No one doubts that indexes are of value to readers. But they can also be of value to their own authors as editing tools. Because an index provides a microcosm of the main text, errors in that text will often be reflected in the index, and reflected in a way that makes them more visible. As he creates the index, the author can use it to spot errors in the body of the work—errors of terminology, of arrangement, of proportion, and of omission. This technique can be used to supplement the normal editing process.
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References
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Technical Writing: Had We But World Enough, and Time, Proceedings of Northwest 76, Association for Computing Machinery and Canadian Information Processing Society Symposium, June 1976.
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Technical Writing: Weaving the Silk Purse, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 6:3, 1976.
