Indexing Guidelines

Indexing For Technical Communicators

This 140-page book is written by Max McMaster and Sue Woolley for technical communicators, though most trainee indexers, editors and librarians wishing to learn about book indexing will find it beneficial. It provides a theoretical and practical guide to the 'art' of indexing. The online book comes with examples that you can download from the website of Monarch Computer (see link below). A CD version is also available.

Using the book and the examples you will learn:

The importance of a good index.
How to choose which terms to index.
How to decide on the index structure and style.
How to proofread and edit your index, and test it for usability.
Some reasons why you should not use your software’s automatic indexing features.
A little bit about using some of the in-built indexing tools in commonly used software packages such as Microsoft Word™.

A detailed table of contents is provided below to indicate the level of coverage provided.

For more information about the guide Indexing for Technical Communicators, or to purchase a copy, please visit the Monarch Computing website at: http://www.monarchcomputing.com.au

Indexing for Technical Communicators Contents

Chapter 1 – Why index your publications?

Overview of indexing

What is indexing?

What is an index?

What makes an index useful

Example 1 – A useful index

Example 2 – An index that could be improved

Who is responsible for creating the index?

Indexing different types of publications

Indexing printed publications

Example 3 – Sample index to a phone/fax manual

Indexing online help

Example 4 – Sample index for an online help system

Indexing for web, CD, online books

Example 5 – Sample of an indexed web site

What is the importance of the index?

When might you elect not to include an index?

Accessing information in a publication

What is the difference between an index and the table of contents?

What is the difference between an index and a full text search?

Example 6 – Using the text search facility and the index

Getting professional help

Summary of the indexing process

Chapter 2 – Planning your index

Overview of the planning process

Convincing the boss

Identifying your audience

Catering for different types of reader

Deciding on the length of the index

Paper publications

Example 7 – Light index

Example 9 – Detailed index

Online publications

When should you index your publication?

Identifying the document development phase

How much time should you allow to create the index?

Using an index style guide

Working in a team

Summary of planning your index

Chapter 3 – Deciding on index structure

Overview of index structure

Structuring headings

Using direct entry for index entries

Formatting main headings

Using plurals

What spelling should you use?

Using synonyms

Qualifying headings

Using subheadings

When should you use subheadings?

Relating a subheading to a main heading

Sorting the index

Arranging headings in logical order

Deciding the length of headings and subheadings

Structuring names

Structuring personal names

Structuring corporate names / organizational names

Structuring other proper names

Using cross-references

Using see references

Using see also references

Summary of index structure

Chapter 4 – Deciding on your index style

Overview of index style issues

Defining your layout

Filing

Filing numerals

Ordering words

Placing initial articles

Deciding on initial letters

Arranging subheadings

Example 9 – Set-out style

Example 10 – Run-on style

Separating locators (page numbers) from the heading

Choosing page spans

Highlighting principal references

Separating alphabetical sections of the index

Indexing illustrations, tables and figures

Placing see also references

Indexing standards

Summary of index style

Chapter 5 – Compiling and checking your index

Overview of compiling an index

What should you index?

Passing mentions

Compiling the index

Putting yourself in the reader’s shoes

Checking your index

Proofreading

Checking the structure

Exercise 1 – Identifying structural problems

Exercise 1 - Answers

Examples of an online help system index

Example 11 – Structural issues in an online help index (1)

Example 11 structural issues

Example 12 – Structural issues in an online help index (2)

Example 12 structural issues

Example 13 – Structural issues in an online help index (3)

Example 13 structural issues

Example 14 – Structural issues in an online help index (4)

Example 14 structural issues

Example 15 – Structural issues in an online help index (5)

Example 15 structural issues

Testing your index for usability

Sampling the index

Sampling the text

Summary of compiling and checking your index

Chapter 6 – Using the tools

Overview of using the tools

Specialized indexing software

Indexing a Microsoft Word™ document

Limitations

Inserting index entries

Displaying the index

Tips and tricks

Displaying see cross-references

Displaying see also cross-references

Displaying a page span

Displaying principal references

Choosing the style of the index

Creating your own index style

Creating an index in an online help authoring package

Indexing of web and intranet sites

Computer generated indexes

Are they useful?

Summary of using the tools