Bryan:
You sound like you could use a basic understanding of electrical wiring.
Before you start doing any switches or recepticles, take a read through the following two posts I wrote for people on other forums:
Welcome to 220 volts, class 101:
The wires that run overhead to your house carry 220 volt power. That 220 volt power is delivered via two power lines and a neutral wire. The two power lines each carry 110 volts AC, but they are "out of phase" by 180 degrees. That is, when one power line is at +110 volts with respect to the white neutral wire, the other power line will be at -110 volts with respect to the white neutral wire, and vice versa. So the voltage you would measure between the two power supply lines would be 220 volts AC. On appliance wiring diagrams, the two power lines will typically be called "L1" and "L2" for "Line 1" and "Line 2". In practice, Line 1 and Line 2 will ALWAYS be the red and black wires (meaning the insulation on them will be red or black in color), and the neutral wire is ALWAYS white. Grounding wires will be green or bare (with no insulation).
The standard 110 volt circuits for the ceiling lights or electric outlets in your house are made by connecting those circuits between the white neutral wire and EITHER the main red wire OR the main black wire coming into your house. All of those connections are made in your electrical panel and a fuse or circuit breaker is provided for each such circuit in your house. So, some of the 110 volt circuits in your house that go to lights or electric outlets are powered by the red wire, and some are powered by the black wire. As long as the circuit is between the red wire and the white wire, or between the black wire and the white wire, you have a 110 volt AC circuit. If you put a 15 amp fuse or breaker on that 110 volt circuit in the panel, then you have a 110 volt 15 amp circuit, and normally the circuits going to the lights, ceiling fans and electrical outlets in your house will be 110 volt 15 amp circuits.
220 volt circuits for the house's electric stove and electric clothes dryer are made by connecting the circuit between the main black and red wires at the electrical panel. Both the red and black wires carry 110 volts AC with respect the the white neutral wire, but because they're 180 degrees out of phase, there's 220 volts AC between the red and black wires. So, if you connect a circuit between the main black and main red wire going into the house, then you have a 220 volt circuit. If you're wiring a range, you normally need a 50 amp circuit, which requires a 50 amp breaker on BOTH the red and black wires going to the range. If you're wiring an electric dryer, you need a 30 amp circuit, so that means you must have 30 amp breakers on both the red and black wires going to the dryer. The fuses and breakers that control the current through every circuit are located inside your house's electrical panel.
When you open a typical electrical panel you'll notice that the fuses or circuit breakers are typically arranged in two vertical rows; one on each side of the panel. Do not assume that one side of the panel is for tapping off the red power line and the other is for tapping off the black power line. The buss bars inside the electrical panel determine what gets connected where, and often breaker positions above one another on the same side of the panel will be connected to opposite voltage sources. This is done so that the circuit breakers can be "ganged together" so that you can't flip the breaker off to one power line going to a stove or dryer without turning the power off to BOTH power lines. In Manitoba, where I live, the electrical code requires that circuit breakers for 220V appliances be "ganged" together in this way for safety reasons.
The technically incorrect but easiest way to think about this is that the power comes "in" on the red and black wires and goes out on the white wire. Obviously it doesn't, but that way of thinking about it will at least help you better understand house and appliance wiring and the reasons behind doing certain things certain ways. For example, there is a standard wiring convention when wiring 110 volt electrical outlets. You will notice that the screw connections on one side of the duplex receptacle will be chrome plated, whereas those on the other side will be bare brass. Always connect the light coloured wire (white) to the light coloured screw (chrome plated), and the dark coloured wire (red or black) to the dark coloured screw (bare brass). If homeowners, electricians and appliance manufacturers all follow this wiring convention, that will ensure that the on/off switch for 110 VAC appliances will always be on the power supply wire (that is, the red or black wire). And, this is important from a safety perspective because it ensures that the on/off switch will shut off power from coming into the appliance. Before both electrical plugs and receptacles were "polarized", both the prongs on a plug and the slots in a receptacle were the same size. So, you could plug a 110 VAC appliance into a receptacle with the plug either right side up or upside down. The appliance would work equally well either way. However, in one of these positions the on/off switch of the appliance would be on the power supply wire and would shut off the power going into the appliance. In the other position, the on/off switch would be on the white wire and would shut off the power coming out of the appliance. So, if there were a short circuit in the appliance, having the switch on the power supply wire would ensure that there would be no power in the appliance when the switch was in the off position. But, if the plug was upside down, and the on/off switch were on the white wire, then there would ALWAYS be power in the appliance as long as it was plugged in, and you could still get a shock from the appliance even if it was turned off. That's cuz the switch is now only preventing power from leaving the appliance via the white wire. The power can still come into the appliance via the black or red power supply wire and leave the appliance via some other route, like through YOUR BODY!!! Thus, if you happened to be turning a faucet off while you were handling a faulty toaster, you could end up getting 110 volts at 15 amps across your heart even if the toaster was off at the time. Thus, by sticking to this dark wire/dark screw wiring convention, we always end up with the switch on the power supply line, and that keeps things safe.
There is also a standard wiring convention used when wiring the plugs, receptacles and terminal blocks of 220 volt appliances, all of which will have provision for connecting THREE wires as well as a ground wire. Normally the ground wire terminal will be easy to identify because it will be grounded to the electrical box by an electrical conductor, and the remaining three connection points for the red, white and black wires will be arranged in a row. The wiring convention is that the white neutral wire is ALWAYS connected to the middle terminal in that row of three connection sites, and the red and black wires are connected on either side of it. It doesn't matter which side you connect the red or the black wires to, as long as the white is in the middle and the red and black are on the outside, you're good to go. If your stove or dryer doesn't come with a cord and you want to connect one to the terminal block of the appliance, the same rule applies, namely "white in the middle, black and red on the outside". If you're wanting to wire a receptacle for a stove or electric dryer, then again, the same rule applies. First identify the ground wire terminal, and the remaining three connection points will be for the red, white and black wires and they should be arranged in a recognizable "row". Always connect the white in the middle of those three sites and the red and black on either side of the white. This point has now been officially hammered into your head; white in the middle, black and red on either side.
Every dryer cord will have 4 prongs sticking out of it. The straight ones are for the red and black wires, the "L" shaped one is for the white wire and the round one is for the ground wire. Range cords also have 4 prongs, but they will use 3 straight prongs for the red, black and white wires and a round one for the ground wire. Configuring the plug and receptacle differently (with an "L" shaped prong instead of a straight one) is done so you can't stick a 30 amp dryer plug into a 50 amp range receptacle or vice versa.