Steps for Reviewing an Index

An index should be a reliable map to your publication

(An excerpt from Stet Again!)

If you use in-house or freelance editors or indexers, you'll need to review their work. Just as a writer isn't usually the best proofreader for his or her own work, even the most careful indexer may make a mistake and not see it. No index should be considered final until someone other than the indexer has reviewed it thoroughly. If that ends up being you, here's a step-by-step guide.

Style and format

These are the first things to check. Use the checklist you provided the indexer to make sure these items have been properly taken care of:

• Has the index been alphabetized to your specifications?
• Has the preferred indented or paragraph style been followed?
• Has the indexer placed the cross-references properly?
• Are the page references given in the style you requested?

Main headings

Next, read all the main headings for general coverage and content as well as wording. Check them against the table of contents, introduction, and executive summary to make sure all major topics have been covered. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are key words given first?
• Will the headings make sense to the reader?

Subheadings

Read the subheadings for conciseness, wording, and logic.

• If you feel that a subheading is too long, inaccurate, or misleading, now's the time to correct it. For example, the heading Cooperative apartments with the subheading documentation means something quite different from Cooperative apartments with the subheading documents to study before buying.
• Try to eliminate single subheadings. Consider either doing away with a single subheading completely or else join it to the main heading with a comma. For example, if Annual percentage rate is a heading with the single subhead manufactured homes, make the heading Annual percentage rate, for manufactured homes.
• Make sure subheadings are grammatically parallel. For example, if Mortgages is a heading with the subheadings prepayment and refinancing, change them to prepaying and refinancing.

Cross-references

Check all cross-references for accuracy. If you've made changes in the headings in text, make sure these changes haven't affected any cross-references in the index. Watch out for

• differences in wording between a cross-reference and the heading it refers to, and
• a cross-reference to a heading that has been deleted.

Page references

As you go through the index, spot check the page references for accuracy. It's easy to mis-type a number, particularly if the page references are complicated. If you find many errors, you may want to go back through the index more thoroughly. Otherwise, a final random check of about 10 percent of the page references should be enough.

Spell checking

If the indexer hasn't done so, or if you've made extensive changes to the index, you'll need to spell check it. For very technical text, consider using a spell checker that is specifically geared toward your field. For example, the online version of Stedman's Medical Dictionary has a spell checker that is invaluable for indexes to medical books. You may want to have the index proofread one last time for spelling errors an electronic checker won't catch.

Last and most important

Put yourself in the shoes of a reader:

• Will this index help me understand the kinds of information I can find in this publication?
• Will the wording and crossreferences make that information easy for me to find even if I don't know everything about the subject?

If the answer to both questions is yes, your job is done. If not, go back to the headings, subheadings, and cross-references and look for ways to improve them.

Like any other essential piece of a publication, an index needs careful reviewing — despite its last-place position in the publication process.

—Catherine Dettmar

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