This index is organized alphabetically and in three separate categories: Titles, First Lines, and Authors. In the case of untitled poems, the first line appears in both the first line and, in square brackets, in the Titles index. Anonymously published poems are so designated in the Authors index. Whenever possible, the authors of pseudonymous poems have been identified.

The purpose of the Index is to provide a cross-referencing system for the authors and poems found in all of the newspapers in the Poems in Early Canadian Newspapers database. Thus, the square brackets that follow each entry contain all the information necessary for locating the poem by newspaper, date, volume, and issue number. For example, in the Authors Index, "Cary, Thomas Occasional Prologue [QM 5 Jan 1805 1.1]" indicates that Cary’s poem "Occasional Prologue" appeared in the first issue of the first volume of The Quebec Mercury on January 5, 1805. Pseudonymous poems are indexed by pseudonym and, when their author is known with some degree of certainty, cross-referenced under the author’s name. The Canadian Poetry Project welcomes additional information about the identity of the authors of pseudonymous poems—indeed, any information that may help to make the Index more useful and comprehensive.

The index is updated regularly as new poems are added to the web site.