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Metatopic and Index Structure

Saturday, March 14th, 2015

The metatopic is more than just a characteristic, it is the overarching presence in a book index.  According to Webster’s, meta- means more comprehensive than the original term.  Often used with a discipline, such as linguistics or mathematics, it highlights a discussion in which the discipline itself is the object of critical examination.  The term metadata describes “data about data.”   Do Mi Stauber applies it to the main subject of a text, describing it as the structural center of the index, in which every single heading is implicitly related to it. The structure of an index includes the entry points as headings (and ideas which are more or less important to the metatopic), as well as the cross-references in a system that lies underneath the entry points.  The index structure builds bridges between the user and the content, with the goal of navigation, user satisfaction, guiding retrieval, and discovery.

The metatopic will drive the structural development of the book index.  The ever present problem with metatopics is the temptation to over-index the entire document under a single overarching topic or to ignore the direct indexing of the metatopic altogether.  There are two approaches to indexing the metatopic, which I will discuss in detail in my next blog posting.

For more information about metatopic and index structure, see the article by Margie Towery, “Metatopic and Structure: Creating Better Indexes, Part 7.” Heartland Chapter  of the American Society for Indexing Newsletter, Fall 2014, http://www.heartlandindexers.org/metatopic.html

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Elegance in a Quality Scholarly Index

Thursday, October 2nd, 2014

A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant.  In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, conciseness, readability, reflexivity, and audience-sensitivity.  In the final blog posting of this series, I will focus on elegance as a factor in a quality scholarly index.

This is an elusive, but integral, characteristic of a quality scholarly index.  How might we define elegance in an index?  Webster’s dictionary refers to elegance as “refined grace or dignified propriety; … tasteful richness of design or ornamentation; … dignified gracefulness or restrained beauty of style; … scientific precision, neatness, and simplicity.”  The idea of elegance incorporates restraint and ornamentation, precision and richness, simplicity and neatness.  Indeed, elegance is a balance of art and science.

Elegance shines through in many ways: in structure, conciseness, comprehensiveness, readability, in the language itself – in all the factors that make up a quality scholarly index.  Of course, it helps to have an elegantly written text to index.  That may make the accomplishment of elegance easier.  But the indexer can also create an elegant index from a mediocre text.

This concludes the series on factors comprising a quality scholarly index.  For more information on elegance in a quality scholarly index, see the article by Margie Towery, “The Quality of a Scholarly Index: A Contribution to the Discourse,” Indexing Specialties: Scholarly Books, Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 2005, pp.81-94.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Audience in a Quality Scholarly Index

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant.  In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, conciseness, readability, and reflexivity.  In this blog posting, I will focus on audience-sensitivity as a factor in a quality scholarly index.

As indexers we often talk about creating indexes with the interests of the possible audience in mind.  More importantly, we think we know what various readers of a given book will want to find.  Most of the time, we’re probably as much on target as possible.  However, pointers (cross-references), qualifiers, and headnotes are useful tools that aid the reader in using the index.  We can also interpret the jargon for index users, as far as is possible.  In addition, we can cross-reference or double-post acronyms and their spelled-out versions.

Certainly, we do our best, but we truly have a shortage of data on what index users really want.  What we need is usability testing of our indexes on the targeted audience, which would provide us with much needed information.

The final blog post in this series will focus on the last factor of a quality scholarly index, elegance.  For more information about audience-sensitivity, please see the article by Margie Towery, “The Quality of a Scholarly Index: A contribution to the Discourse,” in Indexing Specialties: Scholarly Books, Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 2005, pp.81-94.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Reflexivity in a Quality Scholarly Index

Thursday, August 7th, 2014

A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant.  In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, conciseness, and readability.  In this blog posting, I will focus on reflexivity as a factor in a quality scholarly index.

What is reflexivity?

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines reflexive as “directed or turned back on itself; …marked by, or capable of reflection; …of, relating to, characterized by, or being in a relation that exists between an entity and itself,” and so on.  Thus, an index exists in relation to the text from which it is drawn.  An index should be reflexive of the text.

