Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Concise Oxford American Thesaurus. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 1 vol. 996 p. $19.95. ISBN 0-19-530485-3; ISBN-13 0-19-530485-3.

Looking up a synonym should not end with finding a word. It requires finding an appropriate synonym. This thesaurus offers the synonym closest in meaning to the entry word first, a “core synonym,” and most entries provide antonyms. The caution in the instructions for using this thesaurus warns, “To avoid inappropriate collocations or embarrassing malapropisms, users should look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary before employing them.” More than 15,000 entries include over 350,000 synonyms with sample sentences or phrases. Entries also tell the part of speech of each word. For some words an inset explanation includes “The Right Word” with a paragraph of explanation concerning which of these “right words” should be used in another context. The appendix is a Language Guide including Rules of English: Understanding Grammar, complete with tips such as “Never ‘double compare’ an adjective.” Students can review how to write a paragraph and how to avoid problems in sentence development. The Guide to Spelling section includes commonly misspelled words. Punctuation tips with examples will be especially helpful to novice writers who would like the information in a condensed form. The final entry, a list of redundant expressions with the superfluous word lined through, will also teach or provide a review for students. This volume will be especially helpful to the librarian and teacher who must explain the use of any thesaurus. It is one of those a librarian can recommend to a parent who asks what to purchase to help their student be a better writer.