Ernie,
The confusion is understandable. Some people include the tippet section in their definition of "leader" while others exclude it. If you are buying a pre-made leader, say a 9'er, the last twenty inches or so will be the tippet section. You'll see that's the thinnest part of the "leader." (I'm on of those that include the tippet in my definition).

Many people do what Angler Dave suggests, buy a shorter pre-made leader and add additional tippet of a small size to that. As a general rule of thumb, you probably shouldn't make a jump down more than 2x.