An index ( pl. : usually indexes , more rarely indices ) is a list of words or phrases ('headings') and associated pointers ('locators') to where useful material relating to that heading can be found in a document or collection of documents. Examples are an index in the back matter of a book and an index that serves as a library catalog . An index differs from a word index, or concordance , in focusing on the subject of the text rather than the exact words in a text, and it differs from a table of contents because the index is ordered by subject, regardless of whether it is early or late in the book, while the listed items in a table of contents is placed in the same order as the book.
34-417: For Dummies is an extensive series of instructional reference books which are intended to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. The series has been a worldwide success with editions in numerous languages. The books are an example of a media franchise , consistently sporting a distinctive cover—usually yellow and black with a triangular-headed cartoon figure known as
68-645: A Rich Tennant comic that refers to some part of the subject under discussion, though the comics were discontinued in 2012. Sometimes the same Tennant drawing reappears in another Dummies book with a new caption. Another constant in the Dummies series is "The Part of Tens", a section at the end of the books where lists of 10 items are included. They are usually resources for further study and sometimes also include amusing bits of information that do not fit readily elsewhere. Several related series have been published, including Dummies 101 , with step-by-step tutorials in
102-675: A back-of-book-style index to a website or intranet ), search engine indexing , database indexing (the application of a pre-defined controlled vocabulary such as MeSH to articles for inclusion in a database), and periodical indexing (indexing of newspapers, journals, magazines). Some indexers with expertise in controlled vocabularies also work as taxonomists and ontologists . Some indexers specialize in particular subject areas, such as anthropology, business, computers, economics, education, government documents, history, law, mathematics, medicine, psychology, and technology. An indexer can be found for any subject. In " The Library of Babel ",
136-493: A book So to his mind was young Leander's look. A similar reference to indexes is in Shakespeare 's lines from Troilus and Cressida (I.3.344), written nine years later: And in such indexes, although small pricks To their subsequent volumes, there is seen The baby figure of the giant mass Of things to come at large. But according to G. Norman Knight, "at that period, as often as not, by an 'index to
170-498: A book' was meant what we should now call a table of contents." Until about the end of the nineteenth century, books, fiction as well as non-fiction, sometimes had very detailed chapter titles, which could be several sentences long. Among the first indexes – in the modern sense – to a book in the English language was Leonard Mascall's "A booke of the arte and maner how to plant and graffe all sortes of trees" printed in 1575. Another
204-439: A book, publishers or book packagers . Some publishers and database companies employ indexers. Before indexing software existed, indexes were created using slips of paper or, later, index cards . After hundreds of such slips or cards were filled out (as the indexer worked through the pages of the book proofs), they could then be shuffled by hand into alphabetical order, at which point they served as manuscript to be typeset into
238-446: A conventional static index; however, an embedded index can save time in the long run when the material is updated or repaginated. This is because, with a static index, if even a few pages change, the entire index must be revised or recreated while, with an embedded index, only the pages that changed need updating or indexing. Indexes are also designed to help the reader find information quickly and easily. A complete and truly useful index
272-400: A large-format book (now discontinued); More ... for Dummies , which are essentially sequels to the first ... For Dummies book on the subject; and For Dummies Quick Reference , which is a condensed alphabetical reference to the subject. A larger All-in-One Desk Reference format offers more comprehensive coverage of the subject, normally running about 750 pages. Also, some books in
306-420: A short story by Jorge Luis Borges , there is an index of indexes that catalogues all of the books in the library, which contains all possible books. Kurt Vonnegut 's novel Cat's Cradle includes a character who is a professional indexer and believes that "indexing [is] a thing that only the most amateurish author [undertakes] to do for his own book." She claims to be able to read an author's character through
340-413: A traditional back-of-the-book index , the headings will include names of people, places, events, and concepts selected as being relevant and of interest to a possible reader of the book. The indexer performing the selection may be the author, the editor, or a professional indexer working as a third party. The pointers are typically page numbers, paragraph numbers or section numbers. In a library catalog
374-486: Is a computer program or data that is stored electronically, which is usually found on a computer, including information that is available on the Internet. Libraries offer numerous types of electronic resources including electronic texts such as electronic books and electronic journals , bibliographic databases , institutional repositories , websites , and software applications . Index (publishing) In
