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For other uses of "Index", see Index.
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An index is a list of words and associated pointers to where those words can be found in a document. In a traditional back-of-the-book index the words (or phrases) are concepts selected by a person and the pointers are page numbers. In a library catalog the words are authors, titles, subject headings, etc., and the pointers are call numbers. Internet search engines, such as Google, are indexes too. The words are words found in HTML (or other documents), and the pointers are URL\'s.
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Indexes are designed to help the reader find information quickly and easily. A complete and truly useful index is not simply a list of the words and phrases used in a publication (which is properly called a concordance), but an organized map of its contents, including cross-references, grouping of like concepts, and other useful intellectual analysis.
Sample back-of-the-book index excerpt:
In books, indexes are usually placed near the end (this is commonly known as "BoB" or back-of-book indexing). They complement the table of contents by enabling access to information by specific subject, whereas contents listings enable access through broad divisions of the text arranged in the order they occur.
The indexing process usually begins with a reading of the text, during which the terms to be used are selected and sometimes marked (e.g. with a highlighter). The indexer then makes a second pass through the text during which he or she enters the terms into an index document, creating subentries where appropriate. The final task involves arranging the index document into alphabetical order and going through it grouping like terms, adding cross-references where appropriate, and editing to improve consistency, accuracy, and usefulness, and to ensure it follows publisher\'s guidelines.
Indexers must analyze the text to enable presentation of concepts and ideas in the index that may not be named within the text. The index is meant to help the reader, researcher, or information professional, not the author, find information, so the professional indexer must act as a liaison between the text and the its ultimate user.
Indexing is often done by freelancers hired by publishers or book packagers. Some publishers and database companies employ indexers.
There are several dedicated, indexing software programs available to assist with the special sorting and copying needs involved in index preparation. The most widely known include Cindex, Macrex, and SkyIndex.
Increasing interest in the use of electronic documents has led to the development of embedded indexing, where index terms are inserted into appropriate places in one or more source documents using some kind of markup language. An accurate, sorted list of these marked index terms ("index entries") can then be generated dynamically from the source document(s) at any time. This is a standard, yet little known, feature of many popular word processing programs such as Microsoft Word, StarWriter/Openoffice.org Writer, and WordPerfect. With sufficient effort, these can become true indexes, rather than concordances (as discussed above). They eliminate of the drugery, but are certainly no substitute for good indexing skills, and are not as flexible as special-purpose indexing software.
Everyone has experienced a bad index; it\'s almost worse than no index at all. Some principles of good indexing include:http://www.adobe.com/devnet/robohelp/articles/online_help_pt2_06.html, Creating Online Help (Part 2): Strategies and Implementation
Indexing pitfalls:
Some indexers specialize in specific formats such as scholarly books, microforms, web indexing (the application of a back-of-book-style index to a website or intranet), search engine indexing, database indexing (the application of a pre-defined controlled vocabulary such as MeSH to articles for inclusion in a database), periodical indexing (indexing of newspapers, journals, magazines).
With their expertise in controlled vocabularies, some indexers also works as taxonomists and ontologists.
Some indexers specialize in particular subject areas, such as anthropology, business, computers, economics, education, government documents, history, law, mathematics, medicine, psychology, and technology. An indexer can be found for any subject.
Kurt Vonnegut\'s novel Cat\'s Cradle includes a character who is a professional indexer and believes that "indexing [is] a thing that only the most amateurish author [undertakes] to do for his own book." She claims to be able to read an author\'s character through the index he created for his own history text, and warns the narrator, an author, "Never index your own book."
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
