General Punctuation
Comprehensive punctuation rules for professional transcription.
General Punctuation
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Spell and Grammar Check
Spelling and grammar checks should be run on all transcripts before delivery. This helps ensure accuracy and professionalism. The Windows Word shortcut to bring up the Spelling summary is F7.
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Basic Punctuation Rules
Punctuation is not often indicated in speech, and very few speakers, particularly in interviews, speak in correctly formed sentences.
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Line Formatting
- You must start every line with a capital and end with some form of punctuation: either full stop, question mark, dash or...
- This also applies to one-word lines and inaudibles, for example: [ ___ 0:09:32].
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Punctuation Guidelines
- Semicolons should be avoided. Use only commas and full-stops.
- Please do not overuse hyphens- and ellipses... in 'Standard, clean' transcripts (fine in strict/super strict)
- Sometimes they are necessary, but often their use indicates a point where editing out a false start/change of direction would be more appropriate
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Example of Better Editing
Instead of: "I should point out that he... Mark said we should"
Better: "I should point out that Mark said we should"
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Balance in Punctuation
Punctuation is key to transcription: by using it correctly a rambling piece of dialogue can be made into readable text on the page. Find a balance between:
- Excessively long sentences that take up whole paragraphs
- Short, incomplete sentences that do not make sense
Dashes and ellipses (...) are very useful tools but don't overuse them.
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Client Expectations
Punctuation is something that the client is expecting us to add in or edit when they select 'edited verbatim' – it is all part of the transcription process.