organized across five topic channels: Friends, Family, School, Body, and Emotions. Printable activities include journal pages, discussion questions, worksheets, and word puzzles. Lesson Plans on Bullies , Home Alone , Smoking, Eating Disorders, and Drug Abuse.
• NIDA for Teens Scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse offer realistic advice and information on the science behind the scenes of drug involvement. Features facts about selected drugs, FAQs, personal stories, and games.
• TeenCentralAnonymous help-line by teens, for teens. Professionally monitored.

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Searching Hints

• Bare Bones 101 If you are really into computers you may get some help from the �bare bones� lessons provided by the University of South Carolina. Even if this turns out to be too much for you, feel free to pass the info along to parents and older siblings. They may thank you.
• Follow this link for help in using Boolean logic to search.
• Evaluating Web Pages Although this is part of Duke University's research tutorial, it offers simple steps to check on the quality of the websites even middle schoolers use for research.
• Search Engines This will take you to a list of links to popular search engines and directories.
• What Search Engine Should I Use?Having trouble finding the information you need? Maybe this site will lead you to a path you haven't tried before.

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What in the world is Boolean?!?
"Boolean� is the word that describes the kind of logic you can use to have better search-for-info luck. It was actually named after a mathematician, George Boole,who worked out some logical stuff in algebra... but don�t hold that against it--it can actually make things easier!
There are 3 basic �operators� in Boolean logic:

OR-----which you can use to expand your search because it retrieves records which mention at least one of your search words. For instance, you could type:
dogs OR puppies
AND-----which you can use to narrow your search because it retrieves only the records that use BOTH of your search terms. You could type:
Mexico AND food
NOT-----which you can use to retrieve sites that only have ONE of your terms--if the other word is present, the site will be skipped. For example, for a science report, you�d be able to skip all the football sites if you typed:
dolphins NOT Miami

Other Hints

Use quotation marks if you want to make sure the words appear together in a website. Type:
�I Have a Dream� or "South Dakota� or "New York City�
Use lower case unless you are sure you want to search for a proper name. Type:
China (with a capital C) This might eliminate some sites that are talking about �china dishes.�

Warning!

Search engines are all a little different. Some use Boolean logic; some do not! Check out your favorite search engine's "hints-for-searching" link to improve your outcome.

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After the Homework

• Flag Game Allows the player to guess the name of the country based on clues including; capital, continent, neighbors, map outline, currency & anthem. Fun, but tough!
• Thinks.com This site is a source of puzzles, word games, chess problems, brainteasers and more. Award winner.