Reference Materials

Types of Reference Materials Encyclopedia Atlas Dictionary Thesaurus Almanac Newspapers Phone books

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.

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 or traveling to another place.

Dictionary We use a dictionary to look up words. You will find the meaning of words in a dictionary. For example, when you do not know the meaning of a word in a story. You may use a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word.

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. Like wonderful –great, magnificent, excellent, terrific, cool, and fantastic Also in a thesaurus you will find an antonym for the word. Like horrible or awful would be an antonym for wonderful.

Almanac An almanac is published yearly. It contains weather forecasts, gardening tips, Olympic game results. The Table of Contents or Index will guide you to the information you are looking for.

Newspaper A newspaper is published daily or weekly. It contains current news, articles, advertisements and local items for sale, rent or lost.

Phone Book A phone book lists names of people and businesses. If you are looking for your Aunt Sue’s phone number, you may find it in the phone book.

Let’s see what you know! The new few slides will describe a situation. You must decide what type of reference material would be used in each situation. Do you know what reference material to use?

Challenge Question One My teacher has assigned a report on the country of Mexico. I need to find information on when the country began and who lived there in ancient times. Where would I find this type of information?

Answer Encyclopedia Great Job!!!

Challenge Question Number Two My family is planning a vacation to Florida. We are going to Universal Studios. I am so excited! My father is trying to decide what interstate he needs to take. Or how to get there from Tennessee? What reference material should he use to find this information?

Answer Atlas Great Work!!!!

Challenge Question Number Three Jimmy is working on writing a sentence with each of his spelling words. He comes to a word he does not know. What reference material would I use to find this information?

Answer Dictionary Fantastic!!!!!

Challenge Question Four My dog needs a hair cut. I need to contact a dog groomer in the town where I live. What reference material would I use to find this information?

Answer Phone book Great Job!!!

Challenge Question Number Five I am writing a story about my experience at summer camp. I want to find another word to use instead of saying great. Where can I find a word that means the same as great?

Answer Thesaurus Wonderful Job!!!!

Challenge Question Number Seven Jane is working on a research paper for her third grade class. She is trying to find information about how people in France celebrate Christmas. First, she must find out where her country is located and some of the major cities. What reference material would she use for this report?

Answer Atlas Encyclopedia Fantastic Job!!!!

Challenge Question Number Eight Tracy is learning new vocabulary that goes along with her reading story for this week. Her teacher has explained the word to the class. Tracy would like to find another word that means the same as the vocabulary word she is working on. What reference material should Tracy use to find a synonym for this word?

Answer Thesaurus Excellent Job!!!!!

Challenge Question Number Nine Amanda is wanting to plant her first garden. She needs to know the best time to plant potatoes in the region where she lives. What reference material will she use to locate this information?

Answer Almanac Excellent Job!!!!!

Reference Materials Reference materials like encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and thesaurus, almanacs, newspapers, and even phone books 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. So, if you don’t have these materials at home, you could find them on your computer if you have internet access.