Looking to expand your indexing and content analysis skills? Consider enrolling for LIS 8230, Indexing and Abstracting during Fall 2013!

Indexers assign descriptors based on thesauri and controlled vocabulary in order to ensure fast and correct retrieval of information from large databases. This is a career that many engage in remotely from home. Many of the students who took this course in the past are now indexers/content analysts for database producers like ProQuest, Cengage and others.

Overall, the course is designed to present the basic principles of content analysis and development of document surrogates (the brief description of textual material provided by abstracting and indexing services to identify and obtain access to published and unpublished works), such as indexes and abstracts, by making use of natural language and controlled vocabulary.

A good index greatly enhances the usability and value of a book or article, yet few writers and editors are versed in the construction of this vital part of a nonfiction publication. In this course, the student will learn the basic format, guidelines, and term selection approaches of back-of-the-book and database indexing. The course is also an introduction to abstract writing and to the principles of thesaurus construction.

This course is offered online with Dr. Hermina Anghelescu - http://slis.wayne.edu/faculty/bio.php?id=29001.

The CRN for the course is 15627.