Lecture on

LIS-311 INDEXING AND ABSTRACTING

University of Southern Mindanao

Kabacan, Cotabato
College of Arts and Sciences
 Course Syllabus

I. Course Name: LIS 221 INDEXING AND ABSTRACTING

II. Course Description: Principles, theories and development of abstracting and indexing, designing
of thesauri, preparation of book and journal indexes and abstracts.

III. No. Of Units: 3 units

IV. No. Of Contact Hours Per Week: 3 hours

V. Prerequisites: LIS 111

VI. Course Objectives:

A. Terminal: By the end of the course, the students shall have:

1. Learned the principles and theories in the development of indexes and abstracts.
2. Know how to design a thesaurus.
3. Gained skills in the preparation of book and periodical indexes and abstracts.

B. Enabling: At the end of the course the student shall:

1. Be able to identify various types of indexes and abstracts.
2. Be able to apply the principles and theories of abstracting and indexing.
3. Be able to develop and produce a thesaurus, book and periodical indexes and
abstracts.

VII. Course Outline:

A. Indexing
1. Definition of terms
2. Development of indexes and indexing
3. Role of indexing in information retrieval
4. Information retrieval systems
5. Purposes and uses of indexes
6. Types of indexes
7. Principles and concepts of indexing.
7.1 Exhaustivity
7.1.1 Summarizations
7.1.2 Depth indexing
7.1.2.1 Specificity
7.1.2.2 Consistency in indexing

8. Indexing languages
8.1 Purposes and uses
8.2 Features / characteristics

8.3 Types
 8.3.1 Natural Language
8.3.2 Controlled Vocabulary
8.3.3 Free Language
9. Indexing systems
9.1 Coordinate indexing
9.1.1 Pre-coordinate indexing
9.1.2 Post-coordinate indexing

9.2 Classified indexing

9.2.1 Enumerative indexes
9.2.2 Faceted indexes
9.3 Chain indexes

9.4 Permuted title indexing

9.4.1 KWIC
9.4.2 KWAC
9.4.3 KWOC

9.5 Citation indexing

9.6 String indexing

9.6.1 Precis
9.6.2 POPSI
9.6.3 NEPHIS
9.6.4 Other systems

10. Measures of the effectiveness of the indexing system

10.1 Recall
10.2 Precision

11. Subject indexing process

11.1 Recording bibliographic data
11.2 Subject or conceptual analysis
11.3 Translation into standard terms using controlled vocabulary
11.4 Generating index entries

12. The Thesaurus

12.1. Difference / similarities between thesauri and subject headings lists
12.2. Relationships of terms
12.3. Basic features of thesaurus
12.4. Design / construction of a thesaurus

13. Indexing policies, procedures and guidelines

14. Production of index entries
14.1 Book indexing
14.2 Newspaper indexing
14.3 Periodical indexing

B. Abstracting
1. Definition of terms
2. Development of abstracts and abstracting process
 3. Abstracts and the various type of document surrogates
4. Uses of an abstracts
5. Types of abstracts
6. Principles and concepts of abstracting
6.1. Format
6.2. Style
6.3. Length
7. The abstracting process
8. Abstracting policies, procedures and guidelines
9. Production of abstracts

C. Applications of indexing and abstracting data

1. Primary publications
2. Indexing and abstracting journals and bulletins
3. Database products
4. Online searching
5. Current awareness services

VIII. Teaching Methodology

1. Symposia, Seminars, Workshop, Professional Lectures.
2. Field Trips / learning visits / other co-curricular activities.
3. Peer teaching / cooperative learning.
4. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and Computer-assisted learning (CAL)
5. Brainstorming
6. Lecture discussion with student interaction
7. Group discussion
8. Reporting / Topic presentation based from journal readings
9. PowerPoint presentation
10. Reaction papers from the journal
11. Library visitations (Public, Special, School, Academic libraries)
12. Internet Searching & Researching

IX. Course Requirements

1. Indexing 10 articles from journals and 10 articles from magazines with correct subject
entry & format.
2. Make an abstract
 1 indicative (200 words)
 1 informative (500 words) from the journal articles.

X. Equipment: Computers, Multimedia, Internet, Indexing tools, Thesauri, Subject Headings list
XI. Grading System

MG - Midterm Grade
CT (Attendance, Quizzes, Oral Recitation)

CT1 + Requirements
MG = ----------------------------------- + ME
2
_____________________________
2

FG - Final Grade

CT2 + Requirements
FG = ------------------------------------ + MG
2
______________________________
2 + FE
______________________________
2

XII. Textbooks and References

A. Required Textbooks

Borko, H. & Bernier, C.L. (1975). Abstracting Concepts and Methods. New
York: Academic Press.
Cleveland, D. B. & Cleveland, Ana P. (1990). .Introduction to Indexing and
Abstracting. 2nd ed.
Collison, R.L. (1969). Indexes and Indexing. 3rd ed. London
Lancaster, F.W. (2003). .Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice.
Wellish, H. H. (c1991). Indexing from A to Z.
B. Recommended Textbooks
Aitchison, J. & Gilohrist, A. (1990). Thesaurus Construction: A Practical
Manual. Aslib,
Campey, L. H. (1972). Generating and Printing Indexes by Computers.
Foskett, A.C. (1996). The Subject Approach to Information. London : LA Pub.
Hutchins, W.J. (1975). Languages of Indexing and Classification. England
Peregrinus, K.& G.N. (1969). Training in Indexing: A Course of the Society of
Indexes. Cambridge: MT Press.
Lancaster, F.W. (1979). Information Retrieval Systems: Characteristics, Testing and
Evaluation. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley,.
Lancaster, F.W. (1972) .Vocabulary Control for Information Retrieval. Washington,
D.C.: Information Resources Press.
Meadow, CT. (1973). The Analysis of Information Systems. 2nd ed. Los Angeles,
California: Melville Publ.
Vickery, B.C. (1975).Classification and Indexing in Sciences. 3rd ed. London :
Butterworths,
C. Other References
 Cremmins, E. T. (1982). The Art of Abstracting. U.S.A.: ISI Press.
Knight, G. Norman. (1979). Indexing, the art of: a guide to the indexing of books and
periodicals. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Lincaster, F.W. (1998). Indexing and abstracting in theory and practice. 2 nd ed.
U.S.A.: University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information
Science.
Mulvany, N. C. (2005). Indexing Books. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press,
O’connor, B. C. (1996). .Explorations in Indexing and Abstracting: pointing,
virtue, and power. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
Reitz, J. M. (2004). Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Westport,
Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited,
D. Electronic Sources
American Psychological Association (5th ed). Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org
Birger, H. (2006). Post-coordinate indexing. Retrieved June 6, 2011 from
http://www.iva.dk/bh/Core%20Concepts%20in%20LIS/articles%20a-
z/postcoordinative_indexing.htm
California State University, Los Angeles. (2009). APA Format (6th ed.). Retrieved from
http://web.calstatela.edu/library/guides/3apa.pdf
Craven, T.C. (1986). String Indexing. Retrieved June 6, 2011 from
http://publish.uwo.ca/~craven/book1986/index.htm
Wells Library Information Commons Indiana University. (2011). Sample abstracts.
Retrieved from www.indiana.edu/~wts/
Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. (2011). Subject Indexing. Retrieved June 6,
2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_indexing/

Nature and Development of Information System

INFORMATION SYSTEM
 The acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and
numerical information by a microelectronics – based combination of computing and
telecommunications.
  The collection, storage, processing, dissemination and use of information. It is not confined to
hardware and software, but acknowledges the importance of man and the goals he sets for his
technology, the values include in making choices, the assessment criteria used to decide
whether he is controlling and being enriched by it.

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
 Finding information in a library or collection.
 Process of recovering or retrieving documents from a given collection, which are relevant to a
request.
 IR from the data retrieval because the latter implies satisfaction of a request for information by
providing the information as a direct answer to the question.

*2 Goals in Information Retrieval*

1. Precision – refers to getting only relevant material
2. Recall – refers to getting all the relevant material

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

 Is a device interposed between potential user of information and the information itself.
 Any tool or device that organizes body of literature in such a way it can be searched
conveniently.

Example of Traditional Information Retrieval System:

 A library
 Telephone Book
 Directory

Example of Online Information Retrieval System:

 ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)
 LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts)
 LEXIS / NEXIS

Role of indexing, Abstracting and Thesaurus Construction in Information Retrieval

ROLE OF INDEXING IN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

According to F.W. Lancaster, 1998. The main purpose of indexing and abstracting is to
construct representations of published items in a form suitable for inclusion in some type of database.
This database of representations could be in printed form (in an indexing / abstracting publication
such as Chemical Abstracts or the Engineering Index), in electronic form (in which case the
database will open be roughly equivalent to a printed service), or in card form (as in a conventional
library catalog.

Information Retrieval Process involves the following:

 The information is created and acquired for the system
 Knowledge records are analyzed and tagged by sets of index terms
 Knowledge records are stored physically and the index terms are stored into a structured file,
manually or with the aid of a computer
  User’s query is tagged with sets of index terms and then is matched against the tagged
records. In computer-based systems the terms are usually matched using Boolean operators
 Matched documents are retrieved for review
Feedback may lead to several reiterations of the search

INFORMATION ANALYSIS

Information Analysis

- Analysis of information by librarian makes a significant contribution to communication and

information flow.

The Two Major of Information Analysis Tools

1. Abstracts
2. Indexes

There are 3 Step of Information Analysis

1. Examination of the document
2.
3. Identification of indexable concepts
4. Translation of the concepts into the indexing language of the system

Aboutness
- Aboutness is one among other terms used to express certain attributes of a
discourse, text or document (other than form or the so-called 'descriptive data').
- Aboutness is what is said in a document, what it is about, its content, subject or topic
(etc.). Aboutness (or synonymous terms) is of course extremely important for knowledge
organization and information retrieval.
 
The term "aboutness" was introduced in Library and Information Science (LIS) in around 1970.
Fairthorne (1969) was among the first to try to define the concept. He made a differentiation between
"intentional aboutness" and "extensional aboutness".

Intentional aboutness - is the author’s views and intentions of what a document is about.

Extensional aboutness,- which is the document aboutness as reflected semantically by actual units
and parts of the text. 
Principles of Information Analysis

1. According to Fairthorne (1969) information analysis centers on those aspects of “aboutness”

that can be used for retrieving records according to reader’s prescriptions.
2. Parts of a document are not always about what the entire document is about, nor are a
document usually about the sum of the things it mentions.
3. A document is a unit of discourse, and its component statements must be considered in the
light of why this unit has been acquired or requested.
4. Intentional aboutness cannot be derived from the text alone, because one cannot infer a
question from its answer. If you want to retrieved the data you must begin with retrieval of the
correct documents. (i.e. One with correct intentional aboutness.) Usually the intentional
aboutness is related to acquisition policy because the document is assumed to be about what
the collection is about.
5. What a document is about depends upon what its reader will use it for as well as upon what
the author says.
For example “about rabbits” means Rabbitness can be a part of many concepts,
according to its topical neighborhood. The interest in rabbits can be as pets, pests,
or for pot, or in rabbits’ feet as locomotory organs, or an amulets.
6. Judgment of information contained in a document is based on evidence of the text of the
document.
7. A reader uses a document to find out what someone has said. An indexer uses it to find out
what has been said will interest the kinds of readers he serves.
8. An indexer does not and cannot index all the way, in which a document will interest all kinds of
readers, present and future. Nor can he index only matters of interest that are referred to in the
document. For a document can be of interest for reasons that appear only when it is judged
against the background of its expected environment of use.

According to Allen Kent (1971) the principles of information analysis are basically the
same, whether the retrieval system used is mechanized or non mechanized. The basic techniques
maybe adopted to achieve a suitable “depth” of penetration into the subject matter of the graphic
record. Or they take advantage of the special features of some particular retrieval device, in order to
save money or time, or to facilitate effective searching.

