Tibbo/Gollop

INLS 111: INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES I

School of Information and Library Science

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

DICTIONARIES AND WORD SOURCES SELECTION EXERCISE

Please work in pairs for this exercise. Make sure you thoroughly discuss your answers with your partner. Each pair should pass in one assignment with both names clearly at the top. Answer at least 10 of the following questions. Please turn in your answer sheet in a word processed format. Give the answer to each question, a complete citation as to where you found the information, and any other details about your search, e.g. where you looked unsuccessfully, problems you found with a source Save time: look for each of these items as you examine a given sources.

For questions 1-6 please compare the standard abridged desk dictionaries: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. It is not necessary to use the absolutely newest edition if this is terribly inconvenient. For example the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary is in UL but there is an earlier edition of the Random House College Dictionary in Davis Reference. For questions 9-12, use any of items on the bibliography.

1. In examining the abridged dictionaries, look up 2 slang terms such as cheesecake, fuzz, funky or red-neck, for example, and notice the various treatments.

2. Look up a “strange word,” one you never really understood—and try the dictionaries for clarity and pronunciation.

3. Look up a word you think you know and try the various dictionaries for definitions. Which is the best in providing clarity?

4. Look up a common word like “gun” or “dinner” and figure out the word’s origin and history as described in the various dictionaries.

5. Look up to words very close in meaning—like “sad” and “melancholy,” for example, to see how the dictionaries discriminate?

6. How easy is it to understand the phonetic (pronunciation) system and its explanation in each dictionary?

7. Compare information given in the abridged dictionaries for words looked up in questions 1-4 with that given in the unabridged dictionaries, Random House Dictionary of the English Language or Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language. What are the primary differences?

8. Which major abridged dictionary would you buy if you could only have one? Why?

9. My friend says she calls a rubber band an elastic. What part of the US is she probably from?

10. The Medical Library Association is referred to as MLA. What is another organization known as MLA?

11. Approximately when did the term fink meaning an informer come into the English language?

12. Is there a subject-oriented dictionary that is important to your pathfinder topic? If so, which one? Why? If not, which ones did you consider? You might want to look in Balay or do a search under your subject and the subheading “dictionaries” in the online catalog.