With many schools demanding that elements of homework should involve online
research, computers have never been so important for students. Most courses also
require printed assignments rather than handwriting. Microsoft Student 2006 offers the resources of Encarta and some useful tools and templates for Microsoft Office XP or 2003.

Starting Student 2006 for the first time displays a list of subjects along with an option to download or amend any Encarta articles from the internet. A year’s subscription is included for updating Encarta but registration is required. It costs £20 a year thereafter to use the service.

Clicking on a subject opens a menu with related content and tools. It’s possible to search for articles by a specific curriculum and this UK version covers Key Stage 3,GCSE, AS Level and A Level.

A search toolbar, for finding information on particular topics, is always visible at the top of the screen.

There are plenty of multimedia clips to accompany the topics, including 23 videos from the Discovery Channel. The Encarta Dictionary includes a thesaurus and translation tools for four languages.

The real jewel of Student 2006 is the Learning Essentials section, although you
have to install it manually from the main menu. This is a collection of project
templates for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The biggest benefit here is the Project
Assistance window that appears with each document. It offers a very useful checklist for students when working through an essay or presentation.

As a package for schoolchildren, Student 2006 is very helpful. It introduces
the notion of research and aids in the production of projects, essays and presentations.