How To Ask Questions the Smart Way by Eric Raymond
www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

How to Report Bugs Effectively
by Simon Tatham, professional and free-software programmer
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html

These two articles are technical at times but their philosophical points are well taken by all of us. When we are asking for help from teachers or classmates, there are communication principles that help the process a lot. The two articles above will point you on the right direction.
Richard