Some of the principles which Kent formulated are:

1. No analysis, no matter how detailed, will be as exhaustive as a separate total search made by
each interested individual.
2. No analysis can predict every possible point of view or use that might be demanded of any
graphic record.
3. Information analysis attempts to infer the intentions of a source (author) who is no present. The
author places values (or meaning) for the message variables and the role of information
analysis is to discover those values, and the message will soon be interpreted.
4. A person does not always make the same choice when faced with the same options, even
when the circumstances of choice seem in all relevant respects to be the same.
5. It is not possible for a single analyst; much less a team of analyst to achieve absolute
consistency in the way in which they conduct analyses of graphic records.
6. Inconsistencies lead to considerate uncertainties in later retrieval.
According to Kent (1971) absolute consistency maybe achieved only if machines are used to scan the
complete text of natural languages and to perform analytical decisions based on instructions (programs)
developed by human beings. However, this absolute consistency brings with it no guarantee whatever that the
resulting analysis meets any of the purposes that are to be served by an information retrieval system.
Principles of Specificity and Exhaustivity
Lancaster (1968) formulated the principles of specificity and Exhaustivity in information analysis.
According to him Exhaustivity and specificity have an important effect on the efficiency of a retrieval system.
His principles regarding these two characteristics are:

1. The higher the specificity the higher the precision.

2. The higher the Exhaustivity the higher the recall.

Specificity in information analysis refers to the generic level of a concept.

For example in a genus-species relationship of building and house, house is a species of the genus
building. If we name a species in analysis we are employing a higher degree of specificity, than if we name a
genus. A document dealing with low-cost housing would be named under the species houses and not under
the genus building. On the other hand if in the process of analysis, the number of concepts that were selected
in label to “houses” but also to “building”’ “construction”, “dwellings, “habitat”, etc. The analysis can be
considered exhaustive.
The purpose of Exhaustivity in information analysis is attract all the main concept dealt with in a
document. Thus, it allows for the recognition of concepts embodied not only in the main theme of he
documents but also in sub-theme of varying importance. In other words Exhaustivity refers to the number of
concepts that is selected (depthness) while specificity refers to the level of concepts to be selected (generic
level or specific level). The efficiency of an information analysis policy is measured quantifiable by recall and
precision. The higher the level specificity the higher the precision and the higher the recall the higher
the Exhaustivity. The recall ratio is defined on the number of relevant documents retrieved on proportion to
the total number of relevant documents in the collection.

Recall = ___a___ x 100

a+b

The precision ratio is defined on the number of relevant documents retrieved. In proportion to the total
number of documents retrieved. Expressed on a percentage, this would be
Precision = __a___ x 100
a +c
The four partition of the collection resulting from the search are shown in the table below.

Number Number not

Retrieved Retrieved
Relevant a b a + b = Total
___________________________________________________________
Not Relevant c d
___________________________________________________________
a + c = total Retrieved
The recall ratio is measure of the success of the information analysis and the retrieval tool in
retrieving tool in relevant documents. The precision ratio is a measure of the success of the information
analysis and retrieval tool in keeping out irrelevant documents. These two measures are necessary to
describe the efficiency of the information retrieval system.

Source: Introduction to Information Analysis by Juan C. Buenrostro. (Seminar Paper)

 A. INDEXING

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

COLLECTION- The term COLLECTION is used to denote any body of materials indexed – a single or
composite text (e.g. Treatise, Anthology, Encyclopedia, Periodicals); a group of such texts; or
a set of representation.
ITEM - The term ITEM means any book, article, report available in the collection.
ENTRY
 An ENTRY is the basic unit of an index. It’s not only identifiers the item or concepts but also
guides its location. It is a record of an item in a catalog.
 An index entry is keyword translated to a formal indexing vocabulary. It is a point where users’
request terms allow them into the vocabulary of the indexing language.

 Each index leads to an indexed item somewhere outside the index (e.g. to a record in a
database, folder, file drawer, or a book). The entries are in some recognizable order, usually
alphabetical. A back-of-the book index is alphabetical list by subject and points to page
number(s) in the work with information about that subject.

Example: HITCHCOCK, ALFRED JOSEPH 14

This entry tells the user that there is information about Alfred Hitchcock on page 14 of the
book.
ELEMENT- is a distinct unit of an area of description.

INDEX TERM - is the word, phrase, or symbol assigned by the indexer to the subject content or
concept of a document he or she is indexing.
INDEX
- A systematic arrangement of entries designed to enable users to locate information in a document
- a guide to the contents of a knowledge record
- A systematic analysis of such records, arranged in an organized way
- A list of bibliographic information arranged in order according to some specified datum such as author,
subject, or topic keyword
INDEXING
- the process of assigning a subject heading to an information source of whatever form (books,
periodicals, multi-media, etc.) to serve as retrieval tool for the information source being analyze.
- is a process of identifying and assigning index terms, descriptors or subject heading to document so
that its contents are made known and the index created can help in retrieving specific items of
information.

THE ESSENTIAL OPERATIONS IN INDEXING PROCESS ARE:

SCANNING THE COLLECTION

ANALYZING ITS CONTENT

TAGGING DISCRETE ITEMS WITH

APPROPRIATE IDENTIFIERS

ADDING to each identifier the precise

location within the Collection where the
item occurs
An INDEXER is person whose profession is the preparation of indexes. In his professional job he is to
perform two important functions –

analysis and synthesis.

Analyze the documents to identify important concepts.

Identified concepts are translated into words or phrases.

There are TWO TYPES OF INDEXER – Author Indexer and Professional Indexer. There is
controversy about the quality indexes produced by the two groups. According to one opinion the author
knows the subject better and can do more justice to indexing of his creations. The other group holds the
view that the author more concerned with ideas and the indexer is more concerned with the clienteles of
different levels with different approaches. Indexing can be carried out more effectively by professional
indexers.
DEVELOPMENT OF INDEXES AND INDEXING

 Indexes are probably as old as published writing and exist in virtually every language.
 The early indexes were limited to personal names.
 Word Indexes were used with religious writings.
 Topical (Subject) indexes were found frequently with even the order of entries in the index
remained unsystematic for a long time.
 L.W. Daly is his work – Contribution to a History of Alphabetization in Antiquity and the
Middle Ages – the use of symbols in textual criticism and hermeneutic s was associated with
the efforts to bring out pertinent information rapidly from documents.
 Aristoplanes of Byzantium and Aristrachus from Alexandra are said to have invented
critical symbols.
 Cassiodorus also worked out an elaborate system of symbols to be used in biblical
commentaries so that students could find readily required information on a particular passage.
 The ideas of an Alphabetic index came into reality with the generals adoption of the codex
(manuscript) form of the book. A large number of incunabula (books printed before 1501)
contain alphabetic index. However as explained by Wheatly (in his book What is an Index) it
is nominative rather that accusative and generally means “Table of Contents” or “Literary
Guide.”

18th CENTURY – witnessed the advent of the professional indexers

• Alexander Cruden – prepared the first complete Concordance of the Bible in 1737.
• Johnson’s famous Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. In his
book, he employed 6 professional indexers to assist him.

19th CENTURY – indexing improved both in quantity and quality

• Andrea Crestado – introduced KWIC indexing under the name “Keyword in Title” in
1956
• Introduces the idea of one index to many periodicals covering a considerable number of
years
• Publication of the first separate Index Volume of Encyclopedia Britannica – 1874
 20th CENTURY – mark the great age indexing. Here, authors, publisher, the reading public
and literary critics have become conscious of index more and more.
• A whole new discipline was created to study indexing techniques and theory and to
develop criteria for assessing the effectiveness of indexes.

• William Frederick Poole – Poole’s most fruitful gift to the modern world is the invention
of the modern index to Journal articles.
- created subject entries from keywords in the indexed.
• H.W. Wilson – publishes his Readers Guide to Periodical Literature (Subject Index

 Hans Peter Luhn – introduced the mechanized form or derived title indexing known as
KWIC (Keyword in Context)
 Calvin Mooers – developed an indexing system known as Zatacoding.
 M.M. Kessler – developed an indexing technique called Bibliography Coupling.
 published a excellent list of Reference Books for Indexers.
 Timothy C. Craven – he introduced the Nested Phrase Indexing Systems (NEPHIS)
 Mortimer Taube – developed the Uniterm System or one concept term. He used cards
with headings displayed at the top.He conceptualized the Post-Coordinate Indexing
System.
 C.W Cleveron – his Cranfied Project is a landmark in evaluating the performance of
Indexing Languages.
 Derek Austin – designed and developed the Preserved Context Index System
(PRECIS)
 S.R. Ranganathan is the one who introduced Chain Indexing

21st CENTURY – emergence of machine-aided indexing automatic indexing.

• The extraction of word and/or phrases from documents is a task that computers can
accomplish well.
• The largest medical library in the United States is the National Library of Medicine
located in the state of Maryland. It publishes Index Medicus – a medical index which is
published more than a century-old subject/author guide to articles titled.
• At present, the largest online bibliographic database in the world in the OCLC Online
Union Catalog
• ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) is an international format
standard for representing descriptive information in bibliographic records. At present,
ISBD covers 8 types of record formats.
PURPOSES AND USES OF INDEXES
1. minimize the time and effort in finding information
2. maximize searching success of the user
3. Identify potentially relevant information
4. Group together related topics that were dispersed due to the arrangement used
5. Suggest related topics by means of See also reference
6. A tool for current awareness service

Index formats
 Printed
 Electronic
 Both
 TYPES OF INDEXES
1. Alphabetical indexes
- Covers a number of different kinds of indexes. Arrangement of an index in alphabetical order is the
most common method because it is more convenient and follows a familiar pattern. It is based
on the orderly principles of letters of the alphabet and is used for the arrangement of subject
headings, cross-references, qualifying terms and subject headings.
- Alphabetizing may be done letter by letter or word by word.

2. Author indexes – indexes whose entry points are people, organizations, corporate authors,
government agencies, universities, and the like.

3. Book indexes – lists of words, generally alphabetical, found at the back of the book, giving
page location of the subject or name associated with each word. Pinpoints information so that
the reader will not have to read, or reread the entire book.
Example:
 Index to Encyclopedias
(Encyclopedia Britannica: the Micro Paedia)
4. Periodical indexes - an index to the content of periodical or serial.
2 Types of Periodical Indexes:
1. Individual indexes - per journal title index usually prepared by publishers for a volume at
the end of the year’s run
2. Broad indexes to a group of journals - Prepared by indexing services / for a group of journals

Example of familiar periodical indexes:

 Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literatures
 Social Science Index
 New York Times Index
 Library Literature
 Art Index

5. Classified indexes
– has its contents arranged systematically by classes or subject headings. The type of index
most commonly used in scientific indexing.
– A classified indexes is arranged in a hierarchy of related topics starting with generic topic
and working down to the specific.
Advantage:
*Searching is simple, since hierarchy of related topics is visually presented.

Disadvantage:
* a secondary file, an alphabetical list is necessary. A two-step search is necessary to
identify the right position in their classified list.

Samples:
The Table of Contents of Mathematical, Review/.
The HAIC(Hetero Atom in Context of Chemical Abstracts.

6. Faceted indexes – Indexes based on any definable aspect that makes up a subject. It
attempts to discover all the individual aspects of a subject and then synthesize them in a way
that best describes the subject under discussion.
PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF INDEXING
1. Exhaustivity
 all the themes, objects and concepts dealt with by the document are to be found in
the index.
 Exhaustivity involves degrees of coverage and affects the number of terms assigned
to a record field. The continuum of exhaustivity has
Two extremes: 
1. Summarization - covers only the dominant topic of a document.
2. Depth indexing - covers all the main topics plus subtopics.
- Indexers must make decisions about what entries should be included
and how many entries an index should incorporate.
- The depth of indexing describes the thoroughness of the
indexing process with reference to exhaustivity and specificity.

2. Selectivity- only information of interest to users has been selected.

3. Specificity- the degree to which a descriptor matches the exact meaning of the subject concept
- clarity and conciseness
- consideration of the language of the user
- low recall/high precision

4. Consistency (Uniformity) : another indexer or a user would normally describe the same
document, or documents on the same subject, in the same way.

2 Types:
1. Inter-Indexer consistency - refers to the agreement between or among indexer.
2. Intra-indexer consistency - refers to the extent to which one indexer is consistent to
himself.

5. Correctness (Accuracy) - correct presentation of information.

- error-free spelling

6. Completeness - essential, useful and relevant information are present

- inclusion of complete bibliographic data

INDEXING LANGUAGES
INDEXING LANGUAGE
- any vocabulary, controlled or uncontrolled used for indexing, along with the rules of usage
 - a system for naming or identifying subjects contained in a document

What are the uses of indexing language in the indexing process?

Lancaster (1991) enumerated three purposes of using indexing language. These are:

1. To allow the indexer to represent the subject matter of the documents in a consistent way. The index
language provides careful term definition or scope notes for related terms and generous cross-reference
which will bring to the attention of the indexer the most appropriate term, general or specific to represent the
topic. For example:

COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES

SN Various services within the community directed towards the promotion of the
mental; and physical well-being of community.
BT HEALTH SERVICES
NT CHILD HEALTH SERVICES
CLINIC VISITS
HEALTH EDUCATION
MATERNAL CHILD HEALTH SERVICES
MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES

(Note: SN refers to Scope Note; BT refers to Broader term and NT refers to Narrower Term).

