In fact, “indexes are written, not generated. (16.2, emphasis added)Ī well-written index is concise, accurate, audience appropriate, and complete-and therefore adds value to the book because it makes the information within the book more accessible. In a word, a good index makes the text more accessible. This painstaking intellectual labor serves readers of any longer work, whether it is searchable or not. gathers all the substantive terms and subjects of the work, sorts them alphabetically, provides cross-references to and from related terms, and includes specific page numbers or other locators or, for electronic formats, direct links to the text. But a concordance is not the same as an index. Regarding indexes, The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition (University of Chicago Press, 2017) says:Ī concordance-or a complete list of terms (typically minus articles, prepositions, and other irrelevant elements) and their page locations or frequency of use-can be produced automatically. These are false and are common misconceptions about indexes. Answersįirst, let’s talk about statements 1 and 2. The indexer should have some knowledge of the subject matter. The best person to create the index is the author.ĥ. The index can be created by a computer.Ĥ. Would you say the following statements are true or false?ġ. Time for a quick test of your knowledge of back-of-the-book indexing.
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