Dawn Dobbins

Location: Leighton Buzzard

Membership Grade: Advanced Professional Member

Contact Info

Social Links

General Experience

Through my business Wordwise Indexing, I have been offering an indexing and proofreading service to publishers since 2006. My indexing expertise allows me to tackle most subjects, but I have extensive experience in the subject areas of social policy, history, politics and current affairs.

I have been a member of the Society of Indexers since 1994, becoming an Accredited Member  in 2004. I gained Advanced Member status in 2011. I also completed the Book Indexing Postal Tutorials course in 2004.

I served as a member of the Society of Indexers Executive Board from 2013-2016 as Conference Director. I was a member of the Wyboston Lakes Conference team in 2013. I also collaborated with the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) to organize our first joint conference at York University in 2015.

Before working as an indexer, I had 20 years experience of working in business libraries and bookshop management

 

Subjects

Social Policy

Examples:
Precarious lives: migrants (Policy Press)

Preventing violence against women and girls (Policy Press)

Emotional politics of child abuse and social work (Policy Press)

The Health Debate (Policy Press)

Coalition Government and Social Policy (Policy Press)

Reconstructing retirement (Policy Press)

Food Crime (Policy Press)

Biographical research and new social architectures (Oxford University Press)

Why Informal Workers Organize (Oxford University Press)

Current Affairs

Examples:

Agricultural Policies in US (Routledge)

Routledge – Ocean Policies (Routledge)

Philosophy and politics (Routledge)

Soft spaces in Europe (Routledge)

Animal and Human in Ancient and Modern Thought (Routledge)

Migration 2ed (Routledge)

Sustainable Development Principles (Routledge)

Feminist Philosophy (Routledge)

Routledge Handbook – Contemporary Pakistan (Routledge)

Project Sunshine (Icon Books)

Health in a post-COVID world (Policy Press)

Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics (Oxford University Press)

Utilities reform in 21st century Australia (Oxford University Press)

Asia

Risk and Securitization in Japan (Routledge)

A Brief History of the Samurai (Constable & Robinson)

Routledge Handbook of Biotechnology in SE Asia

The Britannica Guide to India (Constable & Robinson)

Anthology of Chinese Discourse (Routledge)

Shidehara Kijuro and his time (JPIC)

Education for Sustainability in Japan (Routledge)

Re-thinking Sino-Japanese Alienation (OUP)

China’s responsibility for climate change (Policy Press)

The Tokyo Trial (JPIC)

The Bonds of the Japan-US Alliance (JPIC)

The Occupation of Japan 1945-1952 (JPIC)

Korea Under the Rule of Japan (JPIC)

Japan’s Far More Female Future (JPIC)

Religious History

Examples:
The Britannica Guide to The Islamic World (Constable & Robinson)

The Forgotten Gospels (Constable & Robinson)

Qu’ran in Christian-Muslim Dialogue (Routledge)

History, Archaeology and the Bible (Routledge)

Biblical Interpretations (Routledge)

Juvencus’ Four Book of the Gospels (Routledge)

Biblical portraits of exile (Routledge)

Judaism (Routledge)

Oxford Handbook of Religion and Education (Oxford University Press)

Grains of Wheat (Oxford University Press)

Calvin and Calvinism (Oxford University Press)

Sciences (All Areas)

Examples:
The Britannica Guide to the Brain (Constable & Robinson)

The Britannica Guide to 100 Influential Scientists (Constable & Robinson)

Stargazer (Constable & Robinson)

Routledge Handbook of Biotechnology in SE Asia

Essays in Life Sciences (Cambridge Scholars)

Particle Dynamics (Oxford University Press)

Politics

Examples:
Disputing citizenship (Policy Press)

Money and Electoral Policies (Policy Press)

New Directions in the American Presidency (Routledge)

Thinking about Congress (Routledge)

Rethinking power (Routledge)

Screening Protest (Routledge)

The NHS at 75: The state of UK Health Policy (Bristol University Press/Policy Press)

The Real Living Wage (Oxford University Press)

How Governments Borrow (Oxford University Press)

Birth and Death of Liberal Democracy in Hungary (Helsinki University Press)

Self-Help

Examples:
Overcoming Series (Constable & Robinson):-
Health Anxiety
Anger and Irritability
Shyness and Social Anxiety
Depression
Anxiety
Health Anxiety
Anorexia
Perfectionism

Boost Your Confidence (Constable & Robinson)

Information Management

Examples:
Exploring digital libraries (Facet Publishing)

Personal experience: I worked in various business and academic libraries in London whilst studying for my degree in Library and Information Studies. I worked for 8 years as a Senior Information Officer at Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

TravelTourism

Examples:
Guide to Nord-Pas de Calais (Bradt Guides)

The Britannica Guide to India (Constable & Robinson)

Life Skills

Examples:
Correct Form (Debretts)

Guide for the Modern Gentleman (Debretts)

Wedding Guide (Debretts)

-History and The Past

Examples:
Viking Transformations (Routledge)

Security in Roman Times (Routledge)

The Swahili World (Routledge)

Oxford Book of Greek Cities in the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press)

Modernity and The Victorians (Oxford University Press)

Personal interest – I am a member of the Leighton Buzzard and District Archaeological and Historical Society (LBDAHS). I edit/index the Society’s annual ‘Transactions’. As part of a small team, I am also working on the research for a publication about the development of our High Street over 200 years.

