BlueStem, LLC
  • Home
  • About
  • Indexing
  • Taxonomy
  • Content Strategy
  • Contact

How do I judge the quality of an index?

The purpose of the index is to guide readers quickly to the information they need. There are a few specific items you can check to make sure the index is serving its users well:
  • Length of the index. Is the index appropriately thorough for the text and audience?
  • Coverage of important topics. Look up a few of the main concepts in the text. Do the numbers of entries and subentries reflect the relative importance of concepts?
  • Locator accuracy. Look up a dozen index entries to be sure they guide you to the correct page. If you find errors, a more thorough edit may be necessary.
  • Wording of entries. Do the headings anticipate the different words a user might think to look under?
  • Spelling and grammatical errors. If you find errors, plan on a thorough edit.
  • Long strings of page locators. More than five or six page locators after a heading becomes cumbersome. Usually these can be broken down with subheadings.
  • Cross-reference accuracy. Make sure "see" and "see also" cross-references lead to the appropriate places.
  • Term consistency. Are the concepts indexed according to the author's preferred terminology in the book?

To request an estimate, call Carol Reed at BlueStem (248-736-9705) or click here to email.