Table of Contents

Whether or not your book requires a table of contents (TOC) depends entirely on its content. Most nonfiction books, poetry books, short story collections, compilations, and sectioned novels include a TOC. A Table of Contents organizes and lists the chapters or sections in your book for easy reference. This page appears immediately after your Copyright, Acknowledgements, and Dedication pages.

Table of Contents text is displayed in full justification with content titles on the left and page numbers on the right. To space the content and number properly, use a Right Align Tab (in Microsoft Word) or Right Indent Tab (in Adobe InDesign). Listings in your Table of Contents are always listed by order of appearance with front matter content (Foreword, Preface, etc.) emphasized a certain way. 

To display your information clearly, group your chapters by section:

Foreword
Note from the Author

Section One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three

Section Two
Chapter Four
Chapter Five