Education (All Areas)

Examples:
Providing a Sure Start (Policy Press)

Lifelong learning in Europe (Policy Press)

A short guide to working with children and young people (Policy Press)

Storytelling and Imagination (Routledge)

Planning Appropriate Curriculum for Early Years (Routledge)

Academic Bildung in Net-based Higher Education (Routledge)

Educational Psychology (Routledge)

Education for Sustainability in Japan (Routledge)

Schools of Fiction: Literature and the Making of the American Educational System (Oxford University Press)

Business

Examples:
Risk and Securitization in Japan (Routledge)

Commodity Risk Management (Routledge)

Corporate Governance (Cambridge University Press)

Segmentation, revenue management and pricing analytics (Taylor & Francis)

What is Neoclassical Economics (Routledge)

Routledge Companion to Geography of Int. Business

Once Upon a Time in Facilities Management (Oxford University Press)

Cultural Studies

Examples:
Fashion in the Metaverse (Quercus)

Screen Style (Quercus)

Related qualifications

BA ( Hons) Library and Information Studies
BIPT


Other skills

Proofreading
People of Today (Debretts)
Correct Form (Debretts)
Guide for the Modern Gentleman (Debretts)
Childcare markets (Policy Press)

Writing
In 2020, I wrote an article for The Indexer (Volume 38, Number 3). The title was 'Taking a break: how taking a step back could reinvigorate your indexing career and work–life balance'. I have also written articles for 'Transactions', the annual publication of Leighton Buzzard and District Archaeological and Historical Society.

Recent indexes include

Timothy Larsen, The Fires of Moloch – Anglican Clergymen in the Furnace of World War One
(History/Biography), Oxford University Press , July 2025
Patricia Carroll and John Hassard, Once Upon a Time in Facilities Management – Tales from an Organizational Netherworld (Business), Oxford University Press, July 2024
Masaya Llavaneras Blanco and Damien P. Gock, Pandemic Policies and Resistance – Southern Feminist Critiques in Times of Covid-19 (Politics/Current Affairs/Health), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), July 2025
David W. Bulla et al, Legacies of Slavery and Contemporary Resistance (Current Affairs/Politics), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, March 2024
Marnie Fogg, Screen Style (Culture), Quercus, September 2023
Kitaoka Shinichi, A Western Pacific Union – Japan’s New Geopolitical Strategy (Political/current affairs), Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture (JPIC) , February 2023

Clients Include

Bradt Guides
Bristol University Press
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Cambridge University Press
Carlton Books
Constable & Robinson
Debretts
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) (Fiji)
Edward Elgar
Facet Publishing
Helsinki University Press
Icon Books
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture (JPIC) (Japan)
Laurence King Publications
New Holland
Oxford University Press
Palgrave MacMillan
Policy Press (University of Bristol)
Quercus
Routledge
Taylor & Francis
Unicorn Publishing
ZED Books

Special Publication Type

Newspapers And Magazines

BUSINESS DATABASE PRODUCTIONS (BDP)
For 15 years I indexed, edited and proofread articles in major trade and industry journals for entry into online commercial databases. The work involved using US SIC codes and in-house subject headings.

LEIGHTON BUZZARD AND DISTRICT ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY (LBDAHS)
I have created a cumulative index (2007-2024) for the Society’s annual ‘Transactions’ publication (of which I am the Editor)

Archival Materials

BLETCHLEY PARK
I was involved with the digitization project in the archives, cataloguing and indexing decoded and intercepted messages and ‘The Index’.

LEIGHTON BUZZARD AND DISTRICT ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY (LBDAHS)
I am part of a group to organise and catalogue the extensive archive of one of the founder members of the Society.

Biographies/ Autobiographies

Shidehara Kijuro and his time (JPIC)

Louis Coatalen (Unicorn Publishing)

Images of Australian Enlightenment (Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie) (Unicorn Publishing)

Look Where We’re Going (memoirs of David Howell MP) (Unicorn Publishing)

The Fires of Moloch (WW1) (Oxford University Press)

Fiction

I run a local monthly book group, with the aim of encouraging the members to read more widely, whether fiction or non-fiction. I also organise trips to book festivals or author readings.

Tools

PC
MACREX