Jarom may just as well have written, "these are the small plates," because these are the plates that Nephi made as recorded in 2 Nephi 5:30. Rather than making more gold plates and continuing in the tradition of Nephi in writing the spiritual things on the small plates and the secular history on the large plates, Jarom and his successors will remind us that they are running out of space. Accordingly, Jarom writes the smallest of all the books in the Book of Mormon. He reminds us that if we want a more thorough history, we can refer to the large plates (v. 14). This may be fine for the Nephites, but it doesn't help us a lot.