PLUG-INs Information Literacy

@ Fujariah Colleges

DICTIONARIES & THESAURIIn Print

Dictionaries are very

important books for students.

The meaning of a word is called the

“definition.”

They help students find the meaning

of words.

Dictionaries tell you if a word is noun, verb or

other part of speech.

Dictionaries also help you

find the correct spelling of a

word.

Dictionaries show you

how to pronounce a

word.

There are many

different kinds of

dictionaries.

Some dictionaries are in English only.

Some dictionaries have 2 different languages like

English & Arabic or English & French.

Some dictionaries only have

words about a special

subject.

For example, a business

dictionary has words only about

business.

There are computer

dictionaries, art dictionaries,

medical dictionaries & many others.

For example, a list of countries with

the capital cities or irregular verbs.

Some dictionaries have special lists of words.

Some dictionaries

have pictures or photos.

At the top of each page,

there are “guidewords.”

A guideword tells you what the first and last words on the page are.

In a dictionary, words are in alphabetical

order.

Here is an example of a page with the guidewords :

hundredth & hurt

Think about this example: if the first guideword is “take” . . .

you know that “talk” will be on

that page. T-A-L comes after T-A-K but before

T-I.

and the other guideword is “time” . . .

Another example: if the first guideword is “cake” . . .

And the other guideword is “come” . . .

Will “chocolate” be on the

page ?

Yes, because “chocolate C-H” comes after “cake C A” but

before “come C O.”

Think of some

examples using words you know.

Now we will talk about a book

called a Thesaurus.

What is this strange word,

thesaurus?

Is it a dinosaur ?

No ! A thesaurus is similar to a dictionary but it only lists words with similar meanings.

By the way, the plural of

thesaurus is thesauri. It is

irregular.

Here is an example an entry in

a thesaurus:

big, large, enormous,

huge

These words are called synonyms

or near-synonyms. They have very

similar meanings.

Or: small, little,

tiny, miniature

Sometimes, a thesaurus also lists words with

opposite meanings.

For example :rich-poor

expensive-cheapsmart-stupid

These words are called antonyms.

Words in a thesaurus are listed

by the subject or idea.

Sometimes the subjects are in alphabetical

order.

Sometimes, subjects are

listed by number.

Here are 2 pages of a thesaurus with

guidewords : mind & money

There are dictionaries and thesauri online

from a computer.

We will learn more about the

databases in another Plug In

lesson.

From library.hct.ac.

ae click on Resources ,

then Databases

and e-books

I hope this helps you understand

how to use a dictionary & a

thesaurus.

Read your dictionary & thesaurus everyday.

These books are a

student’s best friends.

Ask your teacher or your friendly librarian

if you have any questions.

HAPPY READING !