Michiyo on dictionaries

I use two kinds of English-English Electric dectionaries which are Longman Advanced American dictionaly edition and Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 7th editon. I like both dictionaries because the description are different, for example one has only one meaning, the other has more than two meaning. There are some different examples depend on the word. It is useful to understand the meaning of the word I don't know, so that I use both of them. When I was in university, absolutely I used English-Japanese dictionary. I didn't have enough vocabulary, so it took long time to understand only one word when I used English- English dictionary. In other word, I used dicitonary to find the meaning in the dictionary. I always use a dictionary, but I try to change how to use dictionary now. I used to use dictionry whenever I found the unknown words. However, when I find the unfamilier words, thinking is first by reading before and after the words. Sometimes I read the sentence and paragraph both before and after. I am studying Aacademic course, so I have to choose it for academic level. If I use a dictionary for high school level, I will never write an academic writing.
Recently I found it that I prefer English-English dictionary to English-Japanese dictionary to look up the meaning.