Article
March 4, 2025
0 comment
by Stephen

Cognitive Load and Indexing Oxford UP Titles

My original plan for today was to write about indexing Oxford University Press (OUP) titles, of which I recently indexed two. I will still reflect on OUP, but as I was writing this, I realized that my main issue with OUP’s system is its impact on cognitive load. So partway through I’m going to take a little detour to discuss the cognitive impacts of indexing.

The OUP System

Oxford University Press is unique among publishers, so far as I know, in that it uses a paragraph ID system for indexing. Each paragraph is assigned a unique ID, for example C2P34, which stands for chapter 2, paragraph 34. Each section is also assigned an ID (for example, C3S2), as is each figure (C4F5). In the index, these are used as locators instead of page numbers. When the proofs are finalized, OUP converts these IDs into the appropriate page numbers and ranges.

For me, this system is sort of halfway between traditional back-of-the-book indexing and embedded indexing. I can use the paragraph IDs with my preferred software, Cindex, and I don’t need to fiddle around with embedding tags into the proofs or manuscript. The paragraph IDs also allow the press to output the index for both print and ebook versions. 

Are paragraph IDs the best of both worlds? Depends who you ask, perhaps. I suspect some indexers already comfortable with embedding would prefer that OUP fully make that transition, and maybe embedded is better than this hybrid approach. I don’t write embedded indexes, so I can’t compare. Personally, I appreciate being able to use Cindex, though the IDs are not as easy to use as page numbers.

I found it an interesting experience indexing two OUP titles back-to-back. Despite freelancing for about twelve years, I have very little experience with OUP. I haven’t avoided them, per se, but neither have I actively sought out their books. I simply haven’t received many queries, at least until these last few months, when I probably received as many queries as I have in the previous twelve years. So it’s been a crash course for me, figuring out how best to handle the paragraph IDs.

OUP’s indexing instructions are comprehensive, explaining how they want the paragraph IDs used and formatted. So I won’t discuss all of that in detail. Instead, I want to discuss some of the challenges I had, along with some strategies that helped me through.

Impacts on Cognitive Load

The most significant challenge I had with the paragraph IDs was its impact on cognitive load.

Cognitive load is “the amount of information our working memory can process at any given time.” Working memory is the “small amount of information that can be held in mind and used in the execution of cognitive tasks.” These are the pieces of information that you are actively trying to keep in mind while performing a task. 

Cognitive load and working memory are relevant concepts for indexing. When writing an index, I am identifying information in the text, deciding if it is indexable, determining how the information relates to other pieces of information, and then adding the entry to the index. All of that is happening within my working memory. Add in that I may read the entire paragraph before I make a decision, or I may read a few paragraphs ahead, and my working memory is suddenly bursting with potential entries waiting for me to decide whether or not—and how—to add to the index.

This is why I pick up entries as I see them. At most, I’ll read ahead a few pages before going back to add the entries I’ve identified. I am aware that if I read too far ahead, I begin to forget the specific details that I previously noticed. So I want to capture those entries right away and make space in my working memory for new information. If you are someone who prefers to mark up the text and type the entries later, underlining terms and making notes in the margins fulfills the same function. You are making notes about your decisions to refer back to later, to make room in your working memory.

When using page numbers for locators, I’ve gained a sense for the limits of my working memory and for when the cognitive load becomes too great. What I did not anticipate from indexing OUP titles is how much more the paragraph IDs added to my cognitive load. 

