The Art of Indexing Hardcover - 1994 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

A step-by-step guide to creating comprehensive and usable technical indexes... Numerous surveys indicate that the most common complaint about technical documents concern a poorly designed index--or the lack of an index altogether! An organized, thoughtful index not only ensures that the contents of your book are accessible, but also increases the value of your book. In The Art of Indexing, professional indexer and editorial consultant Larry Bonura addresses the indexing problems specific to technical documentation and presents practical solutions to those problems. The Art of Indexing shows technical writers, editors, and documentation managers how to chart the topics of their books, reports, and documents and present a concise and accurate map that readers, researchers, libraries, bookstores, and reviewers can use to maximize the usefulness of their book. Step-by-step, The Art of Indexing shows you how to become a better indexer by:

• Discussing the function of an index
• Showing how to estimate indexing time
• Presenting methods for selecting entries and subentries
• Reviewing reasons for cross-referencing
• Describing how to treat locators
• Offering an extensive editing checklist for reviewing indexes
• Covering indexing for online documents
• Including numerous usability tests for verifying the strength of an index
• Containing information on indexing standards
• Providing sample indexes and a sample indexing style guide
• And much more!

From the jacket flap

A writer once remarked that "The presence of an index means that the author and publisher respect the book and that a reader will respect it." A document without an index has been likened to a country without a map; and it is generally accepted that nearly every work of nonfiction is far more useful if it includes such a chart in the form of an index. This is especially true for technical documents, which delve into multiple topics and subtopics from which readers may want to pick and choose. Now Larry Bonura, a writer and consultant with more than twenty-five years in the publishing, operating systems, and editorial management industries, addresses the special indexing needs of technical writers in The Art of Indexing. This practical handbook gives you all the information you need to create indexes that will pass the toughest of usability tests. Step-by-step, The Art of Indexing leads you through the process of creating a high-quality index for your technical book, document, or report. You'll learn the seven major tasks to help you create a better index--from defining your index and targeting your audience to creating the actual index and editing it for content and format. Separate, self-contained chapters cover alphabetizing methods, creating cross-references, and working with locators. You'll learn how to estimate indexing time and length, select main entries and subentries, emphasize important page references, use the special rules of grammar for indexing, and more. The Art of Indexing also shows you how to test your index for the five most important index criteria: accuracy, appropriate depth, conciseness, cross-references, and logicalness. It includes a number of sample indexes and a useful sample indexing style guide that you can use as a checklist against your own index. Finally, you'll find useful features like "Twelve Tips for Better Indexing" and a quick reference list of indexing "Do's" and "Don'ts." There's even information on the wave of the future--online indexing--and an examination of the latest indexing software. Comprehensive in scope, practical, and user-friendly, The Art of Indexing shows technical writers, editors, indexers, and managers how to chart the topics of their document to present a concise and accurate map for readers, thus maximizing the potential of one of the most important features of their technical document.