Brooklyn College: Technical Writing Certificate

TW107: Indexing for Technical Writers
Schedule Page

Although most of the links have been removed, the following course schedule gives you an idea of what we'll cover in this course. (Remember that this is an 8-week course.) When you are ready, return to the Brooklyn College Technical Writing Certificate Program course listing.

This is your main working page for TW107: Indexing for Technical Writers in Brooklyn College's Technical Writing Certificate program. In this course, you focus on "back-of-the-book" index commonly handled by technical writers. Use this page to find out what to name your files, see when projects are due, go to the online textbook and resources for this course. See the syllabus links following the schedule for information about objectives, required and recommended books, grades, and other resources. (Exact units and sequence of units may vary slightly from instructor to instructor and semester to semester.)

Note: On all quizzes, please select Brooklyn College as instructor.

This course starts mmddyy.

Your instructor is instructor_name at instructor_email.

Click the units you've completed and then press Send at the top or bottom of this page. Remember that this tracking chart is for your convenience; the instructor uses other information to determine whether you've done adequate study to pass this course. If you mistakenly mark a unit as completed, contact your instructor (or just wait until you've actually completed it.)

Check	Project (Use these links to see project details.)	Due date	File names/comments	Completed
	Indexing: overview. Get an overview of the functions of indexes, terminology for indexes, text-page to index-page ratios, audience analysis in relation to indexing, and a general process for indexing. Chicago Manual of Style, Introduction, Definitions Indexing Books, Introduction to Book Indexing	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Using indexes. Put yourself in the place of the typical index user and see if you can find topics using existing indexes. Chicago Manual of Style, The Indexer Indexing Books, The Author and the Index Indexing: Nuts and Bolts, About this guide, About indexing	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing with MS Word. Spend some time learning (or reviewing) the basics of creating an index in MS Word. If you use some other software, let your instructor know. Indexing Books, Tools for Indexing	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing project 1. Straight out of the box, let's see how well you do on a simple indexing project. True, the document you'll index is too short to warrant an index, but this is for practice. Note: In this course, you can choose to index technical documents other than instructions. Let your instructor know.	mmddyy	Name this project yourname_index1.doc (if you are using Microsoft Word), and send it as an e-mail attachment to your instructor. (Name subsequent revisions yourname_index1b.doc, yourname_index1c.doc, and so on.)
	Indexes: rough drafting. Use the rough-draft overview to get a general idea of one approach to generating a rough-draft index. Chicago Manual of Style, The Mechanics of Indexing Indexing Books, Getting Started	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing substantive occurrences of topics. Consider what it means to index only the "substantive" occurrences of a topic and get some practice doing that. Chicago Manual of Style, General Principles of Indexing Indexing Books, Structure of Entries Indexing: Nuts and Bolts, Start indexing	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing headings. Practice creating index entries from the headings and subheadings of a document—but don't stop there!	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Cross-listing index entries. Learn how to "clone" (cross-list) index entries to create additional entries that some readers might try when they look up a topic. Indexing: Nuts and Bolts, Indexing guidelines	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Adding synonym entries. Practice creating synonym entries in indexes for existing index entries.	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing regular content. Only after you've created the indexing equivalent of an outline by indexing headings is it a good time to start working page by page through the actual text. Practice identifying index-worthy topics in the regular text of a document.	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing unusual and nontextual material. Remember to index material that occurs outside the regular text—such as tables, illustrations, appendixes, and prefaces. Indexing Books, Special Concerns in Indexing	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Adding see and see also entries. Practice using See references to help readers get to the topic they seek in case they are using different terminology. Practice using See also references to help readers recover from "near misses." Please notice there are two units here.	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Generating the rough-draft index. See what a rough-draft index developed with the strategies presented in the first part of the course looks like—but don't be dismayed!	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing project 2. Practice using all the indexing strategies presented so far to create a rough-draft index.	mmddyy	Name this project yourname_index2.doc (if you are using Microsoft Word), and send it as an e-mail attachment to your instructor. (Name subsequent revisions yourname_index2b.doc, yourname_index2c.doc, and so on.)
	Indexes: revising & finetuning. Get an overview of the common tasks required to clean up and finetune a rough-draft index. Chicago Manual of Style, Editing an Index Compiled by Someone Else	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Consolidating index entries. Get some practice consolidating similar index entries that use slightly different phrasing.	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Grouping and subordinating index entries. Learn some ways to group related index entries and how to subordinate and label entries with lots of page references. Chicago Manual of Style, Typographical Considerations Indexing Books, Arrangement of Entries	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Throwing out useless rough-draft index entries. Practice identifying useless index entries that no one would ever use to find topics in an index. Chicago Manual of Style, Principles of Alphabetizing Indexing Books, Format and Layout of the Index	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Editing indexes for style & mechanics. Review some common variables involving punctuation, capitalization, italics, and other such. Chicago Manual of Style, Examples Indexing Books, Editing the Index	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing checklist. Take a look at an indexer's checklist which summarizes practically everything you've covered in this course.	mmddyy	Do the readings and practice in this unit.
	Indexing project 3: critiquing an index. Use what you've learned in course and the indexer's checklist to evaluate an existing index.	mmddyy	Name this project yourname_index3.doc (if you are using Microsoft Word), and send it as an e-mail attachment to your instructor. (Name subsequent revisions yourname_index3b.doc, yourname_index3c.doc, and so on.)
	Indexing project 4. Use the revising and finetuning strategies you studied in this part of the course to complete the index you started in Index Project 1. If you believe you need additional indexing practice, contact your instructor.	mmddyy	Name this project yourname_index4.doc (if you are using Microsoft Word), and send it as an e-mail attachment to your instructor. (Name subsequent revisions yourname_index4b.doc, yourname_index3c.doc, and so on.)
Note: All work in this course must be complete no later than mmddyy.

Syllabus

Objectives

Understand the essential functions of an index.
Understand what a "substantive" occurence of a topic is.
Know the strategies for rough-drafting an index.
Know how to index headings and subheadings.
Know how to "clone" index entries.
Find synonyms for existing index entries and create index entries for them.
Know how to index front and back matter as well as nontextual material such as tables and graphics.
Understand the functions of See and See also entries and know how create them.
Know the strategies for revising and finetuning an index.
Know how to consolidate similar index entries.
Be able to group and subordinate index entries.
Be able to recognize useless entries that no one would ever use.
Know how to edit index entries for capitalization, punctuation, highlighting, succinctness, and other such issues.
Know how to use an application like Microsoft Word to index documents and to alphabetize index entries and subentries.

Grades

A: All studies and projects completed and approved by your instructor.
B: All studies and projects completed and approved by your instructor except for approval of the final indexing project.
C: All studies completed and approved by your instructor except for the final project.

Books

The following textbooks are required:

Indexing: A Nuts-and-Bolts Guide for Technical Writers. Kurt Ament. William Andrew Publishing, any recent edition.
Indexing Books. Nancy C. Mulvany. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, any recent edition.

Resources

Indexing resource page. Listservs, articles, books, forums, and more.

Course Evaluation

Use the course evaluation form to give your opinions on the effectiveness of the study materials and organization of this course. (This evaluation is strictly optional, strictly voluntary.)

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