The paragraph IDs added to my cognitive load in a few ways:

  • Paragraph IDs are longer and more complicated than page numbers. An ID which contains both numbers and letters is more to scan, remember, and type, compared to a digits-only page number. 
  • There are far more paragraphs than pages. A typical book may have 200 pages and maybe 600 paragraphs, assuming three paragraphs per page. That is a significant increase in the number of unique locators to track and ensure accuracy.
  • Ranges are more common and lengthier. A range can occur on the same page, as in C1P34-C1P35. Or the page span 84-88 may be represented, in paragraphs, as C3P43-C3P56. Because ranges are so prevalent, I found myself constantly scanning ahead, even on the same page, to see if I needed to add a range. For ranges that spanned a few pages, I found myself more focused on identifying the correct paragraph IDs than I was on the contents of the paragraphs. Perhaps I haven’t acclimatized yet to paragraph IDs, but determining a range that spans 14 paragraphs somehow felt like more work than a range that spans 5 pages, even though both ranges are for the same amount of text.
  • Navigating the PDF proofs is more difficult with paragraph IDs, especially when I’m editing the index and want to refer back to the text to double-check an entry. The locator does not tell me the page, and so I can’t use my usual keystroke shortcut to jump from page to page in the PDF reader. Instead, I need to use the search function. As I mentioned above, typing the ID is more work, as it contains both letters and numbers. Searching for the ID also means that I can’t use the search function to simultaneously search for whichever name or term I want to check, which also makes searching the PDF more cumbersome.
  • Indexing endnotes is more tedious and time consuming. In OUP’s system, the note number is appended to the paragraph ID where the note originally appears. As in, C1P45 n.27. This means going back to the chapter and searching to find the in-text note number so I know which paragraph ID to use, while trying to remember what the note was about in the first place.

Tips for Handling Paragraph IDs

So I’m not a huge fan of OUP’s paragraph IDs. They are more work, though is it really so much more work? Yes and no.

A single paragraph ID is not that big of a deal. It maybe adds a few seconds extra to the work. The problem is that the book contains hundreds of paragraph ID. The index likely contains at least a thousand locators. All of these add up, to the point where I, at least, start noticing that the work is taking longer and that I’m mentally juggling more than usual.

I am still able to use Cindex, my preferred software, and my indexing process mostly remains the same. But I did have to reset my expectations for how long the work would take, and I made a couple of adjustments to how I worked.

  • Take a deep breath and accept that the work will take a little longer. For me, this was especially true when editing the index, due to how awkward it was to navigate the PDF proofs.
  • Multiple passes. When drafting, I found it helpful to make multiple passes, going over the same paragraphs or section a couple of times. One pass would be to determine the broader discussions and where ranges needed to begin and end. Occasionally, if relevant, I used a section ID for the entire section rather than fiddling with a range. Another pass would be to pick up smaller details, like names, that didn’t need a range. This isn’t a new strategy for me, as I often do this when the text is particularly dense or confusing and I want to have a better understanding of the text before I begin typing up entries. But due to how focused I was on ranges and ensuring accuracy with the paragraph IDs, I used this strategy a lot more to make sure I was picking up both the content and the locators. There was too much to focus on in one pass.
  • Duplicate the endnotes. It was time consuming and frustrating to flip back and forth between the endnotes and the chapter, trying to find the paragraph where the note is found while also trying to remember what the note is about. Much easier to create a duplicate PDF of the endnotes (printing the notes would also work), so that I can see and compare the notes and chapter is parallel. 
  • Search for partial IDs. When searching the PDF for paragraph IDs, I found it usually worked just as well to omit the initial C. So, to search for 3P34 instead of C3P34. A small detail, but I felt like it was a tiny bit quicker. 
  • Charge a little extra. For the extra time and work, I did charge more for these indexes. I was also upfront with my clients about this. I think it is fair to be compensated for extra work. 

Will I index an OUP title again? Yes. I’m actually in discussions with another potential client.

Will I go out of my way to find OUP titles to index? No.

I do appreciate that OUP wants to include the index in ebooks. And the paragraph IDs are a good approach, in theory. I just wish that the IDs weren’t so awkward to use, and that there aren’t so many of them. Indexing is already cognitively taxing, and adding to that load isn’t helpful. But with some forewarning and tweaks to my approach, indexing OUP titles is very doable.