What is the best way to go about creating an index for my non fiction book? My only thought was to use Word to search through the text! Thanks
What is the best way to go about creating an index for my non fiction book? My only thought was to use Word to search through the text! Thanks
As an avid read of historical factuals, I am annoyed at authors who can't be bothered to include a good detailed index to their work. They spend so much time getting the guts of the matter correct, and let it all down at the end. I can only endorse Lorraine's advice, take the time and effort to do it and get it right. You might not appreciate the benefit, but your readers and the book sales will.
Hi Lorraine,
Thanks for such a detailed reply, this is a great help. It does not need to be overly complex, I only need the major appearances of the word, so I think I'll have a go myself, and look for help if I find it's too difficult.
Really appreciate your help.
kathie
Hi, Kathie,
How professional do you want it to be? You can hire an indexer, or you can do it yourself, but there's no way round it: you've got to go through it page by page.
I used to index periodicals for the school library, and you do have to be very careful. No point going to p23 for something vital only to find you've got the page number wrong, so do be extra wary when typing things up.
Keep an A-Z book by your side, and list in it, under each letter, everything you need to index as you go along, with page number. You may want to cross reference some things under 'see also', so it's worth noting the word and the page under the letter of the alternative search term.
Everything obviously is in alphabetical order, but subheadings should also be alphabetised, as should anything after 'see also'.
There are protocols for the numbering system; it depends how complex your index is, how many of them you will use. You leave a space after the entry (all lower case unless it's a title), and then number as shown in this example: ('see also' should be italicised):
cheesecakes 6,18-20, 21-2, 143-4, 157-60
see also chilled desserts, cooked desserts, fruit
or see also desserts, chilled; desserts, cooked; fruit
You can index using Word, but it's limited.
Study examples you may have in other text books and copy the style. Decide how detailed you want it to be, and whether you need to add each mention of the word you're indexing, or only the major appearances.
There is a Society of Indexers - you can see why! I started doing their course, but as there's no English library here in France, I couldn't pursue it for lack of texts.
Good luck!
Lorraine