When is a glossary necessary?

Carole · Oct 27, 2005

I think I might need to consider adding a glossary to my book, but I am not sure. There are a lot of acronyms and specific terms used and since some of my material contains quotes, I need to leave them as they are.

Is there a better way of clarifying the information? I thought about putting brief explanations in parenthesis beside the acronyms or confusing terms, but on some pages it turns into a mess and looks unprofessional.

This isn't the case throughout the book, but in certain chapters the acronyms are essential so I can't just drop them.

scfirenice · Oct 27, 2005

I'm not sure but the first time you use an acronym try speling it out ex. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Then after that use just FDA. If you only have a few such terms it will work, if you have enough to fill a page or so, you could always reference them in the back. This is in no way an expert opinion. Wait for some of the pros to swing by.

Carole · Oct 27, 2005

I have thought about that. The one problem with it is that many of the acronyms appear in a quote. Otherwise, I'd just spell it out and avoid confusion in the first place. Do you think it would be odd to have the meaning in () in the middle of a quote?

TashaGoddard · Oct 28, 2005

It sounds as though the glossary might be a useful feature, particularly if acronyms appear within quotes. Another possible solution could be to use footnotes. I would assume, if you've got quite a lot of quotes, that you'll be having a bibliography/references section, so including a glossary might fit better. However, these kinds of decision may come down to the publisher, in the end. I would suggest, therefore that, as long as you keep some kind of log of both glossable words/acronyms and references, this will be enough for you/the publisher to format them in whatever way is decided best.

Hope that helps.

Carole · Oct 28, 2005

That does help. Thanks

I don't have an unusually high number of quotes, but nearly all of them contain acronyms. That was the problem. I didn't want to break up the quotes to insert explanations, but I didn't want readers to be scratching their heads, either.

When is a glossary necessary?

Carole

How 'bout some ether?

scfirenice

professional multitasker

Carole

How 'bout some ether?

TashaGoddard

Away with the fairies

Carole

How 'bout some ether?