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SOLs: Language Arts 6.3, 7.7, 8.9

Four Types of Reference Materials

Encyclopedia Atlas Dictionary Thesaurus Almanac Special Encyclopedia Scholarly Journals/ Magazines

Encyclopedia

Why do we use encyclopedias? An encyclopedia is used when someone wants

to find information about a person, place, or thing.

You may want to find out information about George Washington. You can learn about him from reading information in an encyclopedia.

Encyclopedias cover most topics Encyclopedias are arranged in volumes in

alphabetical order containing entries in alphabetical order

Atlas

An atlas is a map. If you want to find a specific place,

street, road, city, or state. Many people use an atlas when they

are going on vacation, traveling to another place, or looking up information about another country’s geography

Most atlases have indexes

Dictionary

We use a dictionary to look up words. You will find the meaning of words in a

dictionary. Dictionaries also have information on the word’s

part of speech, pronunciation, usage, plural and other forms

In a paper dictionary, guide words on the tops of the pages direct you to the correct page for your word

Words in the dictionary are listed in alphabetical order

Thesaurus

In a thesaurus, you will find synonyms for words.

First, you look up the word in the thesaurus. Next to the word you will find a list of words that mean the same things as the word you looked up.

Also in a thesaurus you will find an antonym for the word.

On-line thesauri often list the definition and part of speech of the word as well

Words in the thesaurus are listed in alphabetical order

Special Encyclopedias

Special encyclopedias focus on one subject instead of many like a standard encyclopedia.

Special encyclopedias exist for biography, religion, wars, and many other subjects.

There are also special dictionaries Topics in Special Encyclopedias are usually

listed in alphabetical order. If they are not, the Special Encyclopedia will have an index that will direct the user

Almanacs Benjamin Franklin created the first popular

almanac, Poor Richard’s Almanac. Almanacs are published yearly. Some almanacs contain mostly weather, tide,

and planting information. Others have this and listing information, such as academy award winners, sports’ teams records and players, and information about the government and other countries.

Often this information is written in table form. Use the index in the back to locate information

in an almanac

Magazines/ scholarly journals

Another word for magazines and journals is periodicals.

Scholarly journals are magazines or booklets that come out in regular intervals and are created by colleges, universities, and professional organizations.

Magazines are published at regular intervals by different organizations

These sources usually have tables of contents that are used to find articles. Some have indexes.

Do you know?

For the next couple of slides I will describe a situation. You must decide what type of reference material would be used in this situation.

Do you know what reference material to use?

Challenge Question One

My teacher has assigned a report on the ancient China. I need to find information on foot binding and where the practice began. Where would I find this type of information?

Answer

EncyclopediaYou should look under China and there may be an entry for foot binding

Challenge QuestionNumber Two

My family is planning a vacation to Washington DC in the spring for the National Kite Festival. Where should we look to find the quickest route from Hampton to DC?

Answer

Atlas

Great Work!!!!

Challenge QuestionNumber Three

Jimmy is reading a book and comes across the word arid. Where should Jimmy look to find the meaning of the word?

Answer

Dictionary

Fantastic!!!!!

Challenge Question Number Four

I am writing a story about wildebeest. I want to describe them as great, but I want to find another word to use instead of saying great. Where can I find a word that means the same? What reference material would I use to find this information?

Answer

Thesaurus

Wonderful Job!!!!

Challenge Question Number Five

Jane is working on a research paper for her class. She is trying to find information about where people who left Sudan travelled. First, she must find out where Sudan is located and what countries surround it.

What reference material would she use for this report?

Answer

Atlas

Fantastic Job!!!!

Challenge Question Number Six

Nuckie wants to know what the score was at last year’s Super Bowl. Where is he most likely to find that information?

Answer

AlmanacExcellent Job!!!!!

Challenge Question Number 7

Sookie is doing a report about refugee camps in Africa. She heard that Stanford University recently conducted a study on the safety of refugee camps.

Where would be the best place for Sookie to look to find the study?

A scholarly journal published by Stanford University

Fabulosity!

Reference Materials

Reference materials like encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, thesaurus, almanacs, and scholarly journals help us find information.

It would be hard to find the information we need without these materials.

The internet has all of these reference materials. Sometimes they are easier to use than the paper version.