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#1732772722564408-400: Is a work, such as a paper , book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents ), to which one can refer for information . The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in these works is informative; the authors avoid opinions and the use of
442-564: Is erroneously held to be the earliest index found in an English book. The word is derived from Latin , in which index means "one who points out", an "indication", or a " forefinger ". In Latin, the plural form of the word is indices . In English, the plural "indices" is commonly used in mathematical and computing contexts , and sometimes in bibliographical contexts – for example, in the 17-volume Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (1999–2002). However, this form
476-638: Is made in the development of topic maps , which started as a way of representing the knowledge structures inherent in traditional back-of-the-book indexes. The concept embodied by book indexes lent its name to database indexes , which similarly provide an abridged way to look up information in a larger collection, albeit one for computer use rather than human use. In the English language, indexes have been referred to as early as 1593, as can be seen from lines in Christopher Marlowe 's Hero and Leander of that year: Therefore, even as an index to
510-415: Is not simply a list of the words and phrases used in a publication (which is properly called a concordance ), but an organized map of its contents, including cross-references , grouping of like concepts, and other useful intellectual analysis. Sample back-of-the-book index excerpt: In books, indexes are usually placed near the end (this is commonly known as "BoB" or back-of-book indexing). They complement
544-692: Is now seen as an archaism by many writers and commentators, who prefer the anglicised plural "indexes". "Indexes" is widely used in the publishing industry; in the International Standard ISO 999 , Information and documentation – Guidelines for the content, organization and presentation of indexes ; and is preferred by the Oxford Style Manual . The Chicago Manual of Style allows both forms. G. Norman Knight quotes Shakespeare 's lines from Troilus and Cressida (I.3.344) – "And in such indexes ..." – and comments: "But
578-475: Is then generated automatically from the embedded text using the position of the embedded headings to determine the locators. Thus, when the pagination is changed the index can be regenerated with the new locators. LaTeX documents support embedded indexes primarily through the MakeIndex package. Several widely used XML DTDs , including DocBook and TEI , have elements that allow index creation directly in
612-618: Is used in SAT preparation. A Chess for Dummies was made, a black-and-yellow chessboard with a picture of a piece, along with a summary of how the piece moves, printed its starting positions, although there is a book with the same name. In 2009, French publisher Anuman Interactive obtained the digital exploitation rights and launched many applications based on the For Dummies collection, such as Home Design 3D For Dummies and History For Dummies . Reference work A reference work
646-530: The Internet . Misplaced Pages , an online encyclopedia , is both the largest and the most-read reference work in history. In contrast to books that are loaned , a reference book or reference-only book in a library may only be used in the library and may not be borrowed from the library. Many such books are reference works (in the first sense), which are usually used briefly or photocopied from and, therefore, do not need to be borrowed. Keeping reference books in
680-547: The table of contents by enabling access to information by specific subject, whereas contents listings enable access through broad divisions of the text arranged in the order they occur. It has been remarked that, while "[a]t first glance the driest part of the book, on closer inspection the index may provide both interest and amusement from time to time." Some principles of good indexing include: Indexing pitfalls: Some indexers specialize in specific formats, such as scholarly books, microforms, web indexing (the application of
714-533: The "Dummies Man", and an informal, blackboard-style logo. Prose is simple and direct; bold icons, such as a piece of string tied around an index finger, are placed in the margin to indicate particularly important passages. The first title, DOS For Dummies , was written by Dan Gookin and published in November 1991 by IDG Books. DOS For Dummies became popular due to the rarity of beginner-friendly materials for using DOS . The Windows title written by Andy Rathbone
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#1732772722564748-582: The , and , and in . J. G. Ballard 's "The Index" is a short story told through the form of an index to an "unpublished and perhaps suppressed" autobiography. The American Society for Indexing, Inc. (ASI) is a national association founded in 1968 to promote excellence in indexing and increase awareness of the value of well-designed indexes. ASI serves indexers, librarians, abstractors, editors, publishers, database producers, data searchers, product developers, technical writers, academic professionals, researchers and readers, and others concerned with indexing. It
782-518: The XML files. Most word processing software , such as StarWriter / OpenOffice.org Writer , Microsoft Word , and WordPerfect , as well as some desktop publishing software (for example, FrameMaker and InDesign ), as well as other tools (for example, MadCap Software 's Flare), have some facility for embedded indexing as well. TExtract and IndexExploit support embedded indexing of Microsoft Word documents. An embedded index requires more time to create than