There are many ways in which an index is reflexive, which are highlighted in the following examples.  Concepts in the text must be represented in the index in the same proportion as they are in the text; that is, if there is a small amount of information about A and a lot of information about B, then that should be true in the index as well.  If there is a key point made about several different concepts, then that key point should be captured in a similar manner for each.  If everything in a text comes from an overarching idea and subsequently breaks it down, then that should be reflected in the index structure by capturing that overarching idea and perhaps using cross-references to the main headings.  Reflexivity also incorporates the author’s terminology in the index.

What reflexivity is not

An index is not simply a repetition or a regurgitation of the text.  Rather, it is a carefully analyzed presentation of the information in a text.  Nor is it a concordance that traces every use of the terms in the text, although a concordance is inherently reflexive of the text.

A reflexive index need not repeat the author’s biases.  For example, in a book where the author used racist language, the indexer should find a way to reflect but not repeat that language in the index.

Future blog postings will focus on other factors of a quality scholarly index.  For more information on reflexivity in a quality scholarly index, see the article by Margie Towery, “Reflexivity: Creating Better Indexes, Part 3.” Heartland Chapter of the American Society For Indexing Newsletter, Spring 2013 http://www.heartlandindexers.org/reflexivity.html

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Readability in a Quality Scholarly Index

Tuesday, July 15th, 2014

A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant.  In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency, comprehensiveness, and conciseness.  In this blog posting, I will focus on readability as a factor in a quality scholarly index.

What is readability?

Webster’s defines “readable” as “able to be read easily; legible; interesting to read.”  Synonyms for “readable” in a thesaurus include intelligible, interesting, legible, and meaningful.

Hallmarks of a readable index

A key function of an index is to recreate a text using clear, concise, alphabetical pieces of information that direct the reader back into that text.  Readability, related in part to the ease of navigating an index (usability), is developed in a number of key ways:

  1. The metatopic, the main topic of the book, and structure must be clear and navigable.  A visible metatopic structure aids to support or redirect reader expectations, which may be based on a review of the table of contents and book description or a quick flip through the text.  Many readers expect to find an entry for the main subject.  Indexers can use that to gather general bits of information as well as to send the reader out to the most important headings in the index.  A table of contents approach may be useful for some texts (i.e., index main entries reflect the wording of the table of contents or use cross-references to get readers from that wording to more appropriate main headings).
  2. Parallel structure within the index, where appropriate, aids the reader’s movement within the index and thus from the index to the text.
  3. Consistency in topic treatment is important, also (e.g., in terms of both depth and equality of treatment, as well as wording for similar main headings).
  4. Format issues require different handling for indented versus run-in style indexes.  For example, in a run-in style index, long entries should be broken down into more readable chunks.
  5. The meaning of every index entry must be instantly obvious.  Readers should not have to spend time trying to figure out what a main or subheading means.  This is why function words are necessary in many cases, despite the trend to delete them.
  6. The first word should be the most important in the subheading.
  7. An index must translate jargon in some way, for those readers less familiar with the subject matter of a particular book.

Future blog postings will discuss other factors of a quality scholarly index.  For more information about readability in a quality scholarly index, consult the article by Margie Towery, “Readability: Creating Better Indexes, Part 1.”  Heartland Chapter of the American Society for Indexing Newsletter, Spring 2012  http://www.heartlandindexers.org/readability.html

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Conciseness in a Quality Scholarly Index

Saturday, June 14th, 2014

A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive and elegant.  In the last few blog postings, I have discussed accuracy, consistency and comprehensiveness.  In this blog posting, I will focus on conciseness as a factor in a quality scholarly index.

Conciseness, defined

Webster’s defines “concise” as something “marked by brevity of expression or statement; free from all elaboration and superfluous detail.”  The National Information Standards Organization states in its Guidelines for Indexes and Related Information Retrieval Devices to “use terminology that is as specific as the [text] warrant[s] and the indexing language permits.”

Indexers must present an organized structure in an index in as concise a manner as possible while at the same time maintaining clarity and comprehensiveness.  Specificity may be sacrificed for conciseness.  Conciseness may be sacrificed for clarity.

Comments on conciseness

A concise index does not necessarily happen from the beginning of the indexing process.  An indexer may start with longer subheadings than what she will end up with in the final index.  In using longer entries at the start, the indexer can more easily see how to condense and be more concise in the editing stage.  One of the challenges in writing concise indexes is in maintaining clarity in the relationship between the main heading and the subheading.  In maintaining conciseness, the indexer should opt to use everyday language whenever possible, although the index must include the author’s terminology.

