Finally the above are combined into index entries. If you are building an index using a software tool, it is likely to provide you with automatic sorting of the main index entries, as well as the subentries. If you are not using a software tool, you will have to do this sorting yourself, for example in a text editor, by inserting lines whenever necessary.
By doing an "all-possible-combinations" pass through our notes we created above, assuming the paragraph is entirely contained on page 75, the resulting index entries will probably look like this.
Unsorted (alternate wordings still in red):
water
percentage in body, p75
body holding onto it, p75
lack of, p75
not drinking enough, p75
drinking enough, p75
carrying nutrients to cells, p75
carrying waste from cells, p75
role in weight loss, p75
H2O, see water
nutrients
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
nutrition
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
nourishment
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
food
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
cells
water carrying nutrients to ..., p75
water carrying waste from ..., p75
waste
water carrying ... from cells, p75
cellular excretion
water carrying ... from cells, p75
byproducts
water carrying ... from cells, p75
water weight
retention due to lack of water, p75
sodium
high ... in diet causing water retention, p75
diets
containing high sodium may cause water retention, p75
regimen
containing high sodium may cause water retention, p75
nutritional regimen
containing high sodium may cause water retention, p75
water retention
due to lack of water, p75
due to high-sodium diets, p75
due to a woman's menstrual cycle, p75
weight
impact on, from drinking enough water, p75
Sorted:
byproducts
water carrying ... from cells, p75
cells
water carrying nutrients to ..., p75
water carrying waste from ..., p75
cellular excretion
water carrying ... from cells, p75
diets
containing high sodium may cause water retention, p75
food
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
H2O, see water
nourishment
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
nutrients
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
nutrition
water as a transport medium for ... to cells, p75
nutritional regimen
containing high sodium may cause water retention, p75
regimen
containing high sodium may cause water retention, p75
sodium
high ... in diet causing water retention, p75
waste
water carrying ... from cells, p75
water
body holding onto it, p75
carrying nutrients to cells, p75
carrying waste from cells, p75
drinking enough, p75
lack of, p75
not drinking enough, p75
percentage in body, p75
role in weight loss, p75
water retention
due to lack of water, p75
due to high-sodium diets, p75
due to a woman's menstrual cycle, p75
water weight
retention due to lack of water, p75
weight
impact on, from drinking enough water, p75
Note that in this example, all the page numbers were listed with level-2 entries. This is ONLY because the level-1 entries were very general terms, and are very likely to be mentioned in other contexts in our imaginary book. If a term is mentioned only once, and it is in the paragraph you are indexing, it is entirely valid to make it into a level-1 index entry with a page number. If you create a level-1 entry and find (once it is sorted) that you have another level-1 entry that is either identical or similar enough to be made into a general context entry with subentries, then you should do so. This of course comes after you have indexed more than one paragraph, and you will find this happens many times in a large document. This is part of the process.
Sometimes an alternate term is not significant enough to list page numbers, or is technically not the right term or is an unusual term. In these cases, create a "reference entry", that simply refers the reader to the correct term, like this:
<alternate_term>, see <correct_term>
As you can see, we have done this above with the term H2O.
Note that it MAY look ridiculous at this stage to list so many adjacent subentries all with identical page numbers. However, remember that this is just for one paragraph. Once you combine all the entries and subentries from all the other paragraphs in your document, most of these entries will no longer be adjacent, since many additional entries and subentries will likely have been added. And best of all, your readers will find it very easy to find reference material in your document, which is the exact result you want.
Of course, if your document is in electronic form (e.g. a set of web pages, a help file, or a PDF document), then the index will likely provide links to the appropriate pages instead of, or possibly in addition to, page numbers, depending on what is appropriate for that type of document.
