Making Non-Fiction Text User Friendly

During a recent project, I had the pleasure of receiving positive critical attention for my comprehensive index.  Nevertheless, some of my co-authors have been less than enthusiastic about the value of the work involved in an indexing project.  In fact, one of them was involved in an anthology for which an index was not considered pertinent since including one would have reduced the numerous works of one of their prolific authors.

When I examined the book’s table of contents, I realized the book had frequent references to historical events and high-profile people.  Unfortunately, the lack of an index precludes a reader’s ability to analyze the material covered, especially if wishing to compare text offered by multiple authors on a particular subject.  And with the passage of time, even someone who has read the book and is familiar with its topics will find it difficult to access specific references—unless the material is in an electronic format allowing one to implement a find or search command to locate desired topics.

Since one can never know how a work will be used at a future time, I believe the argument for including indices in works of non-fiction is quite simple:  If a reader will need to locate a specific reference at some point, there is a need for an index.  For even if a book’s contents are directed to a specific audience, future developments within the field under discussion—let alone the unfolding of history—may yield an unexpected group of readers for whom an index will be invaluable.

Regarding the structuring an index, the most obvious starting point is listing proper nouns contained in the work—meaning all people, geographic locations, and events of sufficient worth to have been named.  Such obvious topics can be gathered by most word processing programs.  Another tactic for refining your own index is analyzing those terms included by other authors addressing a parallel subject.

As you delve into the project, you may find topics requiring considerable analysis.  In looking at the nouns you have initially listed, consider related names and topics that can be grouped under a general category.  For example, discussion of lions, dogs and parrots suggest that a general topic of animals would be appropriate.  Of course, some words may not be so obvious in their association.  One area of complexity is persons of varied professional accreditation.  If you lacked sufficient numbers of therapists, physicians and dentists to provide these individual categories, you might use a comprehensive term such as healthcare professionals.  Consider the terms highways, access ways, and trains.  While they do not all relate to forms of roadways, they might be listed under the general heading of transportation.

If you tire during the Indexing process, you might wish to return to analyzing the work of colleagues.  For while I’m sure that by the time you are ready to prepare an index, you have probably accessed the works of many authors, you may not have closely examined their indices.  This semi-final exercise may not only reveal an approach to indexing you have not considered, but it may also reveal gaps in topics or subtopics within the body of your own work.  Even if you decline to broaden the scope of your piece, you may wish to consider some additions to your afterword or bibliography.

Before I leave the topic of indexing, I should offer one cautionary note for avoiding a mammoth appendage to your actual composition:  When in doubt about including a general category, consider whether you have a minimum of three words to list within it…

Beyond indexing, what other tools of wordsmithing
could enhance your reader’s experience?

Wishing you the best in your writing endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, wordsmith and design consultant

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower, please visit:
Http://www.ImaginingsWordpower.com