Verbatim Style Guide

You should not, under any circumstances, contact Speechpad's customers or anyone referenced in the audio or video files. Doing so would result in immediate termination of your account.

This guide consists of general instructions for verbatim transcript or review. It should be used in conjunction with the General Transcription Style Guide. Below is an outline of the differences you can find between these style guides. Please email worker@speechpad.com with any questions. 

Table of Contents

Use Ctrl+F to pull up the specific category and to navigate this style guide. 

• Filler Words

• Non-Verbal Utterances

• False Starts

• Incomplete Words

• Stutters and Repeated Words

• Trailed-Off Sentences

• Simultaneous Speaking

• Slang

• Affirmation and Negation Utterances

• Verbatim Transcript Sample

Filler Words

• Filler words are sounds or words in oral conversation that do not add any meaning but rather are uttered when the speaker wishes to maintain continuity with what will be said next while pausing to think. These include words and phrases such as like, okay, I mean, and you know, etc. All instances must be transcribed as spoken.

Example:

Alex: Okay. Did you, like, you know, sort of, did you have anything to drink before the accident happened?

Andrew: Uh, no. Uh, I don't think, I mean I've never I drank anything in my life, like, ever.

Non-Verbal Utterances

• Um, uh, er, ah are examples of non-verbal utterances. These should have commas around them, as in the example below.

• Laughter, sneezing, coughing, throat clearing, crying, sniffling, and gasping are all examples of non-verbal utterances. These sounds are indicated with a descriptive tag in square brackets. For example: [laughs], [clears throat], [crying]. They are inserted in the text at the point where the sound begins.

Example:

Holly: [coughs] Excuse me. Did he try to, uh, brake?

Matthew: No, he was too, um, busy talking on his cell phone. [laughs] Um, that's against the law, isn't it?

Holly: Mm. [clears throat] Did you get his name or insurance information?

False Starts

• False starts are sentences that are prematurely terminated. For example: “She, uh, she asked me to leave.” In this case, “She, uh,” is a false start that is included in verbatim. 

Incomplete Words

• Incomplete words are partially spoken but cut off by the speaker. In verbatim, only the part of the word that is spoken is written followed by a dash to show that it was cut off. 

Example:

Carrie: And he hit, he hit my fe-, uh, fender. I saw his veh-, vehicle coming at me.

Andrew: Where did, uh, whe-, where was he coming from?

Stutters and Repeated Words

• Stutters are written like this “sh-sh-sh-she” and repeated words are separated by commas, “I, I went home.” No more than three repeats are written even if more were spoken. This saves the transcriber time from having to slow down the audio and count exactly how many times the speaker stuttered.

Example:

Well, I th-th-thought that he, he, uh, was going to turn left. (spoken "Well, I th-th-th-th-th-thought that he, he, uh, was going to turn left."

Trailed Off Sentences

• Ellipses are used at the end of sentences that trail off before they end. This happens often in interviews or conversational speech in general. For example, a speaker may trail off when he or she is uncertain or experiences an abrupt suspension of thought:

Example:

Krystal: Were you hurt in the accident?

Cherie: No, I guess not. I mean, I was shook up, but it wasn’t anything serious, so...

• Trail-offs also occur when one speaker prompts another to complete a sentence.

Example:

Lucian: You were traveling north or...

Cherie: No, I was traveling south.

Lucian: You were traveling south, okay.

Simultaneous Speaking

• Ellipses are used after the last word spoken in a sentence before the speaker was interrupted. The remainder of the sentence is truncated, and the interrupting speech is shown next. Then, the remainder of the first speaker’s sentence is shown, with preceding ellipses.

Example:

Christy: Okay. And you, you said you couldn’t tell if he’d stopped or not...

Krystal: Correct.

Christy: ...but he did have a stop sign?

Krystal: He did have a stop sign, but I didn’t see his car fast enough, um...

Christy: Okay. And did you...

Krystal: ...to see if he had stopped.

Christy: ...notice how fast he was approaching?

Slang

• In verbatim, slang words like ‘cuz, ’em, till, y’all, gonna, and goin’ are always typed exactly as spoken.

Affirmation and Negation Utterances

• Sometimes, speakers might use words like “uh-huh” or “nuh-uh” instead of saying “yes” or “no.” This can get tricky to transcribe because the sounds are very similar and the difference between an affirmative and negative response may only be a letter or two.

       Examples:

Affirmation: uh-huh, mm-hmm, yeah, yep

Negation: uh-uh, hmm-mm, mm-mm, hun-uh, nuh-uh.

Verbatim Transcript Sample

Atty. Buzbee: Many of these people suing don't live in Texas City. Who told you that?

Mr. Cross: Nobody told me that.

Atty. Buzbee: You just made that up, too? You made that up?

Mr. Cross: I noticed that, I noticed that you're not, you're not, you're, you're reading a bunch of blogs over there, but you're not reading anything what I put in the paper th-