2. To bring the vocabulary used by the searcher into coincidence with the vocabulary used by the
indexer. The index language should prescribe the language that the searcher into coincidence with the
vocabulary used by the indexer. The index language should prescribe the language that the searcher must
use by directing him from non-searchable term to searchable term. For example:

Female
Use WOMEN

Female Infertility
Use INFERTILITY

3. To provide means whereby a searcher can modulate a search strategy in order achieve high recall
or high precision as varying circumstances demand.

Because most searchers cannot express their request explicity, it is incumbent upon librarian to do
some preliminary work prior to the actual search operation, i.e. the librarian should help the searcher do his
own conceptual analysis. Once the conceptual analysis has been achieved, the librarian will translate this
into the language of the information system.

For example: If the conceptual analysis resulted on this topic: Growth, Politics and the
Stratification of Places then the translation of this concept into the language of the system using the
Subject Authority File on Education will be:

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION* ECOLOGICAL FACTORS* HUMAN GEOGRAPHY* QUALITY OF

LIFE* PLOITICAL INFLUENCES, THEORIES, GROWTH PATTERNS.
FEATURES / CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INDEXING LANGUAGE

1. VOCABULARY – consists of terms selected for use in indexing the vocabulary of the
indexing language is composed of terms loosely called index terms.

There are two types of vocabularies:

 a. Index vocabulary - which consists of index terms which are assigned to express the concepts of
the author. There are also called descriptors.
For example:
Deacidification
Dead titles
Decay
Depository collection
Depository collection
Depreciation
Depreciation scale
Deselection
Deselection policies

b. Approach vocabulary - which consists of terms are used as lead-in terms to the index terms.
For example:
Able Students
Use. ACADEMICALLY GIFTED

Academic Advisement
Use. EDUCATIONAL COUNSELING

Activity Learning
Use. EXPERIMENTAL LEARNING

2. SYNTAX –a complete indexing language includes certain devices which are used to achieve
either high recall or high precision in both indexing and search operations. These are referred
to as Indexing language devices and may be conveniently regarded as forming the syntax of
the Index language.

Two Types of these Devices:

1. Recall devices
2. Precision devices
1. Recall devices – These are indexing language devices that group terms together into
classes of one type or another so that such devices will allow improvements in recall in
search operation and will make the index consistent in assigning index terms that represent
the subject contents of document.

Examples of such devices are:

1. Synonyms, (syn.) & near synonyms (ns) and quasi-synonyms (qs) (opposite)
2. Control of word form endings, i.e. using the root only as index terms, and
3. Hierarchical relationships which creates the ability to find systematically the headings
from more general to more specific or the Broader Terms (BT) to the Narrower Terms
(NT).
For example:
1. Synonyms
Disaster
syn. Calamity, Woe(s)
ns. Accident, Casualty, Fatality, Mishap, Misfortune, Rock(s)
qs. Boon, Fortune, Luck
 2. Control of word
TENURE Emotional Security
use. JOB TENURE use. INSECURITY
3. Hierarchical relationships
INFANT NUTRITION
SN Nutrition of children from birth to years of age
BT NUTRITION
NT BOTTLE FEEDING
BREAST FEEDING

2. Precision Devices – These are indexing language devices that used with association
with terms will increase the shades of meaning of the terms. Hence, such devices will
improve precision in both indexing and search operations.

*The Most Common Type of such devices are:

1. Term coordination or combination of two or more different terms with different

meanings to come up with a distinct index term with specific meaning. These are called
adjectival headings, phrase headings, compound headings and composite headings.
For example:
Adjectival headings: FRUIT WINE; OFFICE MANAGEMENT
Phrase headings: STUDY, METHOD OF; WOMEN AS AUTHORS
Compound headings: SCIENCE AND RELIGION; BANKS AND BANKING
2. Subheadings or subdivisions. These are terms or phrases that are used under main
heading or index terms to subdivide certain subjects into more specific topics or show a
particular aspect of a given subject or index term.
For example:
EDUCATION – FINANCE; POETRY-COLLECTIONS

3. Semantics – meaning of words; indicates the class relations among index terms categorized as:
a) equivalence relationships – synonyms, quasi-synonyms, preferred spelling, acronyms
and abbreviations, current and established terms, translation
b) Hierarchical relationships – a genus-species relationship which indicates class inclusion.
c) Affinitive /Associative relationships - are used to connect two related terms whose
relationship is neither hierarchical nor equivalent.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF INDEXING LANGUAGES?

*THREE TYPES OF INDEXING LANGUAGES*

1. Controlled Vocabulary or Artificial Language
2. Natural Language
3. Free Language

1. Controlled Vocabulary or Artificial Language

 This is basically an authority list. In general, an indexer can only assign to a document
terms that appear on the list adopted by the library or information center. The use of an
artificial language enables us to use concept indexing. In concept indexing, we try to
 establish a standard description for each concept and use that description each time it is
needed.

Four (4) Types of Controlled Vocabulary or Artificial Language:

1. Bibliography Classification Scheme

 Dewey Decimal Classification
 Library of Congress Classification
- In here terms / subjects are classified according to number and letter.
- Alphabetical arrangement is secondary
2. List of Subject Headings
 Sear’s List of Subject Headings
 Library of Congress Subject Headings
 Medical Subject Headings
- in here, it follows an alphabetical arrangement of terms and it incorporates and
imperfect hierarchical structure and fails to distinguish clearly between
homographic and associative relationships.
- “see” and “see also” is clearly presented

3. Subject Thesaurus
 Popline Thesaurus
 Education Thesaurus
 Physics Thesaurus
- In here, synonyms, hierarchical, associated and homographic relationship
among terms are clearly displayed.
- A thesaurus may be defined as an alphabetical listings of terms providing
structured and relational information about the concept.

It has 3 types of Relationships:

1. BT – Broader Term
2. NT – Narrower Term
3. RT – Related Term

4. Stop List
- List of terms prepared in order to avoid using words that are not keywords as
access point.
-it is an in-house listing of index terms not found in the classification system,
subject heading and thesaurus.

2. Natural Language
 Indexing language that uses index terms selected from the title or text of a document
without alteration.
  This is also called derivative system, since terms are picked out from the text itself. This
approach is also called an indexing by extraction.
 Natural Language has inherent weakness. The use of derived terms begins from scratch
and are eventually accumulated. Words are chosen by the indexer and when they are
indexing the first document, they can freely choose all of the intended meaning and subject
of the document thus, complete chaos can eventually develop, rendering the index basically
useless.
For example:

Instead of Heat Treatment of Aluminum,

we use Aluminum – Heat Treatment

Instead of using Libraries for Children or Children’s Libraries,

we use Libraries, Children’s

3. Free Language
 The free-text language does not consist of a list of terms distinct from those used to
describe concepts in a subject area. Indexing is “free” in the sense that there is no
constraints on the terms that can be used in indexing process. It is the nature of a free
language that any word or term that suits the subject may be assigned as an indexing term.

INDEXING SYSTEMS

1. COORDINATE INDEXING
 are created by combining two or more single index terms to create a new class or
composite
 These types of indexes are basically Boolean models for searching.

Example:

• Black Polecats of Texas

• Drugs + Pneumonia + Cats = Drugs that will cure pneumonia in cats
 • Migration + Philippines = Migration in the Philippines

There are 2 types of Coordinate Indexes:

1. Pre-coordinate indexing – terms are combined before the time of searching. It is

prepared by indexers at the time of indexing.

2. Post-coordinate indexing – formulated by researcher at the time of searching.

2. CLASSIFIED INDEXES
 Contents are arranged systematically by classes or subject headings.
 Most commonly used in scientific indexing i.e. Index Medicus and Engineering Index

 Faceted Indexes
 Is pre-coordinated at the time of indexing and is arranged in classification order, rather
than a straight alphabetic order. Widely used in Science

Class
Sub-classes or species

Aim: To identify the aspects or facets of a complex subject and then objectively synthesize
these aspects

 In faceted system we put together the class most closely representing the
informational concepts.
 Introduced by Ranganathan – father of Indian Librarianship

Example:
Things – Part – Properties – Processes
- Operations – Agents

3. CHAIN INDEXING
 Single entries represented in a classified index, one-by-one in an alphabetical list.
 Chain Indexes every concepts becomes linked or chained, to its directly related
concepts in the hierarchy system.

 The terms form a citation pattern in the chain from general to specific. Part of Colon
Classification, introduced by S.R Ranganathan

Example:
Victorian Period English Poetry under the class number 821.8
The Hierarchical Chain may be recorded as:
 8 - Literature
82 - English
821 - Poetry
821.8 - Victorian Period

Index Entries:
Victorian Period. Poetry. English. Literature ABCD
Poetry. English. Literature BCD
English. Literature CD
Literature D

4. PERMUTED TITLE INDEXING

 the representation of terms in headings by making every possible combination of terms

 created by rotating the keywords in the titles as entry points into the index

A. KWIC (Keywords In Context) Indexing

 Is an alphabetical list, ordered on each subject-conveying word in the title.

 Is formatted so that the keyword is in the center of the page, with words preceding
and following the keyword on either side. Long titles may be truncated.

 A KWIC index is limited terms in the title.

Example KWIC (Keywords In Context) Indexing:

1. Blue-eyed cats in Texas
2. The Cat and the Fiddle
3. Dogs and Cats and Their Diseases
4. The Cat and the Economy

In Texas, Blue-eyed cats………………………………….. 23

The Cat and the Economy………………………….. 12
The Cat and Their Diseases……………………..…. 17
Digs and Cats and Their Diseases……………………….. 3
Blue-eyed Cats in Texas………………………………….... 23
and Their Diseases, Dogs and Cats……………………… 3
Their Diseases Dogs and Cats and…………………………...…. 3
 and the Economy, The Cat……………………………… 12
and the Fiddle, The Cat………………………………….. 17
in Texas Blue-eyed Cats………………………….. 23

The number in the third right-hand column will lead the user to the document entry in
the index that gives the necessary bibliographic information to the document.

B. KWAC (Keyword and Context)

 A KWAC index, the keyword in the title is the title is rotated, and separated / placed
at the left.

 Is formatted so that the keyword appears as a heading, and is the followed by the full
title of all works containing the keyword.

 A KWAC repeats the keyword in the title. Long titles may be truncated.

Example:
Blue-eyed Blue-eyed Cat in Texas
Cat The Cat and the Economy
Cat The Cat and the Fiddle
Cats Dogs and Cats and Their Diseases
Cats Blue and Cats in Texas
Diseases Dogs and Cats and Their Diseases
Dogs Dogs and Cats and Their Economy
Economy The Cat and the Economy
Fiddle The Cat and the Fiddle
Texas Blue-eyed Cats in Texas

C. KWOC (Keyword Out of Context) Indexing

 It is an index which does not rotate the title, but lifts out the keyword of interest and
lists is separately to the side.
 Is formatted with the keyword as a heading, followed by all the title containing that
keyword.
 A KWOC replaces the keyword with a symbol, such as an ASTERISK (*).
 Long title may be truncated.
 A KWOC index may sort titles under keywords in the title or from heading assigned to
the title by an indexer.

Example:
Blue-eyed * Cat in Texas
Cat The * and the Economy
Cat The * and the Fiddle
 Cats Dogs and * and Their Diseases
Cats Blue and * in Texas
Diseases Dogs and Cats and Their *
Dogs * and Cats and Their Economy
Economy The Cat and the *
Fiddle The Cat and the *
Texas Blue-eyed Cats in *

5. CITATION INDEXING
 Citation Indexes consists of list of articles with a sub-list under each article of subsequently
published papers which cite the articles.
 Documents of value are likely to contain bibliographies, a key part of any scientific research;
this is the way in which author show the foundations on their work. Authors are trying to
show the relevance of their work to what has been research before. There is a link between
a document and each work cited in its bibliography.
 The basic principle of citation indexing is bring together all the documents, which have
been included a given time in the author’s bibliographies.
 Shepard’s Citations – an Indexing Service using Citation Index.
 The following shows how a journal article is treated in a citation index:

The original appears in the

Johnson, Karl E. “IEEE Conference publications in libraries”, Library Resources &

Technical Services, 28(4) October / December 1984, 308-314.
[IEEE=Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers]
It contains the following references at the end (among others):

Marjorie Peregoy, “Only the names have changed to perplex the innocent”,
Title varies 1:13 (April 1974)

Jim E. Cole, “Conference publications: serials or monographs?” Library Resources &

Technical Services, 22:172 (Spring 1978).

