Transcription Style Guide

Rev. 1/06

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Introduction

Tigerfish generally follows the style guidelines set out in The Associated Press Stylebook
rather than the Chicago Manual of Style, Words Into Type, or any other recognized source
book.

This document has two sections:

• Formatting Standards – Containing information specific to transcription for

Tigerfish, such as standards for speaker identification, formatting documents, time
coding, and so on.
• Usage Standards – Listing some commonly used standards that appear in The AP
Stylebook, as well as some exceptions and additional items that apply to Tigerfish
transcriptions.

This is a living document and subject to revision. In addition, you may, from time to time,
receive instructions specific to an individual job based on standards requested from a
customer.

Formatting Standards

Beginning/Ending a Transcript – The first two lines of the document should contain
the transcript filename (such as ABCDExxxxx12345_TRN10) and the title
specified in the work order (such as Meeting Minutes 2.3.04). It is not necessary
to include your name.

Begin all transcriptions with the notation [Beginning of recorded material] or, if
appropriate, [Abrupt beginning of recorded material]. At the end of the
transcribed document, type [End of recorded material] or, if appropriate, [Abrupt
end of recorded material].

Occasionally, you might receive a work order specifying sections of recorded

material to transcribe. In these instances, begin the transcription with [Recorded
material beginning at minute hh:mm:ss] and end the transcription with [End of
recorded material at minute hh:mm:ss] substituting the correct times for hh:mm:ss.

Save your transcribed document using the full transcript filename specified in the
work order, such as ABCDExxxxx12345_TRN10. Be sure to include the TRN10
or other suffix.
Focus Group Transcripts – Most focus groups will have an introduction at the
beginning where the facilitator explains how the group will interact and the
purpose of the meeting, along with some housekeeping comments. There is no
need to transcribe this material. Instead, begin transcribing when the first
participant identifies him or herself or when the conversation is obviously
beginning on the topic.

Identify the focus group leader as "Facilitator:" and use only "Male Voice:" and
"Female Voice:" to identify participants. Trying to identify each speaker by name
over the course of a long focus group gets too confusing. Consistent usage of
"Male Voice:" and "Female Voice:" is best. Do not add numbers to the
identification. See Speaker Identification for more information.

Formatting a Transcript – If using Microsoft Word, please turn off all of Word’s
“Auto Format Before You Type” features. To do so, in Word, go to the Tools
Menu, then Auto Correct, then the “Auto Format Before You Type” tab. Please
uncheck all auto-formatting options.

Double-space between speakers or new paragraphs. Do not use your word

processing software' s double-space or space-before-paragraph feature to do this;
use hard returns instead. This is important for the document to format properly
when prepared for the customer.

Long passages should be broken into new paragraphs to enhance readability.

When starting a new paragraph, indent the first line using a single tab.

Speaker Identification – Separate the speaker identification from transcription text

with a colon (:) followed by a tab. Do not use spaces. Your final document will be
formatted using a standard template that relies on use of the colon and tab to
produce the final product for the customer.

Use only the following speaker identification formats, unless otherwise instructed
in a work order:
o Male Voice:[tab] (Use initial caps on both words)
o Female Voice:[tab] (Use initial caps on both words)
o Interviewer:[tab]
o Respondent:[tab]
o Facilitator:[tab] (For focus groups)
o John:[tab] (When you can only identify a speaker' s first name.)
o John Smith:[tab] (When you are able to identify a speaker' s first and last
name.)
o Dr. John Smith:[tab] (When you know a speaker' s name and title in
medical transcripts.)

If the transcript is titled "John Smith," and there is only an interviewer and a
respondent, odds are the respondent is "John Smith." Use your best judgment, but
 go ahead and name the respondent as "John Smith" if it seems appropriate.
"Respondent" is always better than "Male Voice."

Please do not use the following identifications: Speaker, Another Female Voice,
Second Male Voice, Presenter, Moderator, Person, Child, Voice, or any other
convention not listed above. Pick a speaker identification that fits best or contact
Tigerfish for guidance.

Please do not number speakers, such as Male Voice 1, Female Voice 2, and so on.
This might be useful as you start the transcript if you think you'
ll be able to
identify the speaker later and then use search and replace to update the
identification throughout the document. However, if this does not happen, please
remove the numbering before submitting your final transcript.

Time Coding – When time coding a transcript, use the following format:

00:00:00[tab]Speaker identification:[tab]

Always use three sets of numbers for hours, minutes, and seconds. Add a leading
"00:" if necessary.

Unless otherwise specified, use the time code displayed in the video itself, not the
time shown as elapsed in your player. For example, the time code in the video
might start at 04:00:00 rather than 00:00:00.

When time coding an interview, only the respondent' s answers need to be coded.
For long answers, place a new time code every 30 seconds. However, time codes
should only be inserted at the beginning of a sentence, so this is not a precise
measurement. Place a new time code at 30-second intervals, or as close as you can
get without breaking up a sentence.

