Table of Contents
A Table of Contents is generally required only in
documents that are longer than four or five pages.
The purpose of a Table of Contents is to provide the reader
with an overview of what is contained within the document
/ book, and to help the reader quickly find any particular
section in which they may be interested.
Inserting a Table of Contents into a document is relatively
easy provided the document uses "Heading Styles".
For information on the use of Heading Styles - click here.
It is most important that you appreciate that there is
no need to type a Table of Contents. The insertion of
a Table of Contents is an automated task which requires no
typing.
To insert a Table of Contents you will need to locate the
appropropriate part of the menu in MS Word (whichever version
you have). In MS Word 2000, the appropriate part of the menu
is as follows:
In MS Word 2000, you will need to click on "Insert"
and then "Index and Tables".
The following dialogue box will open:
You are now being presented with a number of
choices:
- The green circle shows you how and where you are given
a choice of how you want your Table of Contents to look
i.e. what format.
- The red circle shows you that you can turn page numbers
on or off. Normally your table of contents will have page
numbers, so keep this ticked.
- The blue circle, is important, and shows you that you
can choose the level of complexity of Table of Contents.
If you select "1" your table of contents will
show only the major headings, and if you choose "2"
(as in the above example) your Table of Contents will reveal
headings and sub-headings. It is recommended that keep to
either "1" or "2". If you leave the
default value of "3", you Table of Contents may
be in danger of being too complex, and as a result, too
long.
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