The indexer must find a balance between comprehensiveness and conciseness, favoring one over the other, depending on the text, deadline, publisher’s guidelines, and other factors.  The appropriate balance lies in how these factors fit with the text at hand.

Future blog postings will discuss the other factors of a quality scholarly index.  For more information on conciseness in a quality scholarly index, see the article by Margie Towery, “Comprehensiveness and Conciseness: Creating Better Indexes, Parts 4 and 5.”  Heartland Chapter of the American Society for Indexing Newsletter, Fall 2013 http://www.heartlandindexers.org/comprehensivenessconciseness.html

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Comprehensiveness in a Quality Scholarly Index

Saturday, May 3rd, 2014

A quality scholarly index must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive, and elegant.  In previous blog postings, I have examined accuracy and consistency in quality scholarly indexes.  In this blog posting I will explore comprehensiveness as a factor in quality scholarly indexes.

Comprehensiveness, defined

Webster’s defines “comprehensive” as (1) “covering completely or broadly; inclusive” (as in a comprehensive study), and (2) “having or exhibiting wide mental grasp” (such as comprehensive knowledge).  The National Information Standards Organization’s Guidelines for Indexes and Related Information Retrieval Devices list the functional characteristics of an index, one of which is that an index must “indicate all important topics or features … in accordance with the level of exhaustivity for the index.”

Comprehensiveness is related to exhaustivity, specificity, and depth of indexing.  “Exhaustivity,” writes Hans Wellisch in Indexing from A to Z,  “refers to the extent to which concepts and topics are made retrievable by means of index terms.”  An indexer should check to see that all the topics, concepts, people, and events in the index are findable.

Specificity refers to “the extent to which a concept or topic … is identified by a precise term.”  The indexer should also check to see that all the topics, concepts, people, and events in the index are findable by precise terminology.  Wellisch adds that depth of indexing is the “product” of exhaustivity and specificity.

Comprehensiveness is one of the characteristics of a quality index.  The index must represent all of the material within a text, including front and back matter when appropriate.

Comments on comprehensiveness

If the author felt that something was important enough to include, then an index must also include it.  Authorial digressions should be included for an index to be comprehensive.  Moreover, a user may remember some piece of information related to the digression and search under the entry for that digression.

Related to comprehensiveness is the consideration of the ways a user might “name” and search for something.  Comprehensive indexing should consider diverse audiences who might use the index.  This entails, for example, creating multiple entry points for any given information.

For more discussion on comprehensiveness in quality indexes, see Margie Towery’s article “Comprehensiveness and Conciseness: Creating Better Indexes, Parts 4 and 5.” Heartland Chapter of the American Society for Indexing Newsletter, Fall 2013, http://www.heartlandindexers.org/comprehensivenessconciseness.html

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Consistency in a Quality Scholarly Index

Saturday, April 5th, 2014

Consistency

The eight qualities of a scholarly index are that it must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive, and elegant.  I discussed the first factor, accuracy, in the last blog posting.  Consistency, the second factor comprising a quality scholarly index, is the focus of this blog posting.

“Qualifiers,” the parenthetical additions that clarify a main entry, must be used consistently throughout an index.  Qualifiers provide helpful information to the reader, without cluttering up the index with unnecessary details.

Smith, Jane (Joe’s mother)

Smith, Jane (Joe’s sister)

Indexers can incorporate consistent inconsistency, for example, in a text that includes many place-names.  A book about California might have asides about little-known places in other states.  Qualifiers could be included for the non-California place-names.

Bakersfield

Deming (N.M.)

San Diego

When possible, main entries and subentries should be consistent in terminology.  For joint main entries, parallel construction may be used:

immigrants and immigration

suffragists and suffrage (not the reverse)

Subentries should follow parallel construction.  Consider the following:

Smith, Jane: career of; education of; sexuality of

Doe, Joseph: education of; occupation of; sexuality of

Are Smith’s career and Doe’s occupation similarly considered?  If so, then the same subentries should appear under each.  This makes it easier for the reader to follow the entries in the index.  Consistency is a factor that indexers must balance in aiming for quality.