816-465: The author, find information, so the professional indexer must act as a liaison between the text and its ultimate user. In the United States, according to tradition, the index for a non-fiction book is the responsibility of the author, but most authors do not actually do it. Most indexing is done by freelancers hired by authors, publishers or an independent business which manages the production of
850-1005: The first person, and emphasize facts. Indices are a common navigation feature in many types of reference works. Many reference works are put together by a team of contributors whose work is coordinated by one or more editors, rather than by an individual author. Updated editions are usually published as needed, in some cases annually ( Whitaker's Almanack , Who's Who ). Reference works include textbooks , almanacs , atlases , bibliographies , biographical sources , catalogs such as library catalogs and art catalogs, concordances , dictionaries , directories such as business directories and telephone directories , discographies , encyclopedias , filmographies , gazetteers , glossaries , handbooks , indices such as bibliographic indices and citation indices , manuals , research guides , thesauruses , and yearbooks . Many reference works are available in electronic form and can be obtained as reference software , CD-ROMs , DVDs , or online through
884-398: The index he created for his own history text, and warns the narrator, an author, "Never index your own book." Vladimir Nabokov 's novel Pale Fire includes a parody of an index, reflecting the insanity of the narrator. Mark Danielewski 's novel House of Leaves contains an exhaustive 41 page index of words in the novel, including even large listings for inconsequential words such as
918-436: The library assures that they will always be available for use on demand. Some reference-only books are too valuable to permit borrowers to take them out. Reference-only items may be shelved in a reference collection located separately from circulating items. Some libraries consist entirely, or to a large extent, of books which may not be borrowed. These are the main types and categories of reference work: An electronic resource
952-409: The printed index. Software is available to aid the indexer in building a book index. There are several dedicated indexing software programs available to assist with the special sorting and copying needs involved in index preparation. Embedded indexing involves including the index headings in the midst of the text itself, but surrounded by codes so that they are not normally displayed. A usable index
986-745: The real importance of this passage is that it establishes for all time the correct literary plural; we can leave the Latin form "indices" to the mathematicians (and similarly "appendices" to the anatomists)." The indexer reads through the text, identifying indexable concepts (those for which the text provides useful information and which will be of relevance for the text's readership). The indexer creates index headings to represent those concepts, which are phrased such that they can be found when in alphabetical order (so, for example, one would write 'indexing process' rather than 'how to create an index'). These headings and their associated locators (indicators to position in
1020-591: The series are smaller and do not follow the same formatting style as the others. Wiley has also launched an interactive online course with Learnstreet based on its popular book, Java for Dummies , 5th edition. A spin-off board game, Crosswords for Dummies , was produced in the late 1990s. The game is similar to Scrabble , but instead of letter tiles, players draw short strips of cardboard containing pre-built English words. The words vary in length from three to seven letters, with more points acquired for playing longer words. Another board game, SAT Game For Dummies ,
1054-428: The text) are entered into specialist indexing software which handles the formatting of the index and facilitates the editing phase. The index is then edited to impose consistency throughout the index. Indexers must analyze the text to enable presentation of concepts and ideas in the index that may not be named within the text. The index is intended to help the reader, researcher, or information professional, rather than
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1088-435: The words are authors, titles, subject headings, etc., and the pointers are call numbers . Internet search engines (such as Google ) and full-text searching help provide access to information but are not as selective as an index, as they provide non-relevant links, and may miss relevant information if it is not phrased in exactly the way they expect. Perhaps the most advanced investigation of problems related to book indexes
1122-623: Was one in Plutarch 's Parallel Lives , in Sir Thomas North 's 1595 translation. A section entitled "An Alphabetical Table of the most material contents of the whole book" may be found in Henry Scobell 's Acts and Ordinances of Parliament of 1658. This section comes after "An index of the general titles comprised in the ensuing Table". Both of these indexes predate the index to Alexander Cruden 's Concordance (1737), which
1156-601: Was soon released. While initially the series focused solely on software and technology topics, it later branched out to more general-interest titles, with topics as diverse as Acne For Dummies , Chess For Dummies , Fishing For Dummies and many other topics. The series is now published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , which acquired Hungry Minds (the new name for IDG Books as of 2000) in early 2001. Notable For Dummies books include: Almost all Dummies books are organized around sections called "parts", which are groups of related chapters. Parts are almost always preceded by
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