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5.31: Video: Using Reference Tools

  • Page ID
    59335
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    The Dictionary

    With so many different dictionary options out there, this video offers good advice in finding one that fits your personal needs.  Though this video only addresses print dictionaries, the same principles apply to online dictionaries, as well.

    An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/itcc/?p=182

    Click here to download a full transcript of this video.

    The Thesaurus

    Illustration of a dinosaur labeled "Thesaurus" holding a book and yelling. Words around it include Meteor! Comet! Fireball! Asteroid! End of time! Falling Star!

    Unlike a dictionary, a thesaurus will not provide a definition of the word you look up.  Instead, it offers a collection of synonyms–words with similar meanings.  It may also offer a list of antonyms–words with opposite meanings.

    Sometimes reading a dictionary definition for a word only gets us partial understanding of a word, especially if we encounter it used in a new way in our reading.  Checking a thesaurus for that word will help us develop a broader sense of how the word might be applied in this particular situation.

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    This page titled 5.31: Video: Using Reference Tools is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lumen Learning.

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