Indexing Specifications
The indexing specifications are everything the indexer needs to know in order to produce a high-quality index. Often publishers already have an indexing specifications worksheet, though please make sure it is up to date. If not, then feel free to use the list I have provided. You can also request Chicago Manual of Style specifications (17th edition). Lastly, please be sure to include contact information for the person I can send queries to if/when I need further information. Though I have tried to make this list exhaustive, please feel free to add any information you feel I need to enhance and expedite this process. I have included a handy fillable form you can download which includes all of the below information.
Fillable Indexing Specifications Form
Contact Information
Primary Contact: Please provide the name and contact information for the person I will be contacting for all questions and concerns.
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Name: ________________________________________________________________________________
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Email: ________________________________________________________________________________
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Phone: ________________________________________________________________________________
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Hours of Availability/Business Hours: _____________________________________________________
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Preferred method of contact is usually email, if other please indicate: __________________________
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I understand that there is a separation between work and personal time, and will not expect emails to be answered outside of business hours.
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Secondary Contact: if available
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Name: ________________________________________________________________________________
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Email: ________________________________________________________________________________
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Phone: ________________________________________________________________________________
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Hours of Availability/Business Hours: _____________________________________________________
General Information
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Publisher (or indicate self-published): _____________________________________________________
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Timing:
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Date when I can expect fixed page proofs (if unknown, indicated an approximate range):
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Date: ___________________________________________________________________
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Date when index is due: note there should be several days included for me to make any required edits (including time spent with the author if available):
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Draft Due: ______________________________________________________________
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Final Due: ______________________________________________________________
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Book Description: Please provide a general description of the book
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Book Title: _____________________________________________________________________
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Type of Book: __________________________________________________________________
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Subject/Genre: _________________________________________________________________
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Short Description: ______________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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Word Count: Total (or estimated) indexable word count and/or number of indexable pages plus number of words per page. Notes (end or foot) and appendixes are not usually indexed. If they are to be indexed, be sure to include them in the word counts.
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Total Word Count: (with sample pages) garners price per word and project estimate
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Total Word Count: _________________________________________________
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Total Page Count with Words Per Page: (with sample pages) garners price per page and project estimate
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Total Page Count: __________________________________________________
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Words Per Page: ___________________________________________________
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Number of Words Per Page: (with sample pages) garners price per page estimate (in the even your book is not finished)
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Words Per Page: ___________________________________________________
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Please indicate if you want the notes (end/foot) and/ or the appendixes or other matter indexed and have included them in the word counts: Please check all that apply and write in special instructions as necessary:
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Notes (end or foot): ________________________________________________
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Appendixes: ______________________________________________________
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Other: ___________________________________________________________
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None
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Indexing Specifications
Options: Publisher provided, Chicago Manual of Style, or Use this Worksheet (fillable PDF here)
Audience: Please indicate the expected audience (may choose more than one option):
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Scholars
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College students
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K-12 students
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General Public
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Index style: Please choose one or write in your own:
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Indented
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Run-in
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Capitalization: Please choose one or write in your own:
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All main headings
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Only proper nouns (standard)
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Punctuation:
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Commas: Please choose one
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Standard (CMOS): when a main heading is followed immediately by locators, a comma appears before the first locator; commas appear between locators; commas are used when a heading is an inversion or when a main heading is qualified, without subentries.
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Example: tomatoes, history of, 23-27, 39, 101
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Other: please explain
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__________________________________________________________
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Colon: Please choose one
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Standard (CMOS): In a run-in index, when a main heading is followed immediately by subentries, a colon appears before the first subheading; and a colon can be used in a cross-reference to a subentry.
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Other: please explain
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__________________________________________________________
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Semicolon: Please choose one
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Standard (CMOS): When subentries or sub-subentries are run in, they are separated by semicolons; and cross-references, if more than one, are separated by semicolons.
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Other: please explain
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__________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________
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Period: Please choose one
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Standard (CMOS): In a run-in index, a period is used only before See (or See under) or See also (or See also under); and in an indented index a period is used only before See.
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Other: please explain
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__________________________________________________________
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Parentheses in Headings: Please choose one
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Standard (CMOS): Parentheses enclose identification or supplementary information.
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Other: please explain
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__________________________________________________________
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Alphabetization:
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Please choose one:
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Word-by-word
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Letter-by-letter
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With regard to numbers: Please choose one or write in your own:
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Standard practice is to place numbers how they would be spelled out as in the two following examples:
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1984 (Orwell): alphabetized at nineteen eighty-four
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125th street: alphabetized at one hundred twenty-fifth street
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Numbers can be sorted numerically at the beginning of the index instead
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Other: ___________________________________________________________
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Special instructions concerning abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols (write in Standard if unsure):
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_________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________
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Placement of function words in main headings (inverted or ignored in the sort): Please choose one of the examples or write in your own:
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A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
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Tale of Two Cities, A (Dickens)
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Other: ___________________________________________________________
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Subheadings: Please indicate the number of subheading levels:
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subheadings (one level)
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sub-subheadings (two levels)
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sub-sub-subheadings (three levels)
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Locator format: Please indicate the desired locator format:
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Page numbers
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Paragraph numbers
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Section numbers
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Page range style: Please choose a page range style (note: ranges are separated by an 'en' dash '–' unless otherwise noted):
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Standard (126–129)
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Elided (126–29)
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Formatting of figures, illustrations, graphs, tables, etc.: Please choose how figures, illustrations, etc. will be indicated in the index:
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Bold page numbers: 26
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Italicized page numbers: 26
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Page number and italicized identifier: 26fig
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Cross-reference formatting: Please indicate how you would like the cross-references to be formatted:
Capitalization/Italicization Options: Please circle one or write in your own (note that the capitalized versions will be preceded by a period):
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See and See also
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See and See also
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see and see also
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see and see also
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Other: ___________________________________________________________
Formatting: Please choose one or write in your own
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Option 1: Run-in
main heading: subheading; subheading;
subheading. see also cross-reference
main heading. see cross-reference
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Option 2: Indented
main heading. See cross-reference
main heading
subheading
subheading
See also cross-reference
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Option 3: Other: Please explain
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__________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________
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Other special formatting:
Names: Choose all that apply to the index:
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All names
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Only author names
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Include cited names in parenthesis
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Spelled out first names or initials only: _________________________________
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Other: __________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________
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Would you like definitions that are bolded in the text to also be bolded in the index?
