Build a book index around the passages a reader needs to find
Create accurate lookup routes to substantive book passages. Use an original fictional worked example and preserve the evidence boundaries.
About 5 min read · Allow extra time for the practical checks
Choose entries that lead readers to substantive discussion, then check that each locator and cross-reference reaches the intended material. An index needs editorial judgement about the book’s subjects and readers. A list of every occurrence of selected words can send someone to passing mentions while missing a relevant discussion that uses different wording.
Follow the publisher’s current indexing instructions and the production editor’s agreed workflow. This guide explains the selection and checking task. It does not prescribe universal index length, timing, punctuation or software, and it does not replace a professional indexer’s assessment of a complex book.
Start from the reader’s question
Ask what someone returning to the book would want to locate. Identify the passage that answers that question, then decide which entry wording would provide a useful route to it. The book’s vocabulary matters, but the entry should also make sense to a reader who does not remember the chapter’s phrasing.
UCL Press’s indexing guidance, checked on 28 October 2026, emphasises reader needs, substantive discussion and appropriate locations rather than every occurrence of a term. It also asks authors to work with the production editor on timing. Apply those principles with the instructions for your own book; the source’s schedules, lengths and house-style details are not universal requirements.
Distinguish the index from a glossary. A glossary explains the meaning assigned to a term. An index directs the reader to where the book discusses a subject. A useful index entry may therefore need several more specific routes into a large subject rather than one definition.
Read the passage before accepting the locator
Inspect what the passage actually does. A term may occur in a short example, a substantive argument, a quotation or a citation. Decide whether that location belongs in the index under the applicable instructions and the reader need being served.
Searching the text can help find candidate passages, but it cannot by itself decide their importance. It can also miss a passage discussing the subject under another expression. Read around the occurrence and consider related material elsewhere before deciding on the entry.
For a broad subject, ask whether more specific subentries would help a reader find the relevant part of the discussion. Do not create a long list of distinctions merely because the text contains many sentences. Each subentry needs a meaningful relationship to the main entry and an appropriate destination.
Test an original fictional lookup route
The book, subjects and page locations below are entirely invented teaching material. They are not an index to a real publication or a description of actual community practice.
Imagine a fictional scholarly book about community orchards. Page 9 briefly mentions shared tools in a list of topics. Pages 42–44 discuss how the book’s documents describe responsibility for shared tools. Page 73 discusses a separate issue about arranging seasonal tasks. Elsewhere, the book uses “tool pool” for the same shared-tool arrangement.
| Candidate route | What the fictional passage contains | Editorial decision to examine |
|---|---|---|
| Shared tools: page 9 | A passing mention in an introductory list | Do not include it merely because a search found the words |
| Shared tools: pages 42–44 | A sustained discussion of responsibility in the documents | Provide an entry or subentry identifying that discussion |
| Shared tools: page 73 | A different discussion about seasonal tasks | Do not attach this location to tools without a relevant passage |
| Tool pool | An alternative expression for the same arrangement in this book | Consider a direct cross-reference to the preferred entry |
The example requires checking both meaning and location. A possible subentry could identify responsibility under the main heading for shared tools. Its value would be that it directs a reader to the specific discussion, rather than treating every page about the orchard as equally relevant.
The invented locations are not formatting instructions. In real work, use the locator system and source version supplied for the project. Do not copy pagination from an earlier manuscript into an index for a later production version.
Make cross-references reach useful destinations
If an alternative expression redirects to a preferred heading, confirm that the destination exists and supplies the expected route. Keep the wording consistent enough for the reader to recognise the target. A circular reference or a chain ending in a missing heading creates more work than it saves.
Separate a redirect from a pointer to related discussion, using the publisher’s conventions for each. Two related subjects are not necessarily interchangeable labels. In the fictional book, shared tools and seasonal tasks might connect in an argument, but that does not make one a synonym for the other.
Review cross-references after changing headings. A sensible rename can leave old references pointing to a heading that has disappeared. Check the entry as a reader would encounter it, rather than assuming that the underlying concept makes the route obvious.
Recheck the index against the production version
Confirm which file and locator system the publisher wants you to use. Indexing workflows differ, and a project may use page references, embedded entries or another system. Do not assume that every publisher expects the same stage or file type.
After relevant text or layout changes, identify which locators need checking. Recheck affected entries and their cross-references against the supplied production material. An earlier accurate location can become wrong without the entry wording changing.
Use the report-glossary guide for the different task of explaining terminology. Use the page-proof guide for recording precise corrections, while following the book project’s own production instructions.
Before returning the index, check that important subjects have useful routes, entries describe the passages they locate and references do not lead to absent or unrelated material. A successful checking pass makes the navigation accurate; it does not establish that every reader’s search has been tested.
