Which type of references do you prefer?

Depends, if it's

anything to do with words it's a dictionary. When translating a thesaurus. Anything else an encyclopedia. Almanacs are only

for sports fans.

I use all of the

suggested items except an almanac. I have ~ at the ready ~ a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia and an atlas. Oh yeah, my

book of quotes, too!!

P. S. I use the net

as a last resort.

Hey Rae


Is there a good reason you use the Net as a last and not a first?
I must say that I use the Net first, and My

references to confirm my findings. This was only recent though, as I have always found it quicker to find it in books. Now

however that my navigation skills have improved, I can find it just as fast and effectively.

Hi Douglas, (my

son's name, too ~ wonder if you know that?)

The reason I use the net as a last resort is because of family

history/conflict ~ even stronger is my desire to see an explanation/definition/summary in print. The net is a great resource

~ but, the old stand-by's haven't gone anywhere and I trust them more than the internet. I'm a Capricorn, too ~ the Bull

is a strong influence! Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn.....

Well I do now, Good

choice for a name.
How old is he?

I to trust my books more than the Net there is no doubt about that. There is too

much "crap" on the Net and it is often more unreliable but there are times that you get what you want and which would have

seemed to be a lot harder by conventional method. I suppose I can only say the they should all be sources of reference but

that you must learn the confinds of your source. I too will never let my books get dusty.

My Douglas will be fourteen in February. He's a great kid ~ I'm a lucky

Mom.

In addition to being stubborn, I am impatient. I can't be bothered running a search, choosing a link, clicking

on the link, trying to find the info.....

I know exactly where to go with my reference books ~ and I'm not bombarded

with possible biased opinions.

The name Douglas has

been passed down to me, and I am the 3rd Douglas in the family. i have a lot to live up to. It's nice to know that someone

out there is helping me carry the touch. May he make us both proud.

As for the reference, I do so agree with you on

this one. The net slows you down and reference with books, we have a life time of experience with and find only what you

seek

P.S what does Douglas want to be ?

Douglas is named

after his dad, but they have different middle names, because I didn't want him to be dubbed 'junior'. And, at close to

six feet tall, almost two hundred pounds, he is definitely NOT a junior!

He doesn't have anything set in stone as far

as a career goes ~ he is more focused right now on getting a good education to ensure a well paying career when he's ready.

He does, however, want to play football in college.....preferably for the University of Florida.

He's in the gifted

program for math and science and he's doing very well. He struggles, but he's struggling with concepts two years ahead of

his peers.

Goodness, I can ramble!

Oh yeah, he likes to play chess, too!!

Sounds like the kid

I'd want to have Rae!

Say hi to him for me.

Proud

Mom

I will pass along the hello. (He still asks for you often.)

I find that I am

usng reference books less and less, and the net more and more.

I think that as people become more and more adept at

using the net, they can quickly separate the wheat from the chaff.

I use books for

non-English research. The net is still a very AMerican phebomenon so whenever I have to research things that American

webmasters won't put online I use books.

Well, Jeshpah, I am

surprised that your question was only featuring written reference sources. To me, I would have thought it was obvious to add

into the poll "knowledgeable person", Radio (like NPR or other news/talk/weather format), TV, the Net in general, or a

specific Net site or Net referral site.

So, to answer the poll, I had to select "encyclopedia" because it was the only

one of the group where I could ALSO get the information that the other referene sources contained, and get it in context for

a broader comprehension.

In general terms, I think jespah was right on the mark for her survey. When I

hear the word 'reference', I automatically think of books ~ something tangible.

I secound

that.


With the word "reference" I envision large volumes of encyclpedia's,

colums filled with books that are all identical in apearence but in contents, has the world on a page. "books" "books"

"books". That's what i see.

Me, too, Pharon.....Thanks.

I chose "encyclopedia" too, but I think that my concept of great references is changing. I am becoming more and more dependent on, shall we call them, "E-References".

In the past, if I wanted to look up medical or other specialized information, I had to go either to a university, or the local medical society. Now I just click away on my computer. I think that the internet has become a giant reference book. The only problem is that you need to learn to discern the gold from the trash.

I picked almanac, but the real joy is looking up a word in a dictionary and stumbling across so many other interesting words.