Welcome back to another Q&A on this last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question is a little different in that it comes from a subcontractor I work with. The question was asked in response to a specific piece of advice that I gave for a previous project we worked on… Read More »Q&A: When to Draw Indexable Terms Directly from the Text?
What is required to write an excellent index? I mean, what does it actually take? Indexing is governed by a lot of rules and conventions. Every indexer, including myself, tend to have their favorite strategies and style preferences. These are important for shaping and refining the index. But is that… Read More »Fundamental Principles for Writing an Index
It’s time to dig into cross-references again, picking up where I left off two weeks ago. If you missed that first reflection, you can read it here. I had a lot more to write than I initially thought about how I use, or don’t use, cross-references, which is why I… Read More »How I Use Cross-References (Part 2)
Some time ago a client asked me how I decide when to use cross-references and why certain arrays have cross-references and not others. Which is a good question. I decided to sit down and outline all of the different scenarios in which I use—or don’t use—cross-references, and, well, the list… Read More »How I Use Cross-References (Part 1)
I’m currently indexing a history of nuclear reactors. It is about 300,000 words. Meticulously researched and written, with a strong narrative. It is a big book, and it is taking a while to get through. It is also not the only large volume I’ve indexed this year. I feel like… Read More »Indexing Big Books
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about corralling variants. That reflection dealt with names, of people and organizations. Names can vary, whether through the use of nicknames or shortened versions or through formal name changes. When writing an index, it is important to identify those variants and to somehow… Read More »Parsing Synonymous and Similar Terms
Welcome to another Q&A on this last Tuesday of the month! Today’s question is: A couple of times you referred to a mind map. Creating and using a mind map is a topic I’d benefit from your addressing in a future newsletter, if possible. Certainly. I’m happy to discuss mind… Read More »Q&A: How to Use Mind Maps When Indexing?
I recently finished indexing an Oxford handbook, which was the first Oxford handbook I’ve ever indexed. Definitely a challenge, particularly in regards to length—forty-five chapters, or about the equivalent of three or four regular-length edited collections. The time needed to draft and edit an index seems to grow exponentially the… Read More »Coralling Name Variants
So, I won another indexing award. A couple of weeks ago the American Society for Indexing (ASI) announced that I won the ASI Indexing Award, in the scholarly/technical category, for my index for Dialectics of the Big Bang and the Absolute Existence of the Multiverse, by Gregory Phipps (University of… Read More »Indexing Hegel, the Big Bang, and the Multiverse
I’m adding a new Q&A element for my newsletter subscribers. I will respond to a new question on the last Tuesday of every month. To kick off this new Q&A, here is a question about subheadings. To summarize, “How can I become faster and more decisive when writing subheadings? I… Read More »Q&A: How Can I be Faster and More Decisive Writing Subheadings?