Methods of creating an index

There are many ways of creating a list of key words, or an index. Some are less thorny than others, and also give better results. In this article, we present to you ways of creating an index. Essentially, the reader benefits from a good index, because he can find his way around more easily in an extensive document.

Text by Walter Greulich

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Methods of creating an index

The manner in which an index can be created for a document, or ought to be created, even, is something that many technical writers have pondered time and again. And often, they come up with the feeling of having to reinvent the wheel. The question is: Is this really necessary? No, of course not. We shall see in the following sections that creating indexes is a refined art with many useful methods and rules.

What is an index?

Before we take a closer look at the process of indexing, we need to first define the term “Index”. Everything else can be deduced later, based on this definition.

A register or index is a list of topics, key words, terms and document properties, which is usually arranged in alphabetical order, and is systematically created in accordance with uniform criteria, so as to make it easier for the reader to access the contents of the document.

This definition was given ...

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