A systematic guide to the contents of a file, document, or group of documents, consisting of an ordered arrangement of terms or other symbols representing the contents and references, code numbers, page numbers, etc. An abbreviated, accurate representation of a work, usually without added interpretation or criticism, accompanied by a bibliographic reference to the original work when appearing separately from it. There is, however, considerable overlap between bibliography and index, at least as they are used by publishers. The most frequently used indexes are those which arrange the contents of groups of periodicals and journals by subject headings.
Abstracts are indexes that provide a descriptive summary of the article's content.
Abstracts can be written by the article author or be provided by the abstracting service. The additional information provided by an abstract makes it easier to determine the value of an article prior to retrieval. While many users are not aware of these benefits, they too readily accept electronic indexes that include fulltext articles. All print indexes are arranged alphabetically by title in the Per Index area on LRS 3rd floor unless otherwise indicated. The instructor will make every effort to create links from this page and announce additions in class.