Unclear Words or Phrases – Please make every effort to hear and understand what is
said. Sometimes you can figure out a word by the context of what the speaker is
saying. The Internet can also be useful. Google Suggest is a new product that
suggest words based upon the letters you type:
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en. Ordinary search engines are
also useful; if your guess is close, the search engine will come back and ask, “Did
you mean…” which often gives you the correct term. Or, search for something
unique about the subject matter and you might find a document that contains the
correct word. Company websites will often have a list of employees, which can
be useful in the spelling of names. When these methods don’t work, follow these
guidelines:

1. Uncertain how to spell a name.

 If you are uncertain how to spell a name, take your best guess and put the name in
brackets. If it is the name of a speaking participant, use brackets only for the first
appearance of the name.

2. Unfamiliar terms.
When there is a term you are unable to identify, take your best guess and enclose
it in brackets, such as, [hypogammaglobulinemic]. If you have phonetically
spelled an unknown term in brackets and you subsequently come across the same
term, be sure to use consistent spelling. If you learn the correct spelling of a word
or name during the course of transcribing, please go back and correct the previous
instances of the word.

3. Unable to hear anything.

If you absolutely can’t make out the words at all, insert [unintelligible] in the
transcript in their place. Use [unintelligible] only, not [?], [unknown], [can’t hear],
[inaudible], or any other convention.

Verbatim Transcripts – When a work order specifies a verbatim transcript, try to

capture every word spoken on the recording, including stutters, false starts, and
exclamations.

For consistency, use only the following for exclamations:

o Uh
o Um
o Uh-huh
o Mm-hmm
Do not use ah, oh, er, and so forth. Pick from the list above and use what seems
closest to what is being uttered.

Video Recording Transcripts – In a video or talking head interview, occasionally

there is discussion of camera angles, noises in the room, interviewee coaching, or
other technical adjustments that must be made. Rather than transcribe such off-
topic conversation, simply identify it as [Director'
s comments] in the transcript.
Silent footage of scenery, landscapes, crowds, etc. should be marked as [B-roll].
Please ask if you have any questions about what material should or should not be
transcribed.

Transcribe obvious questions and answers only. Often these kinds of transcripts
will be shown on the work order as "Summarize ???s, Verbatim answers." In this
case, summarize the interviewer'
s questions, but be certain to capture the
respondent's reply word-for-word.

Usage Standards
For general reference, please reference The Associated Press Stylebook. If you do any
writing at all, whether transcribing for Tigerfish or writing a letter to the editor, it'
s an
handy reference guide to have on hand.

Following are a few common things you' ll encounter when transcribing and how
Tigerfish prefers them to be handled. Some of these standards mirror The AP Stylebook
and some, where noted, are exceptions to it.

Affect, effect – That one little letter change has confused more people that many other
rules of grammar. As a verb, affect means to influence something (That score will affect
your average.) while effect means to cause something (A new President will effect many
changes in policy). As a noun, affect is generally not used unless you're watching CSI
and the psychologist remarks how the suspect has very little affect, meaning a lack of
emotional response. Effect as a noun indicates a result (The effect Katrina had on the
Gulf coast will take years to repair.).

All right – Okay, we acknowledge that the English language has many enigmas. This is
one of them. While these two little words have often been morphed into the
singular expression alright, technically that's not a standard usage. This one isn'ta
panacea, but please try to use all right and hyphenate when needed, as in, "he' s an
all-right guy." It'
ll keep the purists from knocking at our virtual door.

Email – Please do not use a hyphen. This is an exception to The AP Stylebook guidelines.
Capitalize only at the beginning of a sentence.

Internet – Always capitalize.

Numbers - Generally, spell out numbers less than 10. Following are some exceptions to
this, where you would always use numerical representation:

o Addresses –6 Maple St.

o Ages –A 2-year-old building
o Cents – 5 cents
o Dollars –$5 – if the amount is in the millions or billions, then $5 million or
$5.5 billion
o Dates – just as they appear on the calendar, that is, June 6, 2005 or June 6th
o Dimensions – 6 feet tall, 9-by-12 rug
o Highways – U.S. Route 1or Highway 217
o Millions, billions – 3 million people, 2.75 billion chips
o Percentages – 4 percent (in technical documents, the alternate 4% may be
used)
o Proportions – 2 parts water
o Speed – 7 miles per hour
o Temperatures – 8 degrees
o Times – 8 a.m.
 When using a numerical representation, add an s with no space or apostrophe to
indicate plurality, such as, In your 20s, you begin to think about a career.

Years are always represented numerically and can be shortened by replacing the
first two digits with an apostrophe, such as, The '60s were a time of great social
change in America. Again, no space or apostrophe should precede the s.

Okay – Please use "okay" except when abbreviating the state of Oklahoma, which is OK,
okay? This is an exception to The AP Stylebook guidelines.

Online – One word, no hyphen.

U.S. – When abbreviating United States, always place a period after each letter.

Web site – Capitalize “Web,” and put a space between “Web” and “site.” When a
speaker mentions a website address, type it just as you would if you were
navigating to the site in your browser. That is, www.tigerfish.com is correct; www
dot Tigerfish dot com is not.