Course Information
| Session |
|---|
| Credits | 2.25 CEUs or 22.5 PDHs |
|---|---|
| Registration dates | We accept registrations through the first week of classes, unless enrollment is full, and unless the class was canceled before it started due to low enrollment. |
Introduction to Book Indexing
$375.00
Credits: 2.25 CEUs or 22.5 PDHs
The purpose of the course is to prepare you for a career as an indexer—whether you wish to be one full-time or as a supplement to your library career.
This six-week course will introduce you to the fundamentals of back-of-book indexing. While there are many types of indexing beyond back-of-book (database, web, and embedded, to name a few), the decision to focus on the most common form allows us to go in-depth on just what indexing is. The result is that upon completing this course, you will know enough about indexing to begin working as a freelance indexer, whether your interests are in textbooks, scholarly publications, trade publications, cookbooks, or memoirs.
The course is structured around the four pillars of indexing: (1) the purpose and function of an index, (2) the structure of an index, (3) the mechanics of indexing, and (4) the identity of the indexer. Each week, students will learn about topics relating to one or more of these pillars, such as the metatopic, publisher guidelines, term selection, glosses, and indexing software. The first three weeks of the course are the most content heavy, allowing students to focus in the final weeks on the major assignment for the course. Assignments will consist of weekly discussion posts, a short midterm exam, and four indexing exercises. The assignments are designed to teach you essential indexing skills, introduce you to different genres for indexing, and give you a portfolio of work as you begin your indexing career. In addition, optional video-chat office hours will be available weekly.
Students should expect to spend an average of 3.4 to 4 hours per week on the course. The only required text not provided by the course is the indexing chapter from the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. In addition, students are expected to use professional indexing software. The major ones are Cindex, Sky Index, and Macrex. Cindex and Macrex are both free to download and use and Sky provides a free demo. In-class support will be provided for Cindex.
Course Description
The purpose of the course is to prepare you for a career as an indexer—whether you wish to be one full-time or as a supplement to your library career.
This six-week course will introduce you to the fundamentals of back-of-book indexing. While there are many types of indexing beyond back-of-book (database, web, and embedded, to name a few), the decision to focus on the most common form allows us to go in-depth on just what indexing is. The result is that upon completing this course, you will know enough about indexing to begin working as a freelance indexer, whether your interests are in textbooks, scholarly publications, trade publications, cookbooks, or memoirs.
The course is structured around the four pillars of indexing: (1) the purpose and function of an index, (2) the structure of an index, (3) the mechanics of indexing, and (4) the identity of the indexer. Each week, students will learn about topics relating to one or more of these pillars, such as the metatopic, publisher guidelines, term selection, glosses, and indexing software. The first three weeks of the course are the most content heavy, allowing students to focus in the final weeks on the major assignment for the course. Assignments will consist of weekly discussion posts, a short midterm exam, and four indexing exercises. The assignments are designed to teach you essential indexing skills, introduce you to different genres for indexing, and give you a portfolio of work as you begin your indexing career. In addition, optional video-chat office hours will be available weekly.
Students should expect to spend an average of 3.4 to 4 hours per week on the course. The only required text not provided by the course is the indexing chapter from the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. In addition, students are expected to use professional indexing software. The major ones are Cindex, Sky Index, and Macrex. Cindex and Macrex are both free to download and use and Sky provides a free demo. In-class support will be provided for Cindex.
Jolanta Komornicka
Jolanta Komornicka is the co-president of the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation, specializing in indexing books in the scholarly humanities and social sciences. She also works on the occasional biography, trade book, and ttrpg gaming manual. Some of her favourite books are the ones that looked least appealing initially, such as the textbook for funerary arts professionals (full of some excellent dad jokes!) and the sports encyclopedia (juicy scandals everyone can enjoy, including those who call the collective enterprise “sportsball”). Apart from indexing, Jolanta works as an editor and proofreader. She comes to publishing by way of academia, where she was an assistant professor of history.
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