Every writer’s desk should have a dictionary-thesaurus, a style guide, and a book of quotations. When I started writing for publication, I was told that I needed one dictionary and style guide for book publishing and a different set for newspaper style. OK, that’s four books already. The writer’s desk gets cluttered in a hurry if he or she tries to have all the “essential” references on hand. And—don’t forget, you have to update them every few years when the newest edition comes out.

If you’re a Wired Writer, though, your desk doesn’t have to be so cluttered. Much of what you need can be found online now. Some reference resources are free, while others might require an annual membership, but it might be worth it if it means you can have your reference works on hand wherever you and your computer are. In future posts, I’ll share information on other online reference works, but, for today, let’s concentrate on dictionaries.

Dictionary.comdictionary_logo

Most of the time, I use www.dictionary.com (free) which includes a thesaurus, a research tab, a translate tab, and a web search. A dictionary search brings up the definitions from several dictionaries like Random House, American Heritage, and others.

The thesaurus tab is the most useful for me. For example, I used it to search the word “excited” while I was writing this post on Kentucky Christian Writers Conference blog. When I started writing that post, I was a bit stuck as to how to convey how “excited” I was about our plans for 2009. Once I obtained the list of synonyms, the words started to come, and I ended up with an entertaining post for our readers.

Merriam-Webster

Keep in mind that most book publishers prefer that you use Merhdr_mw_logo_areariam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition, 2003), while newspapers and magazines mostly use Webster’s New World College Dictionary (2004). Merriam-Webster is online, featuring dictionary, thesaurus, Spanish-English, and medical search tabs in the free services. (Update: 10-17-09. The online version is now the unabridged dictionary, not the version used by book or magazine publishers). However, to have access to everything that’s offered, you must pay annual subscription fees. Also accessible from the M-W site is Encyclopedia Britannica. The learner’s dictionary portion is targeted to those learning English as a second language. Daily updates include a Word of the Day, a podcast, a crossword puzzle, and much more.

What’s best for you? Although I like Dictionary.com’s thesaurus feature much better than M-W’s, I probably should make an effort to use M-W. Since it’s the industry standard, I recommend Merriam-Webster, especially for writers new to publishing. BecauseI have the print versions of the dictionaries, I probably won’t lay out the cash for subscriptions any time soon. However, when the time comes for the new edition of the print versions, I’ll probably choose the online membership instead, just to keep my desk neat!