The number of subentries and page locators is another point in which consistency is important.  The indexer must decide on the number of page locators allowed to stand without subentries, depending on the structure and length of the index.  This could be 5, 6 or maybe even 8.  Another issue of consistency is balanced treatment when pulling entries from the text.  For example, a book on science education could have entries for “curriculum,” “creationism,” and “evolutionism.”

Finally, “connectors” and prepositions should be used consistently.  Words such as “and,” “of,” “versus,” and “as” should be used consistently in constructing subentries.

railroads: fruit production and; lumber industry and

fruit production; railroads and (not and railroads)

Other factors that contribute to a quality scholarly index will be explored in future blog postings.  For more information on consistency in a quality scholarly index, see Margie Towery’s article “The Quality of a Scholarly Index: A Contribution to the Discourse” in Indexing Specialties: Scholarly Books, Information Today, Inc., Medford, N.J.: 2005, pp.81-94.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Qualities of a Scholarly Index

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

Scholarly books are the books that are published by academic presses.  A good quality scholarly index, according to Margery Towery, must be accurate, consistent, comprehensive, concise, readable, reflexive, audience-sensitive, and elegant.  This is the first of a series of blog postings on these principles comprising a good quality scholarly index.  I will first examine accuracy in an index.

Accuracy

At the very minimum, page locators should be accurate.  But more than that, accuracy requires indexers to digest the textual content and create an index that mirrors that content.  Page locators should not just show a page range, if it includes tables and figures in the middle.  In addition, page numbers, in order to be accurate, must also be consistent, at least where possible.  If a text discusses four countries and there are tables of statistics for each country, then the index should reflect that:

Afghanistan: statistics on, 34

Pakistan: statistics on, 98

Consequently, the accuracy of page locators includes preciseness of information and consistency in gathering and presenting that information.

Floating page numbers, lone page numbers that follow a main entry, are discouraged.  Following is an example:

cats, 11, 34; caring for, 14-15; number of legs, 45-46; scent glands of, 56; tails of, 92

What do these lone floating page numbers mean, anyway?

There are exceptions, however.  In scholarly books and many trade and textbooks, a chunk of page numbers on a particular subject may follow the main entry.  This shows that an extended discussion of the subject occurs within this page range.

yoga, 13-34; hatha,  16 (and more subheads)

In a quality index, accuracy should also be reflected in the choice of specific terminology.  As always, subentries should be accurately worded.

For more information, on the qualities of a good scholarly index, refer to Margery Towery’s article, “The Quality of a Scholarly Index: A Contribution to the Discourse,” in Indexing Specialites: Scholarly Books, published by Information Today, Inc.: Medford, NJ, 2005, pp.81-94.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Indexing Historical Documents

Thursday, July 18th, 2013

A seminar on “Indexing Historical Documents” was held on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at the annual conference for the American Society for Indexing at San Antonio, Texas.  Kate Mertes, owner of Mertes Editorial Services, and winner of the ASI Wilson Award for Excellence in Indexing was the leader of the seminar.

A good index mediates between the languages of the author and the reader, providing a common ground on which different terms for the same concept can be coordinated and relevant relationships are revealed.  But an index to an historical document must also mediate across time and space, countries and cultures; uniting author, translator, editor, and reader, all of whom may come from separate centuries.  In this seminar,  we looked at the challenges of indexing materials written between the classical period and the early 20th century, balancing the need to remain true to the usage of the original text with the importance of serving modern readers.

Titled “Holding Hands with the Past,” this seminar focused on indexing historical documents as artifacts of a particular place and time.  Dr. Mertes, who holds a PhD in Medieval History, said there may be a problem of language for the historical book, with a different language for the original author, editor, translator, and modern editor.  There may also be a problem of meaning, with words changing drastically in meaning through the centuries.  The terminology may be different with an older text having many different terms, such as those describing the Civil War.  There may also be a problem of names.  She said as a rule, follow the text.  Use the most common modern name and include cross-references.  She said that Romans didn’t do name reversals.  Only since the 18th century, the 1700s, have names been reversed.

“When in doubt, double post,” she said.  “Consider your audience.”

Dr. Mertes focused on what was indexable in historical documents.  Time markers such as wars or kings, that are simply references, would not be indexable, she said.  She gave the audience exercises to practice identifying what was indexable in sample passages.

“You need to reach out across the divide and hold hands with the author when you index these historical documents,” she said.  “The index is a historical document in and of itself.  It reflects current times.”

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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