Analysis

Every word has three explanations
and three interpretations.

Irish Proverb

In this chapter, we present our approaches to the task of understanding and managing the content of Fodor's book. Each of us viewed this analysis process from a different perspective and these perspectives produced different indexes.

Sherry started with the information in the text and then proceeded toward the readers. She examined the text, determined the aboutness of the discussion, and then decided how to lead readers to it.

Kari began with the readers and then proceeded to the text. She defined her potential audience and their information needs, and then used this perspective to analyze the text. When she examined a passage, she considered readers' questions that might be answered by it.

In the chapter closing, we examine how these differing analytical perspectives influenced our gathering processes. We also confirm that both indexes are useful, even with these differences.

Chapters

Introduction

Audience
How do these indexers' perceptions of the audience influence the development of their indexes?

Analysis
How do these indexers' understandings of the text influence their approaches to creating entries?

Metatopic
How do these indexers' ideas about Fodor's primary topic impact their index structure?

Gathering
How do these indexers collect information and what influenced their decision-making?

Access Routes
How do these indexers develop pathways into the text?

Phrasing
How do these indexers use words and phrases to support the structure of the index?

Consistency
How do these indexers consider and evaluate consistency when implementing the other indexing principles?

Final Chapter
What have we learned from reading about the two indexes and the decision-making behind the entries?

Index
Download a copy of Martha Osgood's index for Inside Indexing.

Acknowledgements