I'm pretty noobish when it comes to scanning... I've scanned in a few random things over the years, but none really were of that great quality. I recently purchased a new scanner and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations as far as software & tips for a beginner? - Thanks!

what brand scanner do you have?

As for me i use photoshop but for the actual scanning i use the software that comes with it, then it imports into Photoshop.

For scanning in, scan in at a high resolution, around 600dpi or higher, then you can scale it down in image editing software and it usually produces high q uality scans

I don't have any software recomendations...
I too, like speedfreek19 uses the software that comes with the scanner and then clean up the scan in photoshop... and the tips i could offer is the same as the one speedfreek19 gave... scanning it at a high resolution of 600 dpi and above and then scale it down using photoshop...
try experimenting with the software, like, maybe scanning a similar picture at different scan setting (e.g. sharpen scan etc..) and then comparing the outcome...
from my personal experience (a short one), the 'sharpen scan' feature of the software i use, ruins pencil drawings...

Thanks! I'll try messing around with stuff in photoshop instead of trying to have the scanner software do it for me