This report describes Phase 1 of a research project with the over-all objective of exploring the applicability of automatic methods in the indexing of drug information appearing in English natural language text. Two major phases of the research have been completed: (1) development of the automatic indexing method and its implementation on the test documents and (2) creation of a machine searchable file for the storage of the index records generated through automatic indexing. Indexing is based partly on a stored dictionary and partly on the identification of text characteristics which can be used to signal to the computer the presence of information to be indexed. The characteristics of the machine file were established with the desired search capabilities in mind. The file stores document references with their associated index terms. In addition to assigning index terms to documents the computer program also automatically assigns weights to the index terms to indicate their relative importance in the document description. The next two major phases of the work will involve the design and implementation of the search program and the evaluation of the automatic indexing method. Appended are sample program listings and output and operating instructions. (Author/JB)