The starting point is the Table of Contents. It is divided into the following categories:

Guides -- mostly prefatory material needed to properly understand most of the contents of the encyclopædia. Lists of maps are also included here.

Articles -- accounts of spirits, people, animals, and sacred objects that appear (with few exceptions) in two or more stories.

Waikâs -- spirit stories set in primordial times.

Woraks -- hero stories set in historical times.

Genealogies -- diagrams of the kinship among groups of spirits or heroic personages.

Pictures -- photographs, paintings, drawings, and computer graphics arranged according to the following categories: 1. People, 2. Insignias, Emblems, Signs, and Symbols, 3. Animals, 4. Plants, 5. Sacred Objects, and 6. Places.

Resources and External Links -- Links outside the present encyclopædia. They are divided into the following categories:

The Hotcâk Nation -- links pertaining to the Hotcâk (Winnebago) people, especially sites run by the Hotcâgara themselves.

Books in Print -- Publishing sites where books on the Hotcâgara can be purchased.

Video Tapes -- sites where videos on the Hotcâgara can be purchased.

General Links -- relevant sites on mythology, legend, and folklore.

The Format of Stories and Articles. The stories (woraks and waikâs) are rewritten by me (Richard L. Dieterle). This is not an acceptable scholarly practice, but regrettably, it is compelled by necessity. The first consideration is that of copyright: the right to a given translation is held by its publisher, and there are a myriad of sources drawn upon in this encyclopædic account. As a legal safeguard, it has therefore been necessary to rewrite stories. A second consideration, is that many of the manuscripts are almost illegible in places, with some words rendered uninterpretable. There are lists of animals in one manuscript, for instance, many of whose Hotcâk names are not now known. Where the manuscript says, "He shot animals a, b, c, . . . z," my versions simply says, "He shot numerous animals." The list of animals and other omitted items may be of help in interpreting the meaning of the myth, so the resultant degradation of data is unfortunate, however unavoidable it may be. Nevertheless, my versions are very close to the originals and may be considered mere paraphrases. This has, in some cases, a stylistic advantage, as many stories told from memory have sentences out of logical or chronological order due to the raconteur remembering something that he meant to (or should) have said earlier in his narrative.

The body of the story sometimes contains links, either to the precise relevant place in the Commentary section below, or to some other article or story of relevance to the linked material.

At the end of the story are found the following categories of addenda:

Commentary -- explanations of the content and meaning of the story given by the editor (Richard Lewis Dieterle). The explication of the meaning of a myth is often highly speculative, but is presented in the hope that it will stimulate thought and insight. The links in the body of the Commentary are to places elsewhere in the encyclopædia that are evidence for statements made there.

Commentaries follow stories but never articles.

Comparative Material -- stories from anywhere in the world that are significantly similar to the Hotcâk story. Most parallel stories are North American. These have links to the "Glossary of Indian Nations" where links to further stories from a given tribe can be found.

Links -- a set of links to articles pertaining to things mentioned in the body of the story.

Stories -- a set of links to stories connected to types of things mentioned in the article or story. In a story about the war between Thunderbirds and Waterspirits, for instance, a set of links to stories about Thunderbirds and to stories about Waterspirits are listed. In an article about Bird Spirits, a list of links to stories mentioning Bird Spirits will be presented. This allows anyone studying a given subject to find the material on it at hand.

Themes -- a set of links to stories and articles exemplifying in whole or part a certain theme. "Theme" is very difficult to define and no very precise idea of it is here employed, but the following examples can give some idea of the material found under this rubric:

the Giants massacre an entire village, but spare at least one child to eat later in life; the youngest animal (or person) is superior; coming across a warparty traveling in column and falling in at the rear; Thunderbirds are reduced to using grass or weeds when they smoke their pipes; dragging a bear to the kill by his hair; powerful spirits eat snakes (even though they are sacred); a young man possesses a magical, round, black stone; internal stones; crossing a body of water by using a plant or animal as a ship and commanding the wind; otherworld journeys inside an animal skin sack; a spirit transforms himself into another man's doppelganger.

To be entered in the list of links, a theme must have two or more exemplars.

Themes are unique to stories and are almost never found at the end of an article.

Genealogy -- a set of links to genealogical tables setting out kinship relations of some of the characters mentioned in the article or story.

Maps -- a set of links to maps that may be helpful in exploring the geography of places mentioned in articles or stories.