reference angles

I understood more the first week of school than I did this week. I had a lot of trouble when we started to do the word problems. It was hard to figure out which formula to use. The things I did understand were how to find a reference angle and how to convert radians to degrees and degrees to radians.
To find a reference angle, there are 4 steps that you need to follow.
1. You need to find the quadrant that the given angle is in.
2. Next, you have to figure out whether the trig function is positive or negative.
3. Then, you subtract 180 degrees from the angle until you have an absolute value of between 0 and 90 degrees.
4. If the answer is on your trig chart, plug it in. If not, then just leave it alone.

Example 1: Find the reference angle of cos 329 degrees
a. 329 degrees will end up in quadrant IV
b. The points for quadrant IV (0, -1)
c. Cos refers to x, so this trig function is positive
d. Since 329 is bigger than 90, you have to subtract 180 until it is equal or smaller.
e. Once you subtract 180, you end up with -31, so the absolute value of -31 is 31.
The answer turns out to be +cos31 degrees
Example 2: Find the reference angle of sin 331 degrees
a. 331 degrees will also end up in quadrant IV
b. The points for quadrant IV (0,-1)
c. Sin refers to y, so this trig function is negative
d. Since 331 is bigger than 90, you have to subtract 180 until it is equal or smaller.
e. Once you subtract 180, you end up with -29, so the absolute value of -29 is 29.
The answer turns out to be –sin29 degrees

** A hint is when it says to evaluate, that means you need a number answer unless it is specified otherwise.