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Homework Help
Having trouble with your homework? Here is a list of databases available to help you from home arranged by the type of assignment. If you need a live person to help you with your homework, check our program calendar for homework help at different library branches. If you can't find what you are looking for, please call your local branch. If you are a teacher and would like to arrange for a librarian to come to your school and show how to use any of these resources, teach information literacy skills, or talk about online safety, please call 560-0111 or email kmakens@durhamcountync.gov.
K-5th Grade | Biographies | Controversial Topics | Countries & Cultures |
Foreign Languages | Literary Criticism | Magazines & Newspapers | History |
Science Fairs | Test Prep
K-5th Grade
These databases have articles written at a level for a younger child, suitable for most elementary school assignments.
Kids Search 
Search through many encyclopedias and magazines in one place. You can search by lexile level under Detailed Search. There are also materials available for teachers and homeschool parents.
Primary Search
Contains full text of nearly 70 popular elementary school magazines which can be searched by reading level.
Biographies for Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American History, or Women's History Month
Biography Resource Center 
Search through many reference books, magazines and journals at one time by name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, gender or any combination of the above. If you have a short paper (1-5 pages), need many sources, have to find famous African Americans with a certain profession, for example a computer programmer, or famous African Americans from Durham, this is a good place to start. Generates its own MLA citation. How-to-guide 
Credo
If you know the name of the person you are looking for and only need a short article from a reliable source, this may be a good choice. Credo will generate APA, MLA or Chicago Manual citations. How-to-guide
Controversial Topics
Do you have an assignment where you need to argue your point of view on a controversial issue, such as gun control? Then these two databases will give you many reliable sources.
CQ Researcher
Explains both sides of controversial issues in the news and gives reliable facts to let you decide for yourself how you feel about a topic. These are the same articles which appear in the print version of CQ Researcher. This database will also generate its own citations in APA, Bluebook, Chicago Manual or MLA format. How-to-guide
Opposing Viewpoints
Presents both sides of an issue with topic overviews, statistics, court cases, reference book articles, newspaper and magazine articles. This is a good way to get many sources at one time. The articles will also generate their own MLA citations. How-to guide
Countries and Cultures
Do you need information about how life was during a certain time period, and/or a certain country? Do you need quick facts about a country?
Credo
Reliable, factual information about a country including maps and flags from the CIA World Factbook. How-to-guide
Daily Life Online 
This database provides coverage of history, geography, social customs, family life, leisure, arts, food, clothing, religion, holidays of over seventy countries from around the world from the 4th century CE to the present. This is a good source if you are doing a paper about what life was like during a certain time period or you need to know about customs, food, etc for another country in the present day.
Learning a Foreign Language
Credo
Do you need a foreign language dictionary? Get dictionaries in nine different languages translated to English. Click on bilinguals after entering Credo to see the foreign language dictionaries. How-to-guide
Tell Me More
Teaches Dutch, English, French, Italian, German and Spanish (Spain and Latin America). Practice reading, writing, listening and speaking for beginning through advanced users. There are detailed instructions if you need them.
Literary Criticism
Literary Reference Center
Provides scholarly articles and criticism, biographies, author interviews, a history timeline, and the full text of public domain novels, short stories, and poems.
Magazine and Newspaper Articles
If you need an article from a local paper from the late nineties to the present, or from the New York Times from 1985 to the present, you can start here. If you need an older article, come in to the Main Library on the second floor for help. This is a small list of what is available, if you need more help, please come in or call your local branch.
Magazine and Journal Title List
Check here to see if NCLive carries a particular magazine or journal title that you would like to read online. If you can't find the right title, ask a librarian or call 560-0110 for help.
MAS Ultra - School Edition
Contains full text for more than 500 popular, high school magazines including America’s Civil War, American Heritage, American History, Archaeology, Astronomy, Bioscience, Careers & Colleges, Civil War Times, Congressional Digest, Discover, Economist, History Today, Nation, National Review, New Republic, New Scientist, Popular Science, Science News, Scientific American, Smithsonian, World War II, etc. All full text articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles).
Newspaper Source Plus
Search the full text of newspapers from around the country including, the New York Times from 1985 to the present, the Herald Sun going back to 1998, and the News and Observer going back to 1999.
North Carolina and Local History
Documenting the American South 
DocSouth includes books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews and songs related to southern history, literature, and culture.
North Carolina Collection 
Durham County Library has a large archive which can help with many local history questions. While some of the collection is available on the website, some things are only available in the building. Please call 560-0171 if you have any questions.
North Carolina Encyclopedia
This is a good place to get reliable information about the state of North Carolina. Maintained by the North Carolina State Library.
Science Fairs
Credo
Contains the full text articles from many different reference books devoted to all areas of science including astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, geology, physics and more. While you will not find suggetions for science experiments, you can find the background information you need for your project after you have decided on your topic. How-to-guide
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Contains the Gale Encyclopedia of Science, Encyclopedia of Biomes, and more. This is a good place to get quick, reliable information about most science topics.
NetLibrary
Not sure what you want to do for your science fair project? This is a good place to start. NetLibrary has science fair project books for students in elementary school through high school. Just click on subject in the search box, and type science projects for your search. How-to guide
Test Preparation
Learning Express
Are you going to take the SATs, ACTs, or AP exams, or are you struggling in school and need to practice skills for the North Carolina End of Course Exams? This database has free online classes and practice exams to help you score higher. How-to-guide
Last Update: March 16, 2009
