How Should Notes Be Indexed?

My previous post on indexing notes discussed the two basic kinds of footnotes/endnotes — bibliographic or supplemental — and whether or not they should be included in an index.

Now, once we have concluded that yes, the notes will be indexed…what’s next?

Indicating Notes in an Index

Numbered Notes

Usually, notes are indicated by a reference to the page number first, then the letter “n” to indicate a note, and then the number of the note. For example: 42n3

saunas, 37-39, 42n3

According to the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), section 16.113 a note spanning more than one page should only be referenced by the first page number, so if note 3 begins on page 42 and continues onto page 43 or 44 (etc.), it would appear in the index as simply, “42n3”:

saunas, 42n3

Alternatively, according to a session I attended during ASI’s 2022 Annual Conference*, in cases of notes spanning more than one page, the whole page range should be indicated. This gives the reader an idea of the extent of the discussion. So that same locator pointing to a note in the last example, may also look like this:

saunas, 42-44n3

— In short, this is likely one of those cases where it depends** on client or indexer preferences and house style guidelines.***

It is also possible that one page may have more than one consecutive note on a topic, for example, if there is a discussion of saunas on page 42, notes 3, 4, and 5:

saunas, 42nn3-5

Unnumbered Notes

According to CMS section 16.112:

• if there is only one note on the page, the locator in the index does not need to include a note number, just the page number plus the letter “n” (e.g. 42n); and,

• if a book’s note system uses symbols rather than numbers, the symbol should be used where the note number would otherwise have been (e.g. 42n* or 42n†).

Extra Information

In cases where indexable content is discussed in the main body of the text as well as in a footnote on the same page, the footnote does not need to be mentioned, only the page number. This is common indexing practice.

However, if saunas are discussed on page 41 and then separately, only in footnote number 3, on page 42, the entry should look like this:

saunas, 41, 42n3

Here, you can find more posts on indexable content.

*Yes, I took notes. And yes, I still have them. And yes, I did refer to my notes for this point. :)

**One day, I will dedicate an entire post to the phrase “It depends” and indexers’ love/use of it. Including my own. I’d go out on a limb and say about 100% of questions can correctly be answered with “It depends…”

***These are guidelines, after all, not strict rules. — Unlike with grammar, no Index Police exist, not really.