That’s right: Homework doesn’t have to be boring busywork—it can actually make a difference in the world. Check out our tips on how you can take your project to the next level:

• Get your project out there. While we’d all love it if our teachers stopped buying Iams products and started eating more veggies, the real power of a project is in getting it out to as many people as possible. Hang it up, read it out loud in class, get it published, share it with your friends—do whatever it takes to get the maximum number of people to see, hear, read, and absorb your work.

• Share links. PETA has a Web site for basically everything. Drill the most appropriate link into the heads of your audience. For instance, you could say, “Learn more about animal testing at StopAnimalTesting.com. At StopAnimalTesting.com, you can see videos of animals being experimented on. StopAnimalTesting.com also has great factsheets. Be sure to check out StopAnimalTesting.com.” You get the idea.

• Give the dirty details. While it is true that “chickens are tortured by KFC,” it may be more effective to go into detail, explaining, “Chickens are crammed by the tens of thousands into sheds that stink of ammonia fumes from accumulated waste; they are barely even given room to move (each bird lives in the amount of space taken up by a standard sheet of paper). They routinely suffer broken bones from being bred to be top heavy, from callous handling (workers roughly grab birds by their legs and stuff them into crates), and from being shackled upside-down at slaughterhouses. Chickens are often still fully conscious as their throats are cut or when they are dumped into tanks of scalding-hot water to remove their feathers. When they’re killed, chickens are still babies, not yet 2 months old, whereas, under natural conditions, chickens can live for up to 15 years.” See the difference?

• Show videos. If possible, show video footage to your class. Also, encourage your audience to visit PETATV.com or MeetYourMeat.com, if appropriate. If you have permission to show videos but don’t have any videos to show, send us an e-mail message at PETA2@peta.org, and we’ll hook you up.

• Handouts are your friends. Whether you use PETA leaflets, your own printouts, or photocopies, distributing handouts is a great way to get information out there. If you’re in need of some materials, send us an e-mail message at PETA2@peta.org. Let us know your address, when you need the stuff, your topic, and the number of students in your class.

• Encourage others to get active. Urge everyone to check out peta2.com and to join the PETA2 Street Team. Not only will they get to help save animals’ lives, they’ll also get free stuff. Sweet deal, eh?

Don’t forget to send a copy of your project to StreetTeam@peta.org in order to get Street Team points when you’re done. We’d love to hear how everything goes.

Keep up the great work and, again, contact us at PETA2@peta.org if you need anything. Just remember to let us know if you have a deadline to meet so that we can be sure to get back to you in time. Good luck!