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Yes
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No
Is there any special formatting of titles:
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Other special formatting instructions:
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_________________________________________________________________
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Space available for the index: Generally, I only need these specifics when space is limited and I need to figure out exactly how many entries the index can hold. Please note that space limitations will affect the exhaustivity, specificity, and price of the index.
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Number of pages: _________________________________________________________
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Columns per page: ________________________________________________________
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Lines per column: ________________________________________________________
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Characters per line: _______________________________________________________
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Font and Font Size (if available in Word): _____________________________________
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Note: In order to find the number of characters per line, I use MS Word. With the index in one column and opened in Word, I highlight the entire document, set the font to Courier New size 12, and then adjust the ruler until the desired number of characters fills a line. This is also how I can tell how many lines the index will have. However, the publisher’s designer will have final say over the format and look of the index, and this method is used by me when there is limited space so as to avoid having to make major cuts in the first draft.
Exhaustivity and Specificity: These terms refer to how detailed the index will be, and how many entries per page are expected or the size and density of the index. What we need to know is the number of pages available for the index, and then we can determine the “proportion of the number of index pages to the number of indexable text pages of the book.” Mulvany, Nancy. (2005). [Indexing Books]. In a book with 200 indexable pages, if you have 10 extra pages for the index, you divide 10 by 200 to get a 5 percent index. (10/200 = 0.05 or 5%). What this tells us is about how many terms or entries per page to expect. Please choose an option below or write in your own:
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2-5% index will garner 3-5 entries per page
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7-8% index will garner 6-8 entries per page
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10% index will garner 8-10 entries per page
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Note: Please be aware that this does not mean there will be exactly that number of entries from each page. This is to be used as a guide only, and actual entries per page will vary depending on the content.
Notes: footnotes and endnotes are generally not indexed unless they contain information not present or mentioned in the text. Names, including citations, found in the notes are also not indexed unless requested. Please indicate if you want the notes indexed and if you want the citations indexed.
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Yes, I want the notes to be indexed (must be included in word counts)
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Yes, I want citations found in the notes to be indexed (incurs extra cost)
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No, I do not want citations found in the notes to be indexed (standard)
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No, I do not want the notes to be indexed (will not be included in word counts)
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Other (please be as specific as possible):
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_________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________
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Other material you would like indexed that is not usually covered:
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Appendixes: _____________________________________________________________
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Preface/Forward: _________________________________________________________
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
Sample index provided: you may provide a sample index you like in terms of style and/or content, and I can fill out much the indexing specification form from that.
Author Interactions
Will I be able to contact the author with questions regarding the text? If yes, please fill out the following information:
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Author Info:
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Name: __________________________________________________________________
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Email: __________________________________________________________________
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Phone (if available): _______________________________________________________
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Preferred method of contact if other than email: _________________________________
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Author Requirements: are there any special instructions from the author?
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Are there any specific terms they want? Yes or No
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They will need to provide a list.
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Are there any names they want to see outside of the traditional/standard name indexing rules: for example, names in citations which are not usually indexed. (See Question 11)
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Can they provide a list? This also helps with accurate spelling.
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Any other instructions or concerns the author may have:
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_________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________
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Index Submission/Delivery
How would you like the index submitted?
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File Submission Type:
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RTF (standard)
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Word doc
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PDF
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Spacing:
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Single spaced
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Double spaced
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Margins: standard margins of 1” top, bottom, and sides unless otherwise indicated:
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Top: _____________
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Bottom: __________
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Left: _____________
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Right: ____________
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Number of Columns:
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One
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Two
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Three
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Four
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Page Number:
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Centered in footer
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Left aligned in footer
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Right aligned in footer
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None
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Header: Would you like any information in the header? Please explain:
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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Font and Font Size: Courier New 12 or other
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Title will read as Index in 14 point (or plus 2 sizes) of the indicated font with a single or double space (as previously indicated) below it unless otherwise stated:
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Other title instructions: ____________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________________
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Alphabetic Grouping:
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Letter heading above each alphabetic group
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Single space only between alphabetic groups
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Other: __________________________________________________________________
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Special Requirements: Are there any special coding or tagging requirements, including any for diacritics (must provide specific, clear instructions)?
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________________________________________________________________________
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More Information
For Chicago Manual of Style Indexing Specifications go to their website where you can buy the book, sign up for a subscription, or buy the indexing section by itself.
For a handy fillable PDF worksheet that you can save, print, and email:
For questions please Click Here