Suggested Reference Works
Barber, Katherine, ed. Canadian Oxford Dictionary.
2nd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, Canada, 2004.
A dictionary focussing specifically on Canadian spelling,
usage and pronunciation. It includes encyclopedic explanations
for many entries. The primary source for spelling for
Industry Canada publications.
Benson, Morton, et al. The BBI
Dictionary of English Word Combinations. Philadelphia:
John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1997. A guide to English
phrases and word combinations, especially useful to
people whose first language is not English.
Canada. Dundurn Press Limited and Public Works and
Government Services Canada. The Canadian Style: A
Guide to Writing and Editing. Toronto: Dundurn Press
Limited, 1997. The standard style guide for most Canadian
federal organizations.
Canada. Human Resources Development Canada. Plain
Language: Clear and Simple. Ottawa: Canada Communication
Group — Publishing, 1996. A practical guide to
the basic points in plain language writing.
De Wolf, Gaelan Dodds, et al. Gage
Canadian Dictionary. Revised and expanded ed. Toronto:
Gage Educational Publishing Company, 2000.
Editors' Association of Canada. Editing Canadian
English. 2nd ed. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter &
Ross, 2000. A style guide specifically concerned with
style and idiosyncrasies for Canadian English.
Fee, Margery, and Janice McAlpine. Guide to Canadian
English Usage. Toronto: Oxford University Press
Canada, 2001. A useful reference for grammar and word
usage, specifically oriented toward a Canadian audience.
Kilian, Crawford. Writing for the Web. North
Vancouver, B.C.: Self-Counsel Press, 1999. Practical
advice on how to organize and write text for the Web.
Sabin, William A., et al. The Gregg Reference Manual.
7th Canadian ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited,
2006. A well-organized and detailed reference for questions
of style and grammar.
Strunk, William, Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements
of Style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing
Co., 1995. A classic guide to good writing style; The
Elements of Style, first edition was published
in 1918.
Tasko, Patti, ed. The Canadian
Press Stylebook. 13th ed. Toronto: The Canadian
Press, 2004. A guide for journalists, outlining the
style preferred by Canada's national co-operative news
agency — good for questions of word usage, terminology
and grammar, but not to be used as a primary
source for style for Industry Canada media-related
communications products.
University of Chicago Press. The
Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2003. An extremely thorough resource
for writers, editors and publishers — almost too
detailed for easy reference, but contains information
on every step of the publishing process, from the elements
of good writing style to the mechanics of typesetting
and printing.
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A Word on the Internet as a Resource
The Internet can be a valuable information resource,
and many excellent dictionaries and style guides
are now available online in their entirety. The
Internet is not, however, in itself the most reliable
source for terminology because of the explosion
of websites and electronic documents, and the
relative lack of quality control (i.e. just because
it's online doesn't mean it's right).
Your best terminological reference is always a good print dictionary or the TERMIUM Plus® linguistic data bank, which contains more than 3.5 million terms and titles in both English and French, covering a wide range of fields.
Another fun and informative resource is The
Language Nook of the Government of Canada,
a dynamic self-learning tool developed by the
Translation Bureau to help you improve your knowledge
of both official languages.
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