Wikipedia:Do your own homework

Dear students: Wikipedia's users, editors, volunteers and administrators will not do your schoolwork or homework for you. Your teacher or professor assigned this work to you because they want you to figure out the answer, and find out how to find the answer.

We have 6,906,901 articles on Wikipedia, and one of those will quite possibly contain the information you need to do your school assignment.

How to find your answer yourself

Search for some relevant terms or keywords and you'll probably find the answer. Keep in mind when choosing your search terms that different terminology or spelling is often used in different varieties of English (US, British, Indian, etc.).

Caution

However, please bear in mind that anybody can edit Wikipedia, so the information may not be correct. Many statements will have a citation next to them (like ""). Simply click on this and consult the original source of the information. This source can usually be trusted, and will contain the information you need.

If you still can't find the answer

If you can't, attempt the question and ask for help on the specific point on which you are stuck at the relevant section of the Reference desk. Volunteer editors will guide you to a relevant article or online resource, or help you find out the answer.

Templates

Volunteers on the help or reference desks may use either of the following templates to respond to what seem to be questions from students doing their homework or other school assignments.

On the reference desk:

• {{subst:dyoh}}

Please do your own homework.

Welcome to Wikipedia. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misinterpretation, but it is our aim here not to do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn nearly as much as doing it yourself. Please attempt to solve the problem or answer the question yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know.

On the help desk:

• {{subst:HD/dyoh}}
  • Please do your own homework.
    Welcome to the Wikipedia Help desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here not to do others' homework, but merely to aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems.
    Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. You can search Wikipedia or search the Web.
    If you need help with a specific part of your homework, the Reference desk can help you grasp the concept. Do not ask knowledge questions here, just those about using Wikipedia.

See also

• Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not § Wikipedia is not a manual, guidebook, textbook, or scientific journal
• Wikipedia:You can search, too – related internal advice for editors instead of readers