Michael E. Amir, “Open letter to IEEE”, Special Libraries, 69:6A (Nov. 1978)

Michael E. Unsworth, “Treating IEEE conference publications as serials”, Library

Resources & Technical Services, 27:221-224 (Apr/June, 1983).

The following entries would appear in the Citation Index:

Amir, Michael E. “Open letter to IEEE, “Specials libraries, 69:6A (Nov. 1978).
Johnson, Karl E. 1984
 Cole, Jim E. “Conference publications: serials or monographs?” Library resources &
technical services 22:172 (Spring 1978) Johnson, Karl E. 1984

Peregoy, Marjories. “Only the names have been changed to perplex the innocent”.
Title varies, 1:13 (April 1974). Johnson, Karl E. 1984

Unsworth, Michael E. “Treating IEEE conference publications as serials”, Library

resources & technical services 27:221-224 (April/June, 1983). Johnson, Karl E. 1984

6. STRING INDEXING
 Using a series of rotating index from a basic list of index terms that make up the string.
 Each indexed term normally has a number of index entries containing at least some of the
same items
 Computer software generates the description part of each index entry according to regular
and explicit syntactical rules

A. PRECIS
 PRECIS – an acronym for Preserved Context Index System
 Is ROTATED OR SHUNTED INDEX
 An automated-oriented system – the patron enters the term by author in its context
then the computer rotates the terms taking into account the relationship and produces
a series of entries.
 Preserved Context Index System (PRECIS) is a computer-generated programs
consisting of a complete set of index entries and cross references from a string of
terms and instruction codes provided by an indexer for an item.
 In PRECIS the relationships among component terms in an index entry are presented
as two-line display.
 A PRECIS entry has three components:

LEAD Qualifier

Display

The “Lead” term is the entry point in the index and it is printed in bold face; the “qualifier”
provides the broader context, and the “display” shows the terms of narrower context.
While the lead position will obviously always be occupied, the other positions need not
always be.
Entries of the general type illustrated above can be generated by computer from a string of
terms presented in a context-dependent sequence. Thus, the string India, Cotton
Industries, Personnel, Training would generate the following entries:

India
Cotton industries. Personnel. Training.
 Cotton industries. India.
Personnel. Training
Personnel. Cotton industries. India.
Training
Training. Personnel. Cotton industries. India.

Other Examples:
ABC EDUCATION. LIBRARIANS. PHILIPPINES
BC LIBRARIANS. PHILIPPINES
C PHILIPPINES
A EDUCATION
AB EDUCATION. LIBRARIANS
AC EDUCATION. PHILIPPINES
B LIBRARIANS
CA PHILIPPINES. EDUCATION
CB PHILIPPINES. LIBRARIANS

B. POSTULATE – BASED PERMUTED SUBJECT INDEXING (POPSI)

 This index type form of non-print/no-book formed.
 Designed by Ganesh Bhattacharyya following the classification idea of S.R.
Ranganathan.
 Use numeric codes to mark segments
Comma (,) – precedes entity segment
Semi-colon (;) – for property segment
Colon (:) – for process
Hypen (-) – for a qualifying subsequent
Greater than (>) – a narrower term
Example:
“A Study using rabbits of heart Stimulation by Antibiotics”

Used in Pharmacology
Answer:
PHARMACOLOGY, CHEMICAL > DRUG
ANTIBIOTIC; STIMULATIONS – CIRCULATORY
SYSTEM > HEART : STUDY – ANIMAL > RABBIT

C. NESTED PHRASE INDEXING SYSTEM (NEPHIS)

 By Craven (1977)
 Symbols:
 Left & Right Angular Brackets (<>) – used at the beginning & end of a Phrase
Question mark ( ? ) – used for connective words
At sign (@) – Indicate what follows is not an index.
Example:
@ MEASURES ? OF < INFORMATION
CONTENT ? OF < DOCUMENT
SURROGATES >>? FROM < INFORMATION THEORY>

7. OTHER SYSTEMS

a. TITLE – BASED INDEXING

 The titles containing the significant words – Keywords- can be used as subject heading,
a basis for information retrieval.
Example:
Manual of library classification
Library classification on the march
Introduction to library classification
A modern outline of library classification
Prolegomena to library classification

b. CATCHWORD INDEXING

 Catchword indexing has been used for many years in bibliographical tools, particularly
those produced by publishers, where it has provided a cheap and reasonably effective
means of subjects access to the titles listed.

 The titles are manipulated to bring the significant words to the front, giving perhaps two
or three entries per title. The editor selects the words to be used, and the entries are
generated manually. With the computerization of these kinds of index, catchword index
has in effect been dropped in favor of other formats.

Example of Journals using Catchword technique

 Nature

c. CYCLING INDEXING
 In cycling indexing, each term in string is moved to the leftmost position to become an
entry point, the remaining terms being listed after it:
ABCDE Economic relations, Migrant workers, Miners, Japan, Philippines
BCDEA Migrant workers, Economic relations, Miners, Japan, Philippines
CDEAB Miners, Economic relations, Migrant workers, Miners, Philippines
DEABC Philippines, Economic relations, Migrant workers, Miners, Japan

d. ROTATION INDEX

 Rotation is essentially the same as cycling except that the entry term is highlighted in
some way (italicized or underlined) rather that being moved to the left most position:

ABC Education. Librarians. Philippines

ABC Education. Librarians. Philippines
ABC Education. Librarians. Philippines

e. SELECTIVE LISTING IN COMBINATION (SLIC)

 The SLIC method takes a string of terms and generates a set of index entries
automatically. It first arranges the string of terms in alphabetical order and this string
becomes the first entry.

Economic relations, Migrant workers, Miners, Japan, Philippines ABCDE

Economic relations, Migrant workers, Miners, Philippines ABCE
Economic relations, Migrant workers, Japan, Philippines ABDE
Economic relations, Migrant workers, Philippines ABE
Economic relations, Miners, Philippines ACE
Economic relations, Japan, Philippines ADE
Economic relations, Philippines AE
Migrant workers, Miners, Japan, Philippines BCDE
Migrant workers, Miners, Philippines BCE
Migrant workers, Philippines BE
Miners, Japan, Philippines CDE
Miners, Philippines CE
Philippines E
 POST – COORDINATE INDEXING SYSTEM

Post-coordinate Indexing System

 A post-coordinate indexing system is that concepts have coordinated at the time of
searching.
 Post coordinate indexing is a system of indexing where subjects are represented by a
series of single concept headings by the indexer but these concepts are combined
only during the searching stage.
 Developed by Mortimer Taube in the early 1950’s as a means of dealing with the
research reports acquired by the US Armed Services Technical Information Agency
(ASTIA)

How was it done?

Each document to be indexed was first assigned some type of accession number or serial
number, and was then analyzed so that its subject is represented by an accession number,
perhaps 10 or 20 of one concepts terms. The accession number pertaining to a given document
was then entered under each of these index terms in order to retrieve document numbers for
documents that cover the specific subjects represented by a combination of index terms.
A post –coordinate index was based Uniterm cards (see below). This is a card-based
system, but the indexing principles of this system have been adapted and further evolved in
computer based information retrieval systems known as the inverted file.
 UNITERM

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

What methods did Mortimer Taube use in indexing?

1. Choice single word or unit term representing the subject of the document (hence the
name Uniterm Indexing)
2. Allocation of serial or accession number to the document or its surrogate.
3. Posting of the accession number to Uniterm cards.

The term chosen to index a document is written in the top left portion of the card, while the
accession or serial number is posted in the columns headed by the number 0 to 9. Numbers are
posted in the columns corresponding to their last digit. Thus, the serial number 2527 would be
posted in the column under the number 7 in the uniterm card.
Once a card for a certain term is prepared, the number for all documents indexed with that
term are posted in the respective columns on the same card. For example, a document dealing
with the subject: Detection of Leaks in Boiler Tubes with accession number 1436 would need 4
uniterm cards, one for each of the terms, i.e. DETECTION, LEAKS, BOILERS, TUBES. In each of
cards the number 1436 would be posted in the column under number 6.

Examples: Acc. no. 1436 DETECTION, LEAKS, BOILERS, TUBES

BOILERS

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1436

DETECTION

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
 1436

LEAKS

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1436

TUBES

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1436

 Post-Coordinate indexing also called post-combination indexing – a method of

indexing materials that creates separate entries for each concepts in an item, allowing the
item to be retrieved using any combination of those concepts in any order. Or using
Boolean Logic in Computerized Post-coordinate Index, the Boolean operators are: AND,
OR, and NOT.

 Boolean Logic is the logic system employed in searching most post-coordinate indexes.

 Boolean Logic may be applied in both card-based and computer-based information

retrieval systems.

For example:
Search statement 1: Cultivation OR Tilapia OR Tropics
Search statement 2: Cultivation AND Tilapia AND Tropics
Search statement 3: Cultivation AND Tilapia AND Tropics NOT Feeding

MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INDEXING SYSTEM

Recall – a quantitative ratio of the number of retrieved relevant documents in the total number of
relevant documents in a collection.
 Formula: a
X 100=
a+b

Precision – a quantitative ratio of the number of relevant documents retrieved to the total number
of documents retrieved.

Formula: a
X 100=
a+c

SUBJECT INDEXING PROCESS

Indexing Process
 There are several forms and styles in indexing – once a forms is chosen, be consistent,
maintain uniformity.
 It is better to establish your own subject / author authority file to ensure consistency
especially in the selection of subject headings.
 A standard list can also be used, e.g. LCSH, SLSH, Thesauri, etc.
 Have some “local” subject headings that fit only your unique collection.

Subject Indexing
 Is one of the processes involved in information analysis.
 Subject indexing is the act of describing a document by index terms to indicate what the
document is about or to summarize its content. Indexes are constructed, separately, on
three distinct levels: terms in a document such as a book; objects in a collection such as
a library; and documents (such as books and articles) within a field of knowledge.

 Subject indexing is used in information retrieval especially to create bibliographic

databases to retrieve documents on a particular subject.

Examples of academic indexing services are :

- Zentralblatt MATH,
- Chemical Abstracts and
- PubMed.
Steps in Subject Indexing Process

1. Recording bibliographic data – by filling out a given template or worksheet

2. Subject or conceptual analysis – for in-depth indexing
a. Examine the title, abstract, table of contents, text and reference
b. Relate contents to the users
c. Determining subject represented in the work and identifying possible descriptors
3. Translation into standard terms using controlled vocabulary
4. Generating index entries

SUBJECT HEADING LIST

A subject heading list is a listing of index terms, normally arranged in alphabetical order, that can
be used as heading or access points, the function of which is to provide a standardized
vocabulary. The basic function of a subject heading list may be confused more precisely in the
following terms:

1. The list records terms which shall be used in a catalog, index, or database and indicates the
form in which they shall be shown; thus it acts as an authority list for index terms and their
form;
2. The list makes recommendations about the use of references for the display of relationships
in a catalog, index, or database in order to guide users between connected or associated
terms.

Thus a subject headings list is primarily a guide to the indexer or cataloger in the creation
of index records. Most information about terms and their relationships that could be of assistance
to the user of the index will be transferred from the list to the index or catalog itself.

Two of the more traditional subject lists which cover all subjects are:
1. Sears List of Subject Headings
2. Library of Congress List of Subject Headings (LCLSH)

Specialized lists include the:

1. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
 2. Subject Headings for Engineering (SHE) - used in Engineering Index.

BASIC PRINCIPLES IN ASSIGNING SUBJECT HEADINGS

1. SPECIFIC ENTRY
 In choosing subject heading, the rule of specific entry is to enter an item under the most
specific term.
Ex. Engineering
Bridges
Civil Engineering

2. COMMON USAGE
 The word or words used to express a subject must represent common usage.
Ex. Labor not labour
Color not Colour
Birds not Omithology

3. COMPOUND HEADINGS
 Using two nouns joined by “and” usually groups together under on heading.
Ex. Boats and Boating
Language and languages
Publishers and publishing

4. SUBDIVISIONS
 The principle of specific entry can be achieved in some cases only by subdividing a
general subjects.
Ex. Birds
Birds – Eggs and nests
Birds – Migration
Birds – Protection

5. INVERTED SUBJECT HEADINGS

1. An assumption is made that the reader will first of the hour.
2. The noun is placed first in order to keep all aspects of a board together.
 Ex. Elementary Education – Education, Elementary
Higher Education – Education, Higher
Compulsory Education – Education, Compulsory

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF NAME ENTRIES

Name entries are troublesome. Certain conventions have developed over the years,
influenced partly by cataloging rules and partly from the practices of book indexers and publishers.
The trouble starts from the practices of book. More often the author of the book himself creates
problems of names. He may mention first “Lincoln”, then later “A. Lincoln”, then Albert Lincoln,
and end up with “Abraham Lincoln”. The only sensible approach for indexer is to identify which
Lincoln is being referred to at every point and to spell out the name in full in the index.

