When students need help with their homework, where do they turn?

In some cases, they may call a friend, rely on a tutor, or talk to a parent — but in today's connected world, students often find the answers they need on the Internet.

This isn't always a bad thing. There are academic support sites out there that are extremely helpful.

Unfortunately, students can also use these legitimate study aids to cheat. This can cause schools to be very leery of Internet homework help sites and study aid applications.

Popular Academic Support Websites and Applications

While we've discussed Chegg and Course Hero — two well-known homework help platforms — there is a slew of other options on the Internet. By subject, these include:

Math

• Photomath, Cymath, and other take-a-photo, get-an-answer platforms: Through these apps, students can snap a picture of a math problem and get help with calculations, equations, and basic math tasks.

Language Arts

• ChatGPT, Jasper, Rytr, and other AI writing services: With the advent of open AI platforms, students can copy and paste writing prompts into an AI generator and receive text to support their research or kickstart inspiration for their own writing.
• CustomWritings, EssayPro, SpeedyPaper, and other paid essay-writing services: Students can also pay writers to complete essays or writing work for them with lightning-fast turnaround times for often-reasonable fees.

STEM

• StudyPool, GoNerdify, and other crowdsourced ask-a-question, get-an-answer platforms: Through these platforms, students can submit questions and receive answers from tutors.
• Numerade, Bartleby, and other databases with standard textbook question sets (and their answers): These sites compile textbook questions and curated answers that students can access.

In some cases, these apps, services, and sites can be genuinely helpful. For example, students can use them without cheating to inform their studies, troubleshoot problems, or conduct research. Many schools also know that low-effort cheating attempts with these services (e.g., AI writing that doesn't answer the prompt, poorly-formatted plagiarism, and incorrectly-applied crowdsourced math solutions) are relatively easy to detect.

In other cases, if a school learns that a student has used these platforms, even without cheating intent, that student could risk a full-blown investigation into their academic integrity.

Retain Attorney Joseph D. Lento to Navigate Stressful Academic Dishonesty Charges

If your student has been accused of using a homework help site or online academic application to support their work a little too much, it's time to get to work.

This is, after all, a slippery slope. The use of online resources to support learning is relatively new. Many schools don't have specific policies prohibiting individual sites or established procedures for determining what is cheating — and what isn't.

That's why you call in an experienced professional in the field of education defense. Attorney Joseph D. Lento has years of experience helping students protect their futures, especially in the face of unsupported misconduct allegations. Reach out to attorney Joseph D. Lento and the Education Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm today to schedule a consultation.