As much as we hate to admit it, we writers don’t know everything. Don’t roll your eyes - you know it’s true. Or, if you insist that you do know everything, perhaps you occassionally forget how to correctly way to cite a source, or the exact definition of a word. Below are the most basic freelance writer reference tools to help you cope - you can buy them or find them for free online!

1. Get yourself a dictionary. As if you don’t already have one. What’s that? You don’t? Well, lucky you - Dictionary.com provides an absolutely free dictionary service.

2. Get yourself a thesauraus. Dictionary.com provides an absolutely free thesaurus service, too.

3. Build your collection of writer references. Because you’re a freelance writer, you may find yourself working on a variety of different types of writing gigs, so invest in a few writer references that will help you with MLA, AP, and Chicago style as well as correct grammar.

Free online resources include The University of Illinois’ MLA Citation Styles Handbook, Ohio State University’s Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide, the University of Texas’ Quick AP Style Reference, and Webgrammar.

4. Have a list of writer markets handy. Lucky you if you have a pretty steady freelance writing career; however, some of us need those extra writing gigs from time to time. If you’re not in a position to order an updated book of writer markets, you can always bookmark the list of job markets on the right-side navigation bar. I use them religiously.

Have any more suggestions? Leave them in the comments!