Creating Indexes

An index is a tool that readers use to find information in a document. A good index is a necessity for complex subjects and so every document you create should have one. Creating a good index can seem like an easy task, but there are some things you should keep in mind. This article takes a look at some things you should be aware of.

Formats

Your index can take a number of forms. The Chicago Manual of Style 14th Edition provides examples for seven different formats, all with some variation in the use of italics, bold, and indentation. All of these formats do have a few elements in common though. Each uses entries for the words or phrases you're indexing. Each also has a locator, which indicates a page number for print documents or a link for hypertext documents. The most important thing about format is that it be consistent. Just pick the format you want and stick with it.

Types

There are several types of indexes that you can create, including

subject indexes that provide entries for various topics
author indexes that provide entries for authors cited
illustration indexes that provide entries for illustrations, diagrams, and the like

More than likely, you'll want to go with the standard subject index. Whether you use another kind of index will depend on the complexity of information in, the size of, and the purpose of the document you're indexing.

Audience

Before you begin creating your index, you need to think about who your target audience is. If you understand how and why your audience will use your document, you'll be able to understand why they will use the index and what words they might use to locate the information they want.

Start Indexing

An easy place to start indexing is with the headings in the document. You should index each major concept or term within a heading and not simply recreate the table of contents in your index. Given the heading "Correcting Spelling Errors" you could create the following entries:

spelling, correcting

correcting spelling

You'll also want to include references to key words or concepts that are within the body of your document. There's no easy way of doing this. It takes experience, knowledge of the document, and knowledge of your audience. In the previous example, if the "Correcting Spelling Errors" section talks about using an application called Spell Check to correct spelling, you might want to include an entry like this:

Spell Check, using

Use Synonyms

You'll want to include synonyms for entries you've already put into your index. You should only include what you think a user would reasonably use. Various people have ideas of what reasonable is, from including every possible synonym, to including just a few. It really comes down to your knowledge of your audience, your audience's knowledge of the subject for which you are writing, and some common sense, which isn't so common for some people. One thing to keep in mind is that an index that is cluttered with too many entries is just as useless as an index with too few. Given the previous example, you might include these additional index entries:

checking spelling errors

finding spelling errors

fixing spelling errors

Consolidate Entries

After you've created all of your index entries, you'll want to go back through and consolidate them and get rid of duplicate ones. This is usually where you can start using subentries. Given the following entries

checking for spelling errors

correcting spelling

custom dictionaries in Spell Check

finding spelling errors

fixing spelling errors

introduction to Spell Check

languages supported in Spell Check

spelling, correcting

using Spell Check

you could consolidate your entries into:

checking spelling errors

correcting spelling errors

finding spelling errors

fixing spelling errors

Spell Check

custom dictionaries

introduction

languages supported

using

spelling, correcting

In an actual index some of these entries would be spaced apart by entries for other topics so that they would not seem so obviously redundant.

Cross Referencing

After you've consolidated your entries, you might want to include cross references, such as see and see also.

see points the reader to an alternate entry without providing locators for the current entry. This is particularly useful if you know that the reader may look up a word for which you are trying to enforce specialized vocabulary. To continue with the above example, you could create the following entry:

dictionary, see Spell Check

see also provides a locator for the entry and points the reader to another index entry for related information. This is useful if a concept is covered by one entry, and a related concept that you feel is important to draw the reader's attention to is located elsewhere. Once again, continuing with the above example, you might have the following entry:

dictionary

see also Spell Check

You should use cross references sparingly and make sure they are useful. There's nothing more aggravating than playing musical cross references in an attempt to pin down some bit of information that ultimately isn't even in the document. Hey, it's happened to me!

Wrap Up

There are probably a few more things I could talk about, but I think this should get you started. Just remember that a good index should help readers find the information they want when they want it. Doing this may be more intuition and experience than anything else, so a one-size-fits-all process just doesn't work. A knowledge of the document you're indexing, a knowledge of your audience, and understanding when your readers will be using the index will help you create a good index. And for that, your readers will be grateful.