Reference Works

When writing any scholarly text, good language reference is indispensable. In this article, I want to present a few such works some of which you might not have felt the need to use (probably because you never bothered to check what it's for) or you might even never have come across.

• Spelling/Meaning:
  Of course, a good general dictionary is essential. Not only does it help you with the spelling, but you should also consult it if you are unsure about the precise meaning of a word. And it will also give you somme essential grammatical information (inflexion, gender).
  • English: Personally, I like to use the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, although I couldn't say why it's better than any other dictionary out there. The information it provides includes spelling, grammar, basic collocations, idioms, register and differences between British and American English
  • German: Usually, a good spelling dictionary (e.g. Duden – Die deutsche Rechtschreibung) will do. It will help you with spelling, grammar and usually with meaning. Sometimes, though, this needs to be complemented by a dictionary of foreign words (e.g. Duden – Das Fremdwörterbuch). And especially non-native speaker might want to use a meaning dictionary (like Duden – Das Bedeutungswörterbuch or Deutsches Universalwörterbuch), because the spelling dictionary only provides meanings for less common words, and these tend to be quite brief.
• Synonyms:
  Another work I consult very often is a thesaurus. The thesaurus is sometimes said to produce bad or pretentious writing, but of course you are not supposed to use it to look for fancier-sounding equivalents of the word you were going to use. It often helps me find a more suitable word than the one I first thought of, and I would never use a word I don't know without at least looking up its precise meaning in another dictionary first.
  • English: I use Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus. It's the only one I know, and probably the most widely used.
  • German: I use Duden – Das Synonymwörterbuch; I have never tried any other.
• Word combinations:
  A  type of dictionary I discovered quite late and that is suitable especially for non-native speakers is the collocations dictionary. It tells you how words can be combined. What do you do with a survey? Oh, yes conduct or just carry out. What preposition goes after indication? Oh yes, it's of, and for goes after indicator. What do you call it when there is a lot of traffic? Is it strong? Ooops, no, it can be busy, congested, heavy or thick.
  • English: I like  the Oxford Collocations Dictionary (the BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations is supposed to be equally good, but I've never used it). 
  • German: Duden – Das Stilwörterbuch is the only one I know. It also gives you information on idioms and register.
• Usage:
  Also aimed mainly at non-native speakers, usage dictionaries will give you advice on all sorts of problems that might come up, especially with commonly made mistakes.
  • English: I recently bought Practical English Usage. I can't tell you is it's useful, because I haven't actually used it yet, just browsing in it is quite interesting. Beside entries for single words, it has grammar-related entries, entries comparing similar expressions (e.g. thankful and grateful, whether and if), entries on expressing certain things (e.g. telling the time) and many others.
  • German: Duden – Richtiges und gutes Deutsch provides similar information. The entries tend to be shorter and to concentrate on single words, but there are also some articles on grammar and special topics like the usage of numbers or names.
• Grammar:
  A work I don't use quite as often but like to have at hand is a grammar.
  • English: I use the Longman English Grammar; it's concise, and I usually find what I'm looking for.
  • German: I use Duden – Die Grammatik, which is very comprehensive. Schülerduden Grammatik is more accessible and supposed to be sufficient for everyday writing needs.