KWIC is an acronym for Key Word In Context, the most common format for concordance lines. The term KWIC was first coined by Hans Peter Luhn. The system was based on a concept called keyword in titles which was first proposed for Manchester libraries in 1864 by Andrea Crestadoro.
A KWIC index is formed by sorting and aligning the words within an article title to allow each word (except the stop words) in titles to be searchable alphabetically in the index. It was a useful indexing method for technical manuals before computerized full text search became common.
For example, the title statement of this article and the Wikipedia slogan would appear as follows in a KWIC index. A KWIC index usually uses a wide layout to allow the display of maximum 'in context' information (not shown in the following example).
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| ... Key Word In Context, the most | common format for concordance lines. | page 1 |
| ... the most common format for | concordance lines. | page 1 |
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| Wikipedia, The Free | Encyclopedia | page 0 |
| ... In Context, the most common | format for concordance lines. | page 1 |
| Wikipedia, The | Free Encyclopedia | page 0 |
| KWIC is an acronym for | Key Word In Context, the most ... | page 1 |
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| ... common format for concordance | lines. | page 1 |
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| Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia | page 0 | |
| KWIC is an acronym for Key | Word In Context, the most common ... | page 1 |
The term permuted index is another name for a KWIC index, referring to the fact that it indexes all cyclic permutations of the headings. Books composed of many short sections with their own descriptive headings, most notably collections of manual pages, often ended with a permuted index section, allowing the reader to easily find a section by any word from its heading. This practice is no longer common.
Read more about Key Word In Context: References in Literature
Famous quotes containing the words key word, key, word and/or context:
“The key word in my plays is “perhaps.””
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“The word “forbearance” is the key to a happy home.”
—Chinese proverb.
“open thou thy manly mouth, and say that thou wilt come;
Whereby my heart may think, although I see not thee,
That thou wilt come, thy word so sware, if thou a livesman be.”
—Unknown. The Lady Prayeth the Return of Her Lover Abiding on the Seas (l. 4–6)
“Among the most valuable but least appreciated experiences parenthood can provide are the opportunities it offers for exploring, reliving, and resolving one’s own childhood problems in the context of one’s relation to one’s child.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)