Information Seeking Strategies
Big6 #2 (pg. 5)

Reference Books

Dictionaries

  A dictionary tells you what words mean and how to spell them.   You can find a word because they are placed in alphabetical order.   A dictionary also tells you what part of speech the word is, how to pronounce it, and sometimes has tables of other information in the front and back (such as weights and measures, etc.)

  You can find dictionaries in many languages, and dictionaries that include another language with English.   In this kind of dictionary, you can look up a word and see what it is in another language.   

  Dictionaries usually have a 423 call number. 

  There are also many specialized dictionaries.   These emphasize a certain subject, like Birds or Art.