15. The method of claim 8 wherein the rules include the rule that explicitly specifies the list including the plurality of distinct paths whose corresponding nodes are to be indexed.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of identifying the set of nodes to be indexed includes the steps of: receiving rules for determining which paths should be indexed; wherein the rules include at least one of: (a) a rule that explicitly specifies one or more paths whose corresponding nodes are not to be indexed; (b) a rule that specifies a path in which one or more portions of the path are represented by wildcard characters; and (c) a rule that explicitly specifies a list including a plurality of distinct paths whose corresponding nodes are to be indexed; determining the paths associated with nodes in an XML document that is to be indexed; and identifying which nodes are to be indexed based on (a) the rules for determining which paths should be indexed, and (b) the paths associated with the nodes in the XML document that is to be indexed.