How to Use Reference Books

University students and academic professionals will know how to use reference books for citations, writing essays, dissertations and anything else that requires deep researching. Reference books are not so user friendly for people non-academics; however these are extremely important for use in researching and conducting intense studies over specific subjects. The problem arises when new students begin their research on a coursework or dissertation and they do not know how to make good use of the reference books available at their university library.

The first thing that all students should know is what a reference book is. One can recognise a reference book but may find it difficult to define what they are and not use them to their fullest potential. A reference book can be a dictionary, grammar book, phrase book, thesaurus, catalogue, encyclopaedia, atlas, travel guide, bibliography, directory etc. anything that contains factual information and where one can use for obtaining specific information directly rather than reading it through from cover-to-cover.

Reference books in libraries are not always the same as general reference books, with the former referring to books that are not available for borrowing. These are something readers can simply consult with and use in short bursts. Another way of looking at its definition is that it is a book that contains many different entries written for cross referencing as well as citation and page referencing.

Some reference books may or may not contain citations or cross reference pages, whereas reference pages on the internet do contain hyperlinks and citations which the reader can refer to. In a published work the citation and cross-reference is entered by drawing attention to specific works which have been completed by other authors and is constructed so that the publication, date, page number and authors surname are written after the reference in brackets. In essence this is similar to a hyperlink.

How much information one gains out of the reference book is determined by how they use it. The best way to use a reference book is to use it for specific information, underlining vital bits of information and making a note of where the information came from when putting your research into writing. When drawing up a bibliography, index page and making references within your essays, you must always record where the information was obtained so as to avoid being penalised for plagiarism. Rather than reading the book from cover-to-cover it is best to use them in short bursts, as and when you need to look up specific information. If you are using reference work on the web it is always best to save the link onto your favourites list and make a note of the domain name and webmaster for your own referencing.

Gino Hitshopi is knowledgeable on how to use reference books having had experience using them when studying at university. For more information visit http://www.gale.cengage.co.uk