People with normal names are indexed by surname, with titles and first name following,
separated by commas.
For Example,
Borko, Harold
Chakrbati, Bhabani Ranjan
Disraeli, Homer, Jr.
Rowley, Jennifer E.

Famous people who are recognized by forenames are indexed by these forenames, and
cross-references are made if there is a possibility that they may be looked up by either.
For Example:
Edward V, King of England
John XXIII, Pope

Compound surnames are not broken up, even if they are not hyphenated.
For Example:
Ben-Curion, David
Loyd George, David

Initials may be used for middle names, if desired, but full first name is recommended if it
is known. However, if the person is known by a middle name, is should be spelled out.
For Example:

Use: Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Not: Fitzgerald, Francis S.
 Pseudonyms are usually referred to that real if it is known.
For Example:
Twain, Mark see Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. Ashe, Gordon See Creasy, John

National institutions, political parties, universities, and so forth are entered under the
official name.
For Example,
The American Society for the information Science.
Calcutta University.

THESAURUS

 A Thesaurus is a book that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning
(containing synonyms and sometimes antonyms), in contrast to a dictionary, which contains
definitions and pronunciations. The largest thesaurus in the world is the Historical Thesaurus
of the Oxford English Dictionary.

 Thesaurus an authority file of terms that shows the full scope of each term along with its
relationship to broader terms, narrower terms and related terms

- Provides the control of terminology by showing a structural display of concepts, supplying

for each concept all terms that might express the concept, and presenting the associate and
hierarchical relationships of the vocabulary

The aims of the thesaurus are:

1. To exert terminology control in indexing, and
2. To aid in searching by alerting the searcher to the index terms that have been applied.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THESAURI AND SUBJECT HEADINGS LISTS

- Both provide subject access to information by providing terminology that can be consistent
- Both choose preferred terms and make references from non-used terms
- Both provide hierarchies so that terms are presented in relation to their broader, narrower
and related terms

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESAURI AND SUBJECT HEADINGS LISTS

- A thesaurus is made up of single terms and bound terms to represent single concepts while
subject-headings lists have phrases and pre-coordinated
- Thesaurus are hierarchical and narrow in scope while subject headings have wider scope
- Thesaurus can be multilingual

KEY FEATURES OF THESAURUS

 The main list of index terms is the core of the thesaurus and defines the index language.
This listing must be present in any thesaurus and normally features, in a single alphabetical
sequence the following:

1. Descriptors, or preferred terms which are acceptable for use in indexes to describe
concepts, or a subject headings fitted to the article.
2. non – descriptors, or non – preferred terms which are not be used in the index but
which
appear in the thesaurus in order to expand the entry vocabulary of the indexing
language.

-ex. the USE and USE FOR

Sample Thesaurus entry = Fibres

FRENCH:
Fibres

Scope Note: Natural or man-made fibres for spinning

Used for:
Fibers
Man made fibres
Natural fibres
Broader Terms: Textile products
Narrower Terms: Cotton
Flax
Jute
Wool
Related terms: Yarn

RELATIONSHIP OF TERMS

“Term relationships “are links between term. These relationships can be divided into three types:
1. Hierarchical
2. Equivalency
3. Associative

Hierarchical relationships – are used to indicate terms which are narrower and broader in scope.
Broader Term (BT) or hyperonym is a more general term, e.g. “Apparatus” is a
generalization of “Computers”. Reciprocally, a Narrower Term (NT) or hyponym is a
more specific term, e.g. “Digital Computer” is a specialization of “Computer”. BT and NT
are reciprocals; a broader term necessarily implies at least one other term which is
narrower. BT and NT are used to indicate class relationships, as well as part-whole
relationships (meronyms and holonyms)

Equivalency relationship – is used primarily to connect synonyms and near-synonyms. Use

(USE) and
 Used For (UF) indicators are used when an authorized term is to be used for another,
unauthorized, term; for example, the entry for the authorized term “Frequency” could have
the indicator “UF Pitch”. Reciprocally, the entry for the unauthorized term “Pitch” would
have the indicator “USE Frequency”. Unauthorized terms are often called “entry
vocabulary”, “entry points”, “lead-in terms”, or “non-preferred terms”, pointing to the
authorized term (also referred to as the Preferred Term or Descriptor) that has been chosen
to stand for the concept. As such, their presence in text can be use by automated indexing
software to suggest the Preferred Term used as an Indexing Term.

Associative relationships – are used to connect two related terms whose relationship is neither
hierarchical nor equivalent. This relationship is described by the indicator “Related Terms
(RT). Associative relationships should be applied with caution, since excessive use of RTs
will reduce specificity in searches. Consider the following: if the typical user is searching
with term “A”, would they also want resources tagged with tern “B”. If the answer is no, then
an associative relationship should not be established.

The Following definitions will assist in understanding the various structural relationships.

Broader Term – a descriptor to which another descriptor or multiple descriptors are subordinate in
a hierarchy.

Narrower Term – A descriptor that is subordinate to another descriptor or to multiple descriptors in

a hierarchy.

Related Term – A descriptor that is associatively but not hierarchically linked to another descriptor
in a thesaurus.

Use – An equivalence relationship which leads from a non-preferred term to a descriptor and
accommodates synonyms, quasi-synonyms, lexical variants.

Used for: the reciprocal of a “use” relationship which records non-preferred terms.
 INDEXING POLICIES, PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES

1. Preliminary activities:
1.1. Preparation of materials and periodicals to be indexed.
1.2. Preparation of tools in indexing: subject heading list, etc.

2. Bibliographic Searching :
2.1. Verify items to be indexed in existing indexes.

3. Description: the basic unit of the index is the entry, which consists of three parts:

3.1. Heading: the first line

3.2. Modification

3.3. Reference
 Parts of an Index
 Example: MAIN ENTRY

Generoso, J.E. Heading

The population problem. ill. Social Work. Reference
Reference
19(2) : 22 April-June 1974.
  Example: SUBJECT ENTRY

POPULATION
Generoso, J.E.
The population problem. ill. Social Work.
19(2) : 22 April-June 1974.

3.4. Assignment of subject headings and preparation of subject entries.

3.5. Production and typing of entries
3.6. Arrangement and organization of entries.

4. Some suggested indexing guidelines:

4.1. Authors:
Authors are recorded in full in inverted form.
Articles without authors will have their entries under title.

4.2. Title of Periodical articles:

a. Record title of periodical article in full.
b. The title of periodical articles begins on the second line after the heading on the
Fifth letters for the indention.
c. Capitalization: Capitalize the first word of the title and proper nouns.
d. When title in not available, supply one and enclose in brackets.
e. Punctuation: Title of the article ends with a period, and two typewriter spaces is
followed by these terms.

Using appropriate abbreviations:

ill. Illustrations
port. Portrait
col.ill. Colored illustrations
maps
 bib. Bibliography
ref. References
4.3. Title of the periodical:
a. Periodical titles consisting of single word or terms are recorded in full.
Ex. COED Education.
b. Periodical titles consisting of two or more words are abbreviated.
c. Use abbreviations in existing periodical indexes. PICA

4.4. Volume, Number and Inclusive pages.

a. Volume and issue numbers are recorded in Arabic numbers followed by a colon.
Ex. 4(3) :
b. When volume is not available, the number will be indicated as follows.
Ex. No.1 :
c. The inclusive number of pages.
Ex. 4(3) : 13-18
d. Indicate a plus sign (+) when the paging is continued in the other parts of the
periodical.
e. Date of issue, months and years are not abbreviated:
January July
February August
March September
April October
May November
June December
Subject headings: Refer to principles in Sears List or Library of Congress Subject
Headings:
a. thesauri
b. indexes
c. bibliographies
d. reference sources

Sample indexing
In P-Slips:
a. Author entry

Generozo, J.E.
The population problem. ill. Social Work.
19 : 22 April-June 1974.
b. Title Entry

The population problem.

Generozo, J.E.
The population problem. ill. Social Work.
19 : 22 April-June 1974.
c. Subject entry

POPULATION
Generozo, J.E.
The population problem. ill. Social Work.
19 : 22 April-June 1974.
d. Sample Indexing entries (Index to Philippine Periodicals)

1. Two authors
TANEDO, Benjamin and DIEGO, J.B.
The Philippine transportation system and the Philippine national
Security. Ill.bib. Nat’l Secu Rev 2(5): 54-58 Je’74

2. Multiple authors
UY, Rosalinda, C.; Beltran, JG.; Magallo, A.;
Case study of the 1973 Supreme Court decisions in criminal law.
UST Law Rev 25: 35-36 Jl-Ag ‘74

3. Corporate author
PHILIPPINE Hospital Association
PHA letter to Pres. Marcos. Hosp Rec 2: 10 My ‘74
4. Supplied title
Ringer, Virginia
[Family planning]. J Inter-Chuch Comm Med Care 6: 23-24 Se’74
5. Subject heading single noun

6. Subject heading: Compound form

SCOUTS AND SCOUTING
Scouting on jamborees. A.S. Consignado. ill.
Philipp Panorama 3(1): 4-15 Jan 13’74

7. Single noun with qualifier

TIRURAY (Tribe)
The Tirurays. A.H. Reyes. Port. Expressweek.
Jan 17 ‘74

8. Adjectival phrase heading

PHYSICAL THERAPHY
Introducing a new course: the science of physical
therapy. J.T. Jokice. Cell Sc. 11:60 Nov ’73-‘74

9. Inverted phrase heading

RUBBER, ARTIFICIAL
Natural synthetic rubber output outstrips high cement.
Bus Day. 8-9 Ap 5 ‘74

10. Prepositional phrase heading

RECLAMATION OF LAND
Reclaiming idle lands for food production. B. Martinez. ill., port.
Focus Philipp. 2: 10 Je ‘74

11. Personal Name Heading

Samonte, Abelardo S.
AGS is installed first Chancellor today. port. UPLB Horiz.
2: 1 ‘74
12. Entry for poem
Solas, Elsa
A twenty-minute elegy [poem]. Echoes. 28 Ja –Fe ‘74

13. Short story / Fiction

Novo, Ramona S.
A many –splendored love (story). col.ill. Philipp Educ.
53(37): 03-71 D’74

14. Play, drama

Pambid, Manuel D.
Dito sa kapirasong lupa [play, Tagalog]. Haraya. 1: 35-50 Ap ‘74

15. Book review

Ogawa, Tetsuro
Terraced bell – a Japanese memoir of defeat and death.
 Reviewed by N.T. Steinberg. Am Hist Collect B. 2: 12-16 Ag ‘74

16. Editorial
NARCOTIC HABIT
Self-conquest through self-awareness: a new treatment of
drug addiction [editorial]. Philipp Panorama. 3: Ap 21 ’74.

17. Speech
Samonte, Abelardo S.
Testimonial to the U.P. President [speech]. ill. UP Newsl.
2: 4 Se 17 ‘74

18. Song
Paterna, Dolores
La Flor de Manila [song, English & Tagalog]. New Philipp. 11: 5 Ap ‘74

19. Columns
The Passing Scene [column]. Examiner 12: 21-24 Jan ’74.

20. Entry for these abstract

STUDENT TEACHING
Critical analysis of the problem by student teachers, high level, in
selected private secondary teacher-training institution in the Bikol region
[thesis abstract]. L.S. Luntok. CSI Fac & Grad J. 5: 35-33 1st Sem ’74.

21. Painting
Roces, Alfredo
This old man [painting]. Expressweek. 3: 10 D26 ‘74

22. See references

LPG
See liquified petroleum gas

PRODUCTION OF INDEXES

SAMPLES OF ULRC PERIODICAL INDEXES:

 Delmo, Gemma C.
The coconut: the money-making tree. col.ill.
Marid Agribusiness Digest. 22(4) : 18-25
Author Entry
September 2011.

The coconut: the money-making tree.

Delmo, Gemma C.
The coconut: the money-making tree. col.ill.
Title Entry Marid Agribusiness Digest. 22(4) : 18-25
September 2011.

