New
England Chapter
American Society for Indexing
Past Presentations
New
England Chapter
|
|
|
Back to Spring Meeting 2008 program page
Spring Meeting 2008 Presentation
Editing Your Index
A panel of three experienced indexers spoke about how they edit their indexes and shared helpful hints. Steve Csipke and Joan Shapiro each discussed back-of-the-book indexing. Linda Dunn discussed periodical and database indexing. Editing Back-of-the-Book Indexes, presented by Steve Csipke. After earning his MLS, Steve Csipke had worked a number of years as a cataloger and New York Public Library before getting laid off. At that point he then went into back of the book indexing, starting off as an apprentice to Robert Palmer in the 1970s. Steve explained the valuable advice Palmer had taught him in index writing and editing.
Advice included to scan, not read, the entire book at first to get the book's structure; to read the index as a whole and not get lost in the details; and to be careful with language, especially in the subentries so as not to editorialize or use inappropriate tone. To demonstrate the latter point, Steve passed out excerpts from a book chapter on political scandals, specifically dealing with the prostitute affair of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. Steve also passed out a sheet with ten different possibilities of subentry wordings for the affair and resignation. The indexer is likely to initially use words from the author's language in the index subentries, but editing is required to reword the ideas into a more neutral tone.
Steve also distributed a three-page handout on editing a index, which included a page on when (at the beginning, during indexing, and at the end) in the process to do what kind of editing, a page comprising a lengthy checklist of items to check for in editing passes, and the a page of resources. Descriptions of indexing work in the 1970s added interest to the presentation. Steve related how he used to created indexes on paper and sometimes walk them over to the publisher. More significant, is that publishers used to edit indexes thoroughly and provide feedback to indexers, but not anymore. Now all the editing is left to the indexer. In the area of technical book indexing, you might also need to consider non-native English readers.Editing Back-of-the-Book Indexes, presented by Joan Shapiro. Joan Shapiro started actively indexing full time since 2000, and has completed over 300 text, trade, and self-help books to date. She works for publishers, packagers, and authors.
The approach she uses on editing back-of-the-book indexes is comprised of the following steps: The first step starts before reading the book, where she uses a system utilizing color paper documenting: Book title, Publisher, Contact person (email and phone), rate and billing information, Index specs (style sheet, Chicago Manual, Sample index), length limitation, and other specific information required by the publisher.
Reading and going through the material of book and setting up rules is her second step. She writes down any decision she makes regarding the selection of terms and any changes that it is worth noting.
The third step starts after entering all the terms in the software. Joan thinks that taking a mental break after entering all the terms is very important. She checks the headings, subheadings, and locators of the index; and uses the "find all" feature in the software and sorts the index in page order. Then she checks cross references, spelling, and prints the index. Finally, she reads the index in reverse in order to catch mistakes.Editing Periodical and Database Indexes, presented by Linda Dunn. In preparation.
__________________________________________________________________________________ Steve Csipke has an MSLS from Case Western Reserve University and a Certificate in Technical Writing from Northeastern University. After working as a freelance indexer for 10 years, he became a salaried technical writer, editor, and indexer for software manuals and online help systems. Currently Steve is a Senior Technical Editor at a financial services firm where he structures, edits, and indexes content for several intranets. He has been a member of the Society for Technical Communication since 1983 and of ASI since the 1970s. Steve is Vice President/President-Elect of the NEASI.
Joan Shapiro is an experienced freelance indexer. She produces mainly back-of-the-book indexes for publishers of textbooks and trade books in such subjects as nutrition/culinary arts, law, psychology, history, communications, and children's books. Joan is a past president of the NEASI.
Linda Dunn, Dunn Information Organization, has been a periodical indexer for 30 years and currently works as a freelance indexer and abstractor for several periodical databases. She was both the editor and an indexer for the print index, Film Literature Index, an international index to film and television magazines. Linda has also done name reconciliation work and written scope notes (subject term definitions) for several large thesauri. She has given presentations on periodical indexing and developing controlled vocabularies. Linda is a member of the New England and the New York chapters of ASI and moderator of the Periodical/Database Indexing Special Interest Group.