TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
As far as I'm concerned, there are exactly three rules in indexing:
1) Alphabetize
2) Think about how the reader is going to use it.
3) More is Better.
So the answer is - include it if you can conceive of your reader ever
wanting to look it up that way. If you aren't sure, include it anyway.
If you are sure nobody in their right mind would ever look it up that
way, include it anyway.
Few things in print (or help file lookup tables) annoy me as much
as not finding what I need in an index.
----------
From: Kevin Sporleder[SMTP:kevinsp -at- CRT -dot- COM]
Sent: Friday, October 20, 1995 3:03 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list TEC
Subject: indexing gerunds
When indexing an item, is it helpful to include gerund references
(example 1)
in
the index along with noun references (example 2)?
* Displaying the P&L report (appearing under _D_)
* P&L report, displaying (appearing under _P_)
Or should I just stick with nouns?
Thanks,
Kevin Sporleder kevinsp -at- crt -dot- com
