A common topic brought up by editors regards what type of reference books to use. There are threads all over the internet (what can I say–editors can be pretty nerdy) with recommendations for reference books. Here are what I find to be the most popular:

DICTIONARY

• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate
• American Heritage College
• Random House Webster’s College
• Webster’s New World

STYLE MANUAL

• The Chicago Manual of Style
• Words into Type
• The New York Public Library Writer’s Guide to Style and Usage
• Gregg Reference Manual
• Associated Press Stylebook (used mostly by newspapers and magazines)
• Modern Language Association (used mostly by writers in the humanities)

THESAURUS

• Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms
• Random House Webster’s College Thesaurus
• Rodale’s Synonym Finder
• Roget’s International Thesaurus

USAGE GUIDES

• Dictionary of Modern English Usage
• The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage
• Modern American Usage: A Guide
• Fowler’s Modern English Usage (3d ed.)
• Garner’s Modern American Usage (3d ed.)

EXTRA

• Language Dictionaries
• The Bible (you might have to pay attention to the various translations)
• Barlett’s Familiar Quotations
• The Copyeditor’s Handbook by Amy Einsohn