This is an announcement for the paper "An alternate description of the Szlenk index with applications" by Ryan M Causey. Abstract: We discuss an alternate method for computing the Szlenk index of an arbitrary $w^*$ compact subsets of the dual of a Banach space. We discuss consequences of this method as well as offer simple, alternative proofs of a number of results already found in the literature. Archive classification: math.FA Submitted from: CAUSEYRM@mailbox.sc.edu The paper may be downloaded from the archive by web browser from URL http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/1507.01993 or http://arXiv.org/abs/1507.01993