Grammar Guides, Dictionaries, etc.

[Rebecca Carr <rebecca -at- WHITE -dot- SC -dot- TI -dot- COM>]

2-18-98

Tracey:

If you want to start a reference library, I suggest the following
basic references:

"The Chicago Manual of Style"
"The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition"
"The Gregg Reference Manual" - latest edition, ninth I think

If you are dealing with the computer/electronics industry:

"READ ME FIRST: A Style Guide for the Computer Industry" - Sun Technical Pubs
"The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications"
"Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary"
"The Computer Glossary" by Alan Freedman
"The Illustrated Dictionary of Electronics" by Gibilisco

If you are dealing with telecommunications:

"Newton's Telecom Dictionary" - 13th edition (or the whatever is the latest)
        by Harry Newton

These books have really helped me do my job better.

Of course, there are many other publications dealing with specific fields,
such as the "Government Printing Office Style Manual" and the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association and there are other good
dictionaries as well. A search on Amazon.com will yield a variety of
good materials with reviews. The IEEE books are excellent if IEEE
standards are followed in your company, but they are expensive
(The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.). Usually,
a department will buy single copies of IEEE reference books for
everyone on the team to use as needed (and it's a good idea to keep them
in a secure place to keep them from walking off)

Good basic writing references are your first goal, then investigate to see
if there is a style manual/guide for your particular field. If not, look
for materials that use the terminology of your field or are related in some
other way.

Hope this helps.

Becky