This process is fairly manual, but not difficult.įor this method, it’s easiest to use a split screen view. The first option is to use the sort tool. Word doesn’t have a dedicated glossary feature, but it does have a couple of built-in tools that you can use to help you create your glossary.
Keep in mind that there’s no need for your definitions to have a robotic, dictionary-like tone the voice of your glossary should match the rest of your book. You’ll have to use your judgment as to how much detail is necessary. Some glossary definitions go even further and give a brief summary of the history or context of the term. With this in mind, a better definition of tandoori chicken would be, “An Indian-style chicken dish that is cooked in a clay charcoal oven known as a tandoor.” The most important rule of writing definitions for your glossary terms: don’t use technical words to define a term.įor example, if you want to include the term “tandoori chicken” in your glossary, a definition that reads, “chicken that is cooked in a tandoor” is unlikely to help a reader understand the term any better.Īlthough definitions should be relatively brief, you do want to elaborate enough so that the average reader will benefit from the information without having to look up additional terms. On the other hand, if you’re using a lot of topic-specific jargon, foreign words, or technical terms that would require a lot of space to define in the main text, that appear many times throughout the book, or that are important for comprehension of your concept, a glossary will be helpful to your readers. If you’re using one or two foreign words that are well defined in the context of the main copy, or if there are a handful of scientific words that are only mentioned once and aren’t essential to understanding the rest of the book, you probably don’t need a whole glossary. Are there enough specialized terms to warrant a glossary? It doesn’t matter whether your book is meant to be read by the general public or by scholars of a particular discipline-if there would be a significant number of terms your readers wouldn’t understand, a glossary might be the way to go. To determine if you even need to include a glossary, ask yourself these questions: Who are your readers?
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If your book is in need of a glossary, I’ll show you the best practices for creating one-and how to make a glossary in Microsoft Word. You might consider including a glossary if you’re using a lot of terms that your target audience wouldn’t be familiar with, whether because you’re writing a memoir about your experience in a foreign country or because you’re delving into the ways in which pharmaceuticals interact with our brains. Glossaries can be helpful in a range of nonfiction genres, from scientific reference books to history books, cookbooks, and even memoirs. When done correctly, these alphabetized lists of defined terms can be very useful tools for readers-but there’s more to creating a good glossary than you might imagine. In this blog post, I’ll teach you two great ways to create a glossary for your book using Microsoft Word.
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