Best Practices for Transcribing Audiovisual Files

Recording Speech Patterns and Language

• Use the initials of the person speaking and a colon each time there is a new speaker.
• For any nonverbal sounds or actions, indicate that with brackets. For example: [laughter], [chuckles], [nods], [long pause], or others. You can also use brackets to give more clarity on slang or abbreviations that the speaker uses. For example: “I worked at the MSC [Memorial Student Union] during the fall semester.”
• Fillers - Leave out fillers such as “ah” and “um” since they do not really reflect a speech pattern.
• Most people are unaware that they use words such as “and,” “but,” and “so” to connect their sentences. They should be left in unless they become overwhelming.
• Contractions and Dialects - Do not try to reproduce accents or dialects. Use contractions only if they are used by the speaker.
• Words such as “you know,” “you see,” or “like" should be left in unless they become overwhelming
• False Starts – Include false starts because they are often indicative of thought and speech patterns. They may be deleted, however, if the false start is a repetition or a stumble, or if the speaker has a speech impediment. Example: “Well I−We didn’t hear anything about that.”
• Indecipherable words – Use a question mark to express uncertainty in the test. When you are unsure of a word or phrase use [?] after what you think they said. If you cannot venture a guess, use [unclear].