Shorthand Stenography Online Course Chapter 6 “Transcription Techniques in Shorthand”

Transcription Techniques in Shorthand

(i) The notebook and reference papers should be placed adjacent to each other. Omission of words made from dots and dashes in shorthand is often the cause of many failures in examinations.

(ii) The notes should not be read too fast. It is advisable to read the whole dictated passage before transcription.

(iii) Once the transcription is over, in order to ensure accuracy, the whole transcription should be read back.

(iv) The transcript, should be read back for accuracy before it is removed from the machine. In this way errors can be corrected without the necessity of re-inserting the papers into the typewriter/computer.

(v) To avoid repetition, the whole page should be crossed through, once the transcription is over.

(vi) Unless you have a good background information of the work you are called upon to do daily, you will not be in a position to follow the sense of the dictation, to take it down efficiently. You should therefore do spare-time reading of the subject relating to your work and should make a list of special terms and phrases which occur frequently in dictation in your office and for which you should prepare brief outlines, phraseograms and intersections. This will increase your speed of writing in shorthand.

(vii) Used shorthand note books should be stored for future reference, as the need may arise sometimes to refer back to them. The notebooks may be stored in order of dates/months of use.

(viii) When you are transcribing shorthand notes from the dictating machine, you should be well conversant with the operating methods.