Reference Materials To work efficiently in today’s office, it is necessary to know where to find many kinds of information. therefore, it is very important that office workers know what kinds of reference materials have the information needed and how to use those resources. Even though many word processors have spell checkers and automatic hyphenation, office workers still must make the final decision on accuracy. A word division manual is a quick reference for spelling and word division. Because it does not have definitions of the words, it is smaller and quicker to use than a dictionary. A dictionary may be used to look up words that are not found in a word division manual. It gives not only divisions of words but also definitions, pronunciations, and derivations. A thesaurus is a book that can be used to find words of similar meanings (synonyms). If you are using the same word too many times in a letter or report, replacements can be found in thesaurus. Some word processors have their own thesauruses to suggest substitutes for overused words in a document. an additional reference for synonyms s a crossword puzzle dictionary. The obvious use for a ZIP Code directory is to find the correct ZIP codes for addressing mail. another important use, however is to find the correct spelling of cities and towns that are not listed in a dictionary. An atlas is a book of maps and mileage tables. this information can be used for making telephone calls to other time zones, planning trips, making itineraries, or working with various real estate transactions. An office reference manual is a necessity for any office worker. it covers such topics as grammar, usage, and style; business correspondence guidelines; dictation nd keyboarding techniques; word division; and abbreviations. Solutions to most of the day-to-day problems of an office worker can be found in a reference manual.