The metatopic is more than just a characteristic, it is the overarching presence in a book index. According to Webster’s, meta- means more comprehensive than the original term. Often used with a discipline, such as linguistics or mathematics, it highlights a discussion in which the discipline itself is the object of critical examination. The term… Continue reading Metatopic and Index Structure
Tag: book indexing
Elegance in a Quality Scholarly Index
A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant. In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, conciseness, readability, reflexivity, and audience-sensitivity. In the final blog posting of this series, I will focus on elegance as a factor in a quality scholarly index. This is… Continue reading Elegance in a Quality Scholarly Index
Audience in a Quality Scholarly Index
A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant. In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, conciseness, readability, and reflexivity. In this blog posting, I will focus on audience-sensitivity as a factor in a quality scholarly index. As indexers we often talk about creating… Continue reading Audience in a Quality Scholarly Index
Reflexivity in a Quality Scholarly Index
A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant. In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, conciseness, and readability. In this blog posting, I will focus on reflexivity as a factor in a quality scholarly index. What is reflexivity? Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines reflexive… Continue reading Reflexivity in a Quality Scholarly Index
Readability in a Quality Scholarly Index
A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant. In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, and conciseness. In this blog posting, I will focus on readability as a factor in a quality scholarly index. What is readability? Webster’s defines “readable” as “able to… Continue reading Readability in a Quality Scholarly Index
Conciseness in a Quality Scholarly Index
A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant. In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency and comprehensiveness. In this blog posting, I will focus on conciseness as a factor in a quality scholarly index. Conciseness, defined Webster’s defines “concise” as something “marked by brevity… Continue reading Conciseness in a Quality Scholarly Index
Comprehensiveness in a Quality Scholarly Index
A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive, and elegant. In previous blog postings, I have examined accuracy and consistency in quality scholarly indexes. In this blog posting I will explore comprehensiveness as a factor in quality scholarly indexes. Comprehensiveness, defined Webster’s defines “comprehensive” as (1) “covering completely or broadly;… Continue reading Comprehensiveness in a Quality Scholarly Index
Consistency in a Quality Scholarly Index
Consistency The eight qualities of a scholarly index are that it must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive, and elegant. I discussed the first factor, accuracy, in the last blog posting. Consistency, the second factor comprising a quality scholarly index, is the focus of this blog posting. “Qualifiers,” the parenthetical additions that clarify… Continue reading Consistency in a Quality Scholarly Index
Qualities of a Scholarly Index
Scholarly books are the books that are published by academic presses. A good quality scholarly index, according to Margery Towery, must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive, and elegant. This is the first of a series of blog postings on these principles comprising a good quality scholarly index. I will first examine accuracy… Continue reading Qualities of a Scholarly Index
Indexing Historical Documents
A seminar on “Indexing Historical Documents” was held on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at the annual conference for the American Society for Indexing at San Antonio, Texas. Kate Mertes, owner of Mertes Editorial Services, and winner of the ASI Wilson Award for Excellence in Indexing was the leader of the seminar. A good index mediates… Continue reading Indexing Historical Documents