Subject Indexing - Subject Analysis

Subject Analysis

The first step in indexing is to decide on the subject matter of the document. In manual indexing, the indexer would consider the subject matter in terms of answer to a set of questions such as "Does the document deal with a specific product, condition or phenomenon?". As the analysis is influenced by the knowledge and experience of the indexer, it follows that two indexers may analyse the content differently and so come up with different index terms. This will impact on the success of retrieval.

Read more about this topic:  Subject Indexing

Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or analysis:

    But when the bowels of the earth were sought,
    And men her golden entrails did espy,
    This mischief then into the world was brought,
    This framed the mint which coined our misery.
    ...
    And thus began th’exordium of our woes,
    The fatal dumb-show of our misery;
    Here sprang the tree on which our mischief grows,
    The dreary subject of world’s tragedy.
    Michael Drayton (1563–1631)

    ... the big courageous acts of life are those one never hears of and only suspects from having been through like experience. It takes real courage to do battle in the unspectacular task. We always listen for the applause of our co-workers. He is courageous who plods on, unlettered and unknown.... In the last analysis it is this courage, developing between man and his limitations, that brings success.
    Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)