COCONUT INDUSTRY
Delmo, Gemma C.
The coconut: the money-making tree. col.ill.
Subject Entry
Marid Agribusiness Digest. 22(4) : 18-25
September 2011.

Factors that may affect the quality of indexing

1. Indexer factors – subject knowledge, experience, concentration, reading ability and
comprehension
2. Vocabulary factors – specificity/syntax, ambiguity or imprecision, quality of entry
vocabulary, quality of structure and availability of related aids
 3. Document factors – subject matter, complexity, language, length, presentation and
summarization
4. Process factors – type of indexing, rules and instructions required productivity and how
exhaustive is the indexing done
5. Environmental factors – heating/cooling, lighting, noise

Automatic Indexing – simply put, is the use of computers in indexing and uses four (4) types of
approaches:
1. Statistical – based on counts of words, statistical associations, and collation techniques
that assign weights, cluster similar words
2. Syntactical – emphasis on grammar and parts of speech, identifying concepts found in
designated grammatical combinations, such as noun phrases
3. Semantic systems – concerned with the context sensitivity of words in text
4. Knowledge-based – provides for more than a thesaurus or equivalent relationships to
knowing the relationships between words

Types of Indexing Software

1. Embedding software – puts indexing codes into the electronic text and allows updating of
locators as the text is changed.
2. Stand-alone software – allows the indexer to work independently of the published material,
usually used for back-of-the-book indexing.
3. Automated indexing software – searches for words in the text and builds a list of words,
useful as an aid but cannot be considered as a true index since only humans can turn this
list into a true index.
4. Computer-assisted indexing – as differentiated with automatic indexing, is the use of
computers to do the mundane work while a human still does the intellectual task of indexing.

Indexing Software

Authex Plus – developed for newspaper and magazine indexing

CINDEX –“ tool for professional indexers, enabling them to produce the finest indexes in virtually
any format with remarkable efficiency and speed” -- from their website
http://www.indexres.com/home.php

MACREX - a computer program designed to assist indexers working from printed proofs, text on
disk, the author's manuscript, or an already completed book -- http://www.macrex.com/

SKY Index – spreadsheet approach to data entry and editing

 ABSTRACTING
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
Abstract
 A concise representation of the contents of a document, in a style similar to that of the
original.
 Condensed, representative surrogate of a knowledge record. A narrative description of a
document, which may include pertinent data and critical comments. – Cleveland, 2001
 An abbreviated, accurate representation of the contents of a document” – ANSI

Abstracting – the process of analyzing and providing a brief, accurate and clear representation of
the significant contents of a document.

Author Abstracts – Abstracts that are written by the authors of the original papers.

Abridgement - this document surrogate is a reduction in terms of length of the original document
that aims to present only the major points. Non-major points are omitted.

Annotation – this is a note added below the bibliographic reference of title of a document by way
of comment or brief description of what the document is about. It usually appears in one or two
sentences only.

Automatic abstracting – using a computer to construct abstracts

Extract – this document surrogate is actually a portion of a document lifted from the results,
conclusions or recommendations to represent the aboutness of the document. It is easy to
produce an extract because, this is just a matter of lifting any portion of the document which
is thought of giving the reader an idea of what the document is all about.

Synopsis – This is similar to a summary. Example: Short resume at the back of a pocketbook.

Surrogate- another term for substitute

Summary – is usually found at the end of the document which is intended to complete the
orientation of the reader and to present some of the highlights for the reader to remember.
This is done by the author of the document to restate the important findings and conclusions
of the document.

Terse literature – highly abbreviated statements that encapsulate the major points of a document.
Example: Short articles found in the Reader’s Digest.

DEVELOPMENT OF ABSTRACTS AND ABSTRACTING

Antiquities
 Historical researches for Francis J. Witty disclose that when writing was still done on clay
tablets, a device similar in function to an abstract was first used” on some on the clay envelope
enclosing Mesopotamia documents, so made to protect the materials from the wear and tear of
opening and closing before and after use.”
When writing graduated to papyrus rolls of records abstracting were for easy rule.
Much later, the Greek and the Roman literature around 2000-1000 BC came out. Plays of
great dramatics were abstracted called hypothesis in Greek to provide concise information about
the original document and to facilitate the search for, and recall of specific information, purpose of
abstract still very much the same up to today.
Middle Ages
During Monasticism, Monks transcribed manuscripts, they would frequently make
marginalia that summarized the page content on wide margins; royal secretaries used to prepare
abstracts of reports of ambassadors to the kings; or to the Popes in Papal’s court; early scientist
gives reports of their works to fellow scientists of friends in the form of abstracts.
Renaissance:
In Elizabethan Period, scientists make frequent use of abstracts in sending reports of
their study to their friends and colleagues. Abstract was their room for private communication.
17th Century
Abstracts become a system of public information dissemination, ushered by the formation of
the French Academy of Science by Cardinal Richell.
Les Journals des Scavans – was the first abstract periodicals for public information
dissemination published in Paris.
18th Century - General and Universal Abstracts began to emerge through Europe (in German,
English, French).
19th Century
 Specialized Abstract Journals such as the Chemical Abstract, Physics Abstract, etc.
Were published.
 Chemical Abstract – the largest and most expensive abstracting services.

Late 19th and 20th Century

 Information explosion and automation
 A comprehensive service such as Database Searches, SDI, Special Bibliographies, etc.
 Need not only for indexes but for bodies of literature.
 Automatic abstracting –Luhn (1964)
 Metadata Development

ABSTRACTS AND THE VARIOUS TYPES OF DOCUMENT SURROGATES

Annotation – this is a note added below the bibliographic reference of title of a document by
way of comment or brief description of what the document is about. It usually appears in one or
two sentences only.
 Abridgement - this document surrogate is a reduction in terms of length of the original
document that aims to present only the major points. Non-major points are omitted.

Extract – this document surrogate is actually a portion of a document lifted from the results,
conclusions or recommendations to represent the aboutness of the document. It is easy to
produce an extract because, this is just a matter of lifting any portion of the document which
is thought of giving the reader an idea of what the document is all about.

Synopsis – This is similar to a summary. Example: Short resume at the back of a pocketbook.

Summary – is usually found at the end of the document which is intended to complete the
orientation of the reader and to present some of the highlights for the reader to remember.
This is done by the author of the document to restate the important findings and conclusions
of the document.

Terse literature – highly abbreviated statements that encapsulate the major points of a
document. Example: Short articles found in the Reader’s Digest.

USES OF AN ABSTRACTS
Abstracts are not ends in themselves but are tools, which help users find information they
need to solve their problems. They allow for efficient judgment of the relevance and pertinence of
that information. (Cleveland, 2001).

1. Abstracts promote current awareness.

2. Abstracts facilitate selection.
3. Abstracts save the time of the reader.
4. Abstracts facilitate literature search.
5. Abstracts overcome language barrier
6. Abstracts improve indexing efficiency.
7. Abstracts also aid in the compilation and provision of other tools such as indexes,
bibliographies and reviews.
8. Abstracts allow the reader to understand the concept of the whole document in a short
period of time without reading the whole document.
9. Abstracts assist the reader in determining whether there is a need to consult the full text in
order to gain the needed information.

ABSTRACTS TYPICALLY HAVE FIVE MAIN GOALS:

1. Help readers decide if they should read an entire article
2. Help readers and researchers remember key findings on a topic
3. Help readers understand a text by acting as a pre-reading outline of key points
4. Index articles for quick recovery and cross-referencing
5. Allow supervisors to review technical work without becoming bogged down in details
 STANDARDS IN ABSTRACTING
Recommendations and guidelines developed and are relevant not only for authors of
documents but also for compilers of abstracts for an information service or secondary publications.

ISO – International Organization for Standardization

Guidelines in Preparing Abstracts (ISO 214-1976 (E)

ISO 214-1976 Abstracts for publication and documentation

 Prescriptive rather than definitive
 Presents guidelines for
o Preparing and presenting abstracts
o Subject analysis
o Style to be used
o Length of the abstract
 Provides definitions of related terms
 Emphasizes preparation of abstracts by authors of primary documents although these are
also applicable to other persons preparing abstracts, i.e. subject experts and professional
abstractors

AMR – Applied Mechanics Review

Abbreviated Guidelines for Reviewers
AMR Guidelines for Reviewers
ASTIA – Armed Services Technical Information Agency
ASTIA Guidelines for Cataloging and Abstracting
ANSI – American National Standard Institute
Guidelines for the content & Style of abstracts
DDC – Defense Document Center
DDC Rules for Preparing Abstracts
IFD – International Federation for Documentation
USNFAIS – United State National Federation of Abstracting and Indexing Service
UNESCO – United Nation Educational, Economic, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
Publish a Guide for Author’s Abstracts (UNESCO, 1968)
NISO – National Information Standard Organization
Abbreviated Guidelines for Reviewers
TYPES OF ABSTRACTS

Traditionally, abstracts have been classified in several different ways: by the way they were
written, by their use, and by who writes them.

1. Indicative abstract – or descriptive abstract.

- An Indicative Abstract describes what a document is about. Described briefly what will be
found if you read the original document. This abstract does not contain much data and
 most often cannot be used in place of the original. It abounds in phrases such as “is
discussed,” “is described”, “is enumerated”, “has been investigated” and yet does not
record the outcome of the investigations. Thirty (30) to fifty (50) words can make up an
indicative abstract, thus it can be written quickly and economically by an abstractor who
has less expertise on the subject. Indicative abstracts are more appropriate for review
articles, books, conference proceedings, reports without conclusions, essays and
bibliographies.

Example:
Buenrostro, J. C. Jr. (Institute of Library Science,U.P. Diliman Q.C.). (1994).
Preferences of Special Libraries and the Library Education Curriculum. Journal
of Philippine Librarianship, 16(1&2), 12-17.

Questionnaire was used in a survey of selected special librarians to match the hiring
preferences of the special library and the library education curriculum. Library managers
were asked to rank courses offered at the graduate and undergraduate programs. The
respondents were also asked to list eight courses which they felt should comprise the core
curriculum.

The respondents attitudes toward the suitability of the BLS and the MLIS degrees to
the needs of the special libraries are discussed. The types of continuing education
programs and the reason for attending such programs are also presented.

Descriptors: Special Libraries; Library Education; Library Science- Curriculum.

2. Informative abstract – acts as a substitute for the document. It is a miniature version of the
document including the purpose, numerical data, methodologies, formula, conclusions,
and recommendations. It is often used for experimental work, and for specific research
reports. It presents what has been done. The average is about 250 words. For theses,
dissertations and technical reports, 500 words maybe appropriate. Usually it is written by
subject expert and well-trained in abstracting.

Example:

Buenrostro, J. C. Jr. (Institute of Library Science,U.P. Diliman Q.C.). (1994).

Preferences of Special Libraries and the Library Education Curriculum. Journal
of Philippine Librarianship, 16(1&2), 12-17.

A survey was conducted among 43 librarians working in special libraries. The

questionnaire contains items that aims to match the hiring preferences to the current
curricular offerings of the library education program in the country. Library managers were
asked to rank library science courses in the undergraduate and graduate levels. Topping
the list of recommended courses are cataloging and classification, Reference and Library
Administration. The first eight courses which the respondents felt should comprised the
core curriculum are: Library Education, first; Reference and Information Services, second;
Cataloging and Classification, third; Introduction to Information Science, fourth; Information
Processing and Handling, fifth, Collection Development, sixth; Abstracting and Indexing,
 seventh; and Special Library, eighth. As to the suitability of the BLS degree, 88.37% said
that BLS is suitable. As for the MLIS degree, 74.42% said yes. On the job training,
attending seminar-workshops
And following Master’s Degree in LIS are the most preferred types of continuing
education programs. Reasons for attending continuing education programs are for updating
(63.3%), promotion (22.95%) and required by the profession (14.75%). Economics motivate
these librarians to work in special libraries. (10 tables and 18 refs.)

Descriptors: Special Libraries, Library Education, Library Science- Curriculum

3. Informative-Indicative Abstract

This is a combination of the indicative and informative abstracts. Major aspects of the
document are written in informative way, while aspects which are of minor importance are written
indicatively. This mixed style can utilize not too many words and not too little words just enough to
be able to transmit information effectively.

4. Critical Abstract – The third category type of abstract that makes value judgment or editorial
comments on a paper. This kind of abstract is generally used on published papers with broad
overviews, on reviews, and on monographs, but is also used for single papers.

INDICATIVE VS INFORMATION ABSTRACTS

ATTRIBUTES INDICATIVE INFORMATIVE

Purpose  Describes or indicates what  Summarize the substance
documents is all about of the document including
 Brief and descriptive the result.
 Comprehensive and
quantitative

Content  Contain information on  Include information on

purpose, scope, or purpose, scope,
 methodology, but will not methodology, results,
present conclusions or conclusions,
recommendations recommendations

Length  20-50 words  100-150 words

 DDC Rules – (200-250
words)

Style of Writing  Difficult to write  Easy to write

OTHER TYPES OF ABSTRACTS

1. Slanted abstract – biased towards the interests of the intended users; guiding question is
“Why are our users likely to be interested in this item?”
2. Discipline-oriented – an abstract written for a specific area of knowledge.
3. Mission-oriented – an abstract written to support application activities that may or
may not be interdisciplinary in nature

2. Telegraphic Abstract – is written in a telegram style and therefore imprecise. It is written in

incomplete sentences and really resembles a telegram.

3. Modular abstract – contains a full content description of a document consisting of five parts:

1. citation
2. annotation
3. indicative abstract
4. informative abstract
5. critical abstract

Modular abstracts eliminate duplications and waste of intellectual effort involved in the
abstracting of the same documents by several abstracting services.
4. Short abstract or mini abstract – is similar to annotations because it comprise only one or two
sentences which aim to describe briefly what the document is all about. A highly structured
abstract designed primarily for searching by computer. Terms in a mini abstract are drawn from
a controlled vocabulary and arranged in a specified sequence almost like that of a sentence
structure. Also referred to as machine-readable index-abstract
5. Statistical or Tabular Abstract – are most effective in conveying certain types of information
found in documents that contain economic, social and marketing data. Statistical data or
tabular data on economics, social conditions, marketing trends are presented in their original
format to present the summary of the contents of the document.

6. Author Abstracts – are prepared by the author who is undeniably the best versed in his own
specific subject. One of the trends in journal publishing is the appearance of abstract below the
 title of the article. This shows that the prospective authors are required to prepare abstract of
his/her work and to submit it together with the manuscript.

7. Homotopic Abstract – are published at the same time as the original manuscript. Homotopic
abstracts accompany the manuscripts, so that the articles cannot be published without the
abstracts. Since homotopic abstracts are prepared by authors, they are considered as author
abstracts.

Classifying abstract by AUTHOR

1. Authors of the papers – do not necessarily make good abstractors, very much the same
as with the playwright taking the lead part in his own play, but an author providing abstract
of his work will ensure that these abstracts are on time since they will ordinarily accompany
the manuscript and will prove to be less expensive since no additional expense is
necessary of the author’s abstract is used.

2. Subject area experts – specialists who may not be professional abstractors but are
professionals in their subject fields. If they are trained and experienced in the procedures
and methods of abstracting, they produce high quality abstracts. A good example is
Excerta Medica which relies on experts from the health sciences field.

3. Professional abstractors – produce high quality abstracts, especially if they have become
familiar with the assigned areas. They usually demand high compensation but they do work
on time, often have foreign language expertise and can cover areas in which subject
experts cannot be found.

PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF ABSTRACTING

Commonly abstracted materials

1. Books/monographs
2. Journal articles
3. Newspaper articles
4. Technical reports
5. Theses/dissertation
6. Patents and specifications
7. Conference proceedings/meetings
8. Reviews

Factors in deciding which materials should have abstracts

 1. Economic constraints – cost in terms of time and production

2. Significant materials – significant portions or areas in the papers critical to the concerns of
the would-be readers. Notes, communications, and letter to the editor may have minimal
significance.

3. Publication source – items from disreputable or unknown publishers may be ignored,

whereas items from respected publishers would always be abstracted

4. Subject interest of the user – some things will clearly be of interest, others clearly not, and
some items will be of marginal interest.

FORMAT OF AN ABSTRACT

CITATION FORMATS IN ABSTRACT

Some of the standards that provide for the formats of citations in abstracts:
ISO 690-1987 Bibliographic references- content, form, and structure
ISO/CD 690-1987 Content, form and structure
ISO 690-2 : 1987 – Bibliographic references – Part 2: Electronic document or parts thereof
 For monographs / books For journal articles

Surname/s of author/s, Forename/s Surname/s of author/s, Forename/s

Title of publication (underlined/italics/upper Title of article
case) Titles of journal (underline/italics)
Edition number Volume number
Place of publication Issue number in parentheses
Publisher Inclusive pages
Year of publication Date of publication of journal
Total number of pages
Example:
Example: Hutchins, W.J. The concept of “aboutness” in
Cleveland, D.B. and Cleveland, A.D. subject indexing. Aslib Proceedings 30(5):172-
Introduction to Indexing and Abstracting. 3rd ed. 181.
Englewood, Colorado : Libraries Unlimited,
2001. 283 p.

PARTS OF AN ABSTRACT

Three (3) major parts of the Abstract:

1. The bibliographic reference portion

2. The abstract proper or the body
3. The signature

1. The bibliographic reference portion – directs the customer to the original document.
Significant parts of the reference portion of the abstract are:
1. Document identification number – the number serves to identify the particular
abstract within the abstracting periodical for easy retrieval.
2. Author (S)
3. Author Affiliation
4. Title of the document
5. Source of the document; volume and issue number, date of publication, and specific
pages
6. Original language (other than English)
2. The body of an abstract – it contains complete idea or the basic content of the original
document. It is the portion where the customer is given a complete idea of the basic content of the
original document to help him/her assess the feasibility of going through it. To achieve the desired
degree of brevity, many parts of the document are omitted, and these are:
1. History
2. Introduction
3. Old information
4. Summaries
5. Details of procedures

The abstract proper contains the following parts:

1. Purpose – (10%)
2. Methodology – (15%)
 3. Results and conclusion – (75%)

3. Signature – identifies the abstractor to give him/her credit, and place responsibility upon
him/her, and also to indicate authority.
– Signature may be full names or initials only. Full names are written as means of
positively identifying the abstractor and also means of rewarding him/her

STYLE OF ABSTRACTING

Writing an abstract gives foremost consideration on the need to be concise. The following
points may serve as a guide:

1. Write in fluent, easy-to-read prose and strive for simplicity and general understandability.
2. Be exact, concise, and ambiguous. Avoid general statements where you can be specific.
3. Condense but, as a general rule, do not personally interpret author’s remark.
4. Be consistent in tone and emphasis while the document is being abstracted.
5. Use short sentences, but with some variety in length and structure to avoid monotony.
6. Use complete sentences and constructions, except when supplying the last bits of
descriptive information, e.g.”12 ref.”
7. Place the general statements, where needed, towards the end of the abstract.
8. Use active-voice verbs instead of passive ones. “A exceeds B” makes better reading than
“B is exceeded by A”
9. The noun form of verbs makes dull reading. “Separating Church from State” reads better in
an abstract than “the separation of church and state”
10. Use the past tense to describe the specific activities that the author is reporting, since these
are already in the past. However, the conclusion that he draws from these activities are
facts and therefore prevail in the present; accordingly they should be written in present
tense.
11. Use short, simple, concrete, familiar words.
12. Try to avoid trade jargons and colloquialisms.
13. Avoid overusing and awkward omission of articles.
14. Use well known abbreviations and symbols in the field
15. Do use abbreviations commonly understood or easy intelligible.
for example : kg., km., ft., cm. etc.
16. Do not include history and background
17. Abbreviations and symbols to be used should be defined the first time they occur in the
abstract. For example, less develop country (LDC)
18. Since brevity is the essence of abstracting, verbosity and redundancy should be avoided.
19. Additional information such as tables, figures, references, illustrations, charts, and graphs
should be included at the end of the abstract proper and enclosed in parenthesis.
Example: (4 tables; 6 figs.; 8 charts; 5 photos; 6 graphs)
20. 20. When using abbreviations for units in combination with a number, write the number as a
numeral, e.g. 3 ft.; 150 yd.

LENGTH OF AN ABSTRACT

Document Length
Articles, monographs 250 words
Notes. Short communications 100 words
Editorials, letters to editors 30 words
Theses and dissertations 300 word

APPROXIMATE PROPORTION OF PARTS OF AN THE ABSTRACT

Parts of the abstract Approximate Proportion

 Motivation (Purpose) 3%
Problem statement 7%
Methodology 15%
Results (Discussion) 70%
Conclusion/Recommendations 5%
TOTAL 100%

THE ABSTRACTING PROCESS

Steps in abstracting
1. Recording the reference – completeness and accuracy is essential to give exact steerage to the
original paper. Elements in the reference entry include:
a. The title – a key device in identifying information for retrieval. Good titles contain strong
content-bearing words, and users will often depend on these to help them decide if they
need the paper.
b. The author – usually placed first in the bibliographic reference; users often base their
searches on authors who are leaders in the field and if the user enters the file abstracts with
a citation in hand, the citation is easier to locate by author.
c. Author affiliation – often of interest to user because it helps in judging the author and
makes communication easier if the reader wants to contact the author for reprints or for any
other reason.
d. Funding agency – if the document is a technical report or a paper based on the results of a
funded research, the agency giving the money should be noted in the reference section. It is
customary that the funding agency is acknowledged and information about it (name and
contact number) is included.
e. Publication source – this is the key unit in the reference because it provides the location of
the paper. It should be accurate and consistent and follows some standard conventions for
citing.
 f. Foreign languages- the original language should be indicated, and if it has been translated,
the translation source information should be supplied.
g. Other information – additional information such as descriptive notes, sources for obtaining
the document, and price.
2. Content analysis – involves reviewing all the points in a document and deciding which ones are
important, keeping in mind who are the readers of the abstracts will be and what they will be
seeking. Abstractors look for the following indicators when doing content analysis:
a. Objectives and scope – why was this document written? What purpose did the author have
in mind? This is usually discussed in the beginning of the paper.
b. Methodology – techniques and methods used for papers reporting experimental work.
Enough information should be given to allow the reader to understand how the work was
carried out. For non-experimental work, abstractor should note data sources and how these
data were used.
c. Results - What were the outcomes? What relationships and correlations were observed?
Were the results obtained from a single measurement or were they obtained from
replication?
d. Conclusion – accepted or rejected hypotheses; evaluations; recommendations and
suggestions and implications of the findings of the paper
e. Other information – supporting information that are not directly related to the topic but
might be important in other areas. This type of information belongs in the abstract but should
not dominate it.
3. Writing the annotation – a short narrative of the highlights of the paper including the results of the
analysis written in natural language.

4. Identifying the abstractor – providing the abstractor’s name gives credit and responsibility for the
abstract

5. Arranging the abstracts – can be alphabetical by title, author, subject descriptors and dictionary.
ABSTRACTING POLICIES, PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES

CHARACTERISTICS OF ABSTRACTS
An abstract is a well- defined type of literature which have definite attributes and a unique
style. It is not a “natural” form of writing. It requires technical and professional skills and training.
1. Brevity – saves the reader’s time by pruning redundancy characteristics of all languages.
Because of brevity, only processed data (rather than usually numerous raw data) are
included.
2. Accuracy – abstracting is a continual, uphill fight against error. Prevention against error
must be made conscious and planned.
3. Clarity – write in complete sentences and in the author’s own words, through paraphrases
so as to be extracted. Paraphrasing enhances the literacy quality of an abstract.
4. Non-Critical – evaluation assessment, or making a critique is not the essence of
abstracting.
5. Comprehensive, independent of the original manuscript – it must contain all the
substances prescribed of an abstract i.e. purpose, methodology, results, and conclusion of
the original document abstracted.

WRITING EFFECTIVE ABSTRACTS

 1. Thorough reading and listening to the entire paper enables you to determine what it is all
about
2. Reread the article giving particular attention to essential information from the introduction,
purpose, methods, scope, results of the study, conclusions, recommendations and
summary.
3. Write a rough draft without going back to the original article
4. Revise your rough draft to correct weaknesses
5. Print a final and read it again to catch any more errors

QUALITIES OF A GOOD ABSTRACT

1. Contains a complete and concise description of the work
2. Self-contained, and a good encapsulation of the original work
3. Follows prescribed guidelines in terms of contents, i.e. adhering to a certain structure
4. Logical, clear and compact
5. Essential facts are extracted from the document and reproduced accurately

TABLE 1
VERBOSESE ABSTRACTESE
1. Absolute perfection - absolute
2. Alphabetical order - alphabetical, alphabetically
3. Assembled together - together
4. At the hour of noon - at noon
5. Attached together - attached
6. Automobile accumulator - automobile
7. Blue in color - blue
8. Boob tube - television
9. Complete master - list
10. Connective word - connective
11. Eight kilometer - 8 km.
12. Entirely completed - completed
13. Every now and then - now
14. False illusion - illusion
15. Fuse together - fuse
16. Has been found to increase - increased
17. In order to - to
18. Invisible to the eye - invisible
19. Irregardless - regardless
20. Later on - later
21. Lost Atlantis - Atlantis
22. Make a copy - copy
23. Meaningful experience of an educational nature - educational experience
24. Now pending - pending
25. On the basis of - from / because
26. Once for all - finally
27. One and only - one
28. Or, alternatively - or
29. Over with - over
30. Put into final completion - draft or compost
31. Raised up - absolute
32. Roentgen rays - x-ray
33. Self-confessed - confessed
34. Square in shape - square
35. Stated verbally - stated
36. Sugar diabetes - diabetes
37. Surrounding circumstances - circumstances
38. The sum of 200 dollars - $200
39. To come by - by
40. Typewritten manuscripts - manuscripts
41. Undergoes changes in time - change
42. Unexplained idiopathic etiology - etiology
43. Unselfish altruism - altruism
44. Was considered to be - was
45. Widow lady - widow (female) / widower (male)
46. Will in the future - will
47. With reference to - about
48. Yellow jaundice - yellow
TABLE 2
REDUNDANCY REMOVAL

REDUNDANT Unbelabored

1. 0.5N A.Q NaOH soln. - 0.5N NaOH

2. An innumerable number of particles - innumerable particles
3. At 30-mm pressure Hg - At 30mm
4. At a temp. of 20 ͦ - at 20 ͦ
5. Bisect into two parts - bisect
6. Dark blue in color - Dark blue
7. Dust particles - dust
8. Fewer in number - fewer
9. For a period of 3 hr - For 3 hr
10. Heterogeneous in character - Heterogeneous
11. Previous history - history
12. The material was cooled at 0 ͦ in an ice bath for 1 hr - The material was put in ice bath for 1 hr
13. Repeated over and over again - repeated
14. Throughout the entire expt. - During the expt.
15. Two equal halves - Halves
Edit the following titles to shorten them and remove ambiguity:

1. A study of Library Use by Teenagers

2. Oil Prices in 1974

3. An Introduction to the study of Programmed Instruction for a Modern Language

4. Documentation of COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

5. Selective SDI for One Science

D. Applications of indexing and abstracting data

1. Primary publications
Example: Thesis or dissertation (300 words)

Parts of an Abstract:
1. Bibliographic reference portion (use APA format)
2. The abstract proper or the body:
a. Main objective
b. Respondents
c. Research design
d. Research instruments
e. Data analysis tools / statistical treatment
f. Conclusion
g. Recommendation
3. The signature – write your full name

2. Indexing and abstracting journals and bulletins

Example: Journals

3. Database products
Example: Infotrac or online database
 4. Online searching
Example: Topic search

5. Current awareness services

Example: Newspaper articles

Teacher’s Copy
Edit the following titles to shorten them and remove ambiguity:
1. A study of Library Use by Teenagers

2. Oil Prices in 1974

3. An Introduction to the study of Programmed Instruction for a Modern Language

4. Documentation of COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

5. Selective SDI for One Science

 CREATING ANNOTATIONS

What is an annotation?

An annotation is a short description of an item. Annotations describe (summarize important

content) and evaluate (critically analyze) the resource based on standard criteria. An annotation
differs from an abstract or summary, as abstracts and summaries usually only describe or
summarize the content and do not critically evaluate. Annotations may be written to describe
books, Web sites, articles, government documents, videos, or other items.

What is the function of an annotation?

The function of an annotation is to inform the reader about the item of interest and to provide a
critical analysis or evaluation of its content.

How do I write an annotation?

The content of an annotation depends on the intended audience. An annotation should include the
following:

 complete bibliographic citation information using an appropriate citation style (MLA, APA,
Turabian, etc.)
 a brief summary of the item's content and the main purpose of the work
 an annotation should also include evaluative comments such as:
o the qualifications of the author
o any biases that are detected
o the intended audience/reading level
o the item's relationship to other similar works or areas of study
o special features about the item (e.g. bibliography, graphics, appendices, etc.)
o other evaluative comments about the item (what was useful, what was missing, how
it compares to similar items on the same topic, etc.)
An annotation should be written in the third person and should stand alone, accurately describing
the contents of the source without reference to any other source. In addition, if annotations are
being written for an annotated bibliography, do not begin each annotation in the same way. The
reader may find the document boring if similar wording is used throughout. An annotation is usually
a minimum of three to four sentences long and is usually indented below the citation.

Examples of annotations:

Note: The bibliographic citation information for the annotations below use the MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. Other style guides may be used including APA or Turabian.
Please see the Citing Print and Electronic Sources Guide for additional information.

 
Book
Barber, Benjamin R. Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World.
New York: Ballentine Books, 1996.

In this book, Benjamin Barber discusses globalism, tribalism, democracy, and capitalism.
Part I discusses McWorld and its invasion throughout the entire world. Barber writes that this
global overtaking has been accomplished through music, various service industries, and the
media. Part II focuses on Jihad, in opposition to McWorld, as people and countries struggle for
their own individual and cultural identities. Part III describes the clash of McWorld and Jihad and
the resulting disorder. Capitalism and democracy are debated as working against each other. Two
appendices are included at the end of the book, The first appendix describes energy use and
population by country in 1990 and the second lists the twenty-two countries' top grossing films in
1991. The book also includes an extensive notes section. The book was well-organized and the
material covered presents globalization in a new way.

Scholarly Journal Article

Speckmann, Bettina and Jack Snoeyink. "Easy Triangle Strips for TIN Terrain Models."
International Journal of Geographical Information Science 15 (2001): 379-386.

This technical communication discusses the triangulated irregular network (TIN) model to
represent feature terrain. A major problem with this model is the amount of data required in
transmission. To reduce the amount of data transmitted, many systems use triangle strips or
tristrips. A tristrip is created be starting with a triangle and then adding a new vertex and dropping
the oldest vertex from the original triangle. The goal of the tristrip concept is to find the minimum
number of vertices to accurately represent the terrain. Two methods to create this tristrip
representation are described. The first involves the use of a spanning tree following the tree using
depth first and creating a zigzag pattern to create new tristrips. The second method uses the
spanning tree method and an algorithm to construct the tristrips. The authors determined several
different ways to reduce the number of tristrips. The first is to allow swaps by changing the vertex
when creating new triangles. The second method is to combine two tristrips. The third way
combines strips using non-tree edges. The most significant reduction in data was through the use
of swaps. The paper contains a variety of figures and table to assist the reader in understanding
the concept of tristrips and ends with a short list of references. The authors, Speckmann and
Snoeyink, work in the departments of computer science at the University of British Columbia and
UNC Chapel Hill, respectively.

Popular Magazine Article in an Article Database (with only the starting page number provided)

Thompson, Stephanie. "Targeting Teens Means Building Buzz." Advertising Age 27 March 2000:
26 . Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Weber State U, Stewart Lib., Ogden, UT. 29 Sept.
2005 <http://www.epnet.com>.

This brief article talks about marketing to teens without their knowing that they are directly
being targeted. Different strategies used to market products are described including those used for
Cornnuts and Nabisco's Bubble Yum gum. The article describes this marketing as "anti-
advertising" and portrays how teens react to various tactics. Although short, this article provides a
current overview of how companies market to teens.

Web Site
McKinley Health Center. Caffeine. 2002. 23 Aug. 2005 <http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/health-info/
         drug-alc/caffeine.html>.

Web site which discusses the ingredient caffeine. On the site many questions are answered about
caffeine including its effects and safety, reducing caffeine consumption, and whether or not it helps
with studying. The amount of caffeine in common foods is listed in a table at the bottom of the
page including various types of coffee and teas, chocolate, cocoa, and soft drinks. Medications
that contain caffeine are also listed. The page is well-organized, contains useful information, and
includes appropriate documentation.

Help in preparing this handout came from the Web site: "How to write annotated bibliographies"
Retrieved May 17, 2002 from
http://www.mun.ca/library/research_help/qeii/annotated_bibl.html
 
 EXAMPLE OF ABSTRACT

EXAMPLE 1

Project Title: Woman Writers and the Fantastic: Subversion and Liberty
Project Abstract (Limit to 100 words max. May be edited for length, grammar, etc.)

This project explains how fantastic literature can serve as an instrument to deconstruct and
reconstruct a new world; how in a fantastic world, a woman may construct her own identity
outside of the rigid roles imposed upon her in a patriarchal society. It discusses how through
fantastic literature, women writers expose the limits of male-dominated society and construct a
new world in which women may be free from these restrictions. Two examples of women's
fantastic literature used for this discussion will be The Youngest Doll and When Women Love Men
by Rosario Ferre. In her stories, Ferre and other women writers create a world in which they are
free to express their discontent in a world in which they are trapped.

EXAMPLE 2

Project Title: Inhibition of MAP Kinase Kinase by U0126 Blocks 2, 4-D-induced MAP Kinase Phosphorylation but not
Coming in Xenopus oocytes
Project Abstract (Limit to 100 words max. May be edited for length, grammar, etc.)

This project shows how the activation of the MAPK pathway leads to maturation in Xenopus
oocytes, and how that pathway is initiated by progesterone, which activates a signal transduction
pathway that leads to the phosphorylation of MAPK through MAPKK and the activation of MRF
which induces GVBD. It will explain how 2, 4-D, a herbicide that has been shown to block
progesterone-induced maturation and GVBD, induces MAPK phosphorylation and causes an
abnormal coning morphotype. U0126, a specific inhibitor of MAPKK, was used to determine the
mechanism by which 2, 4-D induces MAPK phosphorylation and coning. The results of this
experiment will be revealed and discussed.

Note: When a project is scientific based, it is best to write the abstract in such a way the nonscientific type of
person can understand what is being conveyed. This example is too technical for most people to understand.

EXAMPLE 3

Project Title: Communal Chimney Roosting of Migrating Vaux's Swifts (Chaetura Vauxi) near Salem, Oregon
Project Abstract (Limit to 100 words max. May be edited for length, grammar, etc.)

Vaux's swifts are neotropical migrants that breed in western North America. Their natural
roosts are in large, hollow trees, especially in old-growth forests. Due to the depletion of old-
growth forest habitats, these birds have adapted to roosting and nesting in human-made
structures, particularly in chimneys. The purpose of this study was to locate and monitor major
chimney roosting sites of migrating Vaux's swifts in or near Salem, Oregon. The number of swifts
peaked in mid-September, declined rapidly for a few days, and then tapered off at a slower rate.
This and other results of the study will be discussed.

Note: When a project is scientific based, it is best to write the abstract in such a way the nonscientific type of
person can understand what is being conveyed. This is an example of a preferred scientific abstract, as it is
written in a way that most everyone can understand what is being said.

 EXAMPLE 4

Project Title: Unequal Exposure: A GIS Analysis of Race, Poverty, and Environmental Hazards in Oregon's Capital
Project Abstract (Limit to 100 words max. May be edited for length, grammar, etc.)

The purpose of this project is to measure environmental equity in Salem, Oregon, with an aim
to contribute to a growing body of literature concerned with the unequal distribution of
environmental hazards. The project analyzes important previous studies and then conducts an
investigation that centers around a series of GIs maps that revel correlations between
environmental hazards and demographics, such as race and income level. The results will be
revealed and discussed.
 EXAMPLE 5

Project Title: Vision Training: Effects on Motor Skills and Visual Ability in Experience Racquetball Players
Project Abstract (Limit to 100 words max. May be edited for length, grammar, etc.)

This study investigates the effects of vision training on visual ability and motor skills in
racquetball players. Fourteen participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment using
visual training and traditional racquetball practice, or a control group with practice only. Stereopsis
(depth-perception), oculomotor skill (hand-eye coordination), and a sport-specific motor
performance (a wall-volley test) were measured before and after four weeks of training. The
results of these studies will be revealed, and the conclusion that vision training leads to no
significant improvements in visual ability or in the transfer to motor performance for racquetball
players will be discussed.

 EXAMPLE 6

Project Title: Katie Pierce

Project Abstract (Limit to 100 words max. May be edited for length, grammar, etc.)

This project explores how paternalistic decision making by coaches often conflicts with the
athlete's right to autonomy; that is, freedom in self-regarding actions. The complexity of the
conflict will be addressed using exemplars including the special case of children, drug use in
sports, and returning to play after an injury. A compromise in the form of a morally-decent trusting
relationship between coach and athlete, based on the model of informed consent and grounded in
open and effective communication, will be explained.