Back Matter -- Electronic Text Center

Guidelines for SGML Text Mark-up at the Electronic Text Center

David Seaman, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia

[ornament]

In addition to <teiHeader> and <body>, some texts may also have two other main sections: <front> and <back>. The former typically encloses prefatory text such as an introduction or table of contents; the latter marks off appendices or indices.

Back Matter

This section contains any material that follows the work proper:

Images of visually interesting back end-papers and advertisements.
Encoded text of indices, afterwards, advertisements, appendices, errata, addendums, etc. Epilogues and conclusions are, as a standard, included in the body NOT in back matter.
All "Back" matter must be wrapped with the <back> </back> tags.
And once the back matter has been closed, you will also wrap the text's largest divisions, </text> and </TEI.2>, as follows:

For Example:

<TEI.2 id="AusEmma"> <teiHeader> [Source and processing information goes here] </teiHeader> <text id="AusEmma"> <front> [Front Matter Text Goes Here] </front> <body> [Main Body of Text Goes Here] </body> <back> [Back Matter (appendices, index, etc.) Goes Here] </back> </text> </TEI.2>

Structural Division Attributes within <back>:

Each division should be tagged with a numbered <div1>:

<div1 type="appendix"> self-contained section of the work which is in some sense extra-canonical
<div1 type="glossary"> list of terms and definitions
<div1 type="notes"> includes textual or other kinds of notes
<div1 type="biblio"> a list of bibliographical citations
<div1 type="index"> any form of an index to the work
<div1 type="colophon"> statement appearing at the end of a book which describes the conditions of its physical production; it often includes the details of fonts and designs
<div1 type="advert"> Publishers' advertisements

Examples of Tagged Backmatter

The following examples of backmatter markup are drawn from encoded texts at The Electronic Text Center:

Eleanor H. Porter's Miss Billy -- Married (1914):

<back> <div1 type="advert"> <head>STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY, GENE STRATTON-PORTER </head> <p>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list</p> <list> <label>MICHAEL O'HALLORAN, Illustrated by Frances Rogers. </label> <item><p>Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also assumes the responsibility of leading the entire rural community upward and onward. </p></item> <label>[TEXT GOES HERE]</label> <item>[ETC.... ETC....]</item> </list> </div1> </back> </text> </TEI.2>

To see what this encoding looks like when it becomes HTML, CLICK HERE

Walter Dill Scott's Increasing Human Efficiency in Business (1914)
<back> <pb n="333" /> <div1 type="index"> <list> <head>INDEX</head> <item>Ability, potential, 231.</item> <item>Accidents, mine, 96.</item> <item>Acclimated, 17.</item> <item>Acclimatization, 18.</item> [ETC... ETC....] </list> </div1> </back> </text> </TEI.2>

To see what this encoding looks like when it becomes HTML, CLICK HERE

| Back | Next |