The phrase "a work of reference" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a book or resource that provides information or facts, typically for consultation rather than for reading straight through.
Example: "The encyclopedia is a valuable work of reference for students conducting research on various topics."
Alternatives: "reference book" or "source of information".
They were drawn because, for a work of reference, Wikipedia seemed unusually humble.
Now, though, reproduced in this new format as a work of reference, he has been pleased to see it reappear.
Though he thought it among his finest works, for many its accounts of bygone bureaucratic battles and reliance on internal memos render it a work of reference only.
The strength and weakness of Partridge's lexicon was always his willingness to include his opinions in what presented itself as a work of reference.
It was meant to showcase Spain's royal academy of history and provide a work of reference for libraries across the country.
There were frequent references to volumes and pages of the 11th edition, but the 12th edition was also intended to stand alone as a work of reference to the 12 years from 1910 to 1921.
These have become a standard work of reference for generations of German students.
His magisterial book on understandings of colour in western art, Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction (1993), has become a standard work of reference.
Now, these two distinguished scholars of Hispanic America, Vicki L. Ruiz and Virginia Sanchez Korrol, are joining forces to produce a new work of reference, Latinas in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia.
After moving permanently to London in 1760, Stubbs etched the plates for Anatomy of the Horse (1766), which became a major work of reference for naturalists and artists alike.
Now, leapfrogging the volumes for the 18th and 19th centuries, comes, chronologically, the final one, covering the 20th century.It is an impressive work of reference, accompanied by a 57-page bibliography and handy biographical sketches of 180 leading thinkers.
