The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, which was recently published by the University of Chicago Press, remains the authoritative reference for indexers. Indexers consult the one chapter on Indexes in The Chicago Manual of Style for guidelines relating to kinds of indexes and components of an index, as well as general principles of indexing. Rules… Continue reading The Indexer’s Reference: The Chicago Manual Of Style
Author: Lisa Ryan
Indexes vs. Full-Text Searching
Researchers who rely entirely on full-text searching, i.e. searching the Web using a search engine such as Google, are missing information. Indexes improve searching not only in terms of accuracy and thoroughness, but also speed, according to Mary Elizabeth Williams in the article “Dr. Searchlove: Or how I learned to stop Googling and love pre-coordinate indexing.”… Continue reading Indexes vs. Full-Text Searching
Glossary v. Index
Why are index entries in the plural and glossary entries in the singular? A glossary is a collection of difficult or specialized terms with their meanings, but each entry is in the singular. An index, as we have discussed, is an alphabetical list of items treated in a printed work with the page numbers where… Continue reading Glossary v. Index
Indexes in E-Books
Electronic book readers such as the Kindle and the Nook have changed the way people read books. With the electronic book reader, pages are turned electronically and silently, but what happens when the user tries to look up a subject in the index? The index is static. It has the same list of subjects and page references… Continue reading Indexes in E-Books
Concordances vs. Indexes
An index requires a degree of sophistication and skill lacking in a computer-generated concordance. A concordance is an alphabetical list of words with locations in the text, a somewhat rudimentary index. The computer automates the process, parsing the text and collecting the index words and the locations in the text, then writing the generated concordance… Continue reading Concordances vs. Indexes
Going Rogue without an index
Sarah Palin’s autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life, published in November 2009, lacked an index. Why? An index, as explored in the previous post, would have been an invaluable tool to the scholars who will undoubtedly refer to the 413-page book to survey the political climate during the 2008 presidential election and Sarah Palin’s role… Continue reading Going Rogue without an index
Why is an index needed?
Even if a book is well-written and contains a clear table of contents, a reader may still have trouble finding what he or she is looking for. A good index acts as a bridge between the author’s concepts and the readers’ particular needs. A good index saves the user time. Whether the reader is looking… Continue reading Why is an index needed?
Welcome to Optimal Indexing, my indexing blog!
This blog will focus on optimal indexing for effective search retrieval. How do you index books and documents in such a way that patrons will easily and effectively find the needed information? As an Information Professional for Stellar Searches LLC, I depend on quality indexing to find the information that fulfills a query. While I… Continue reading Welcome to Optimal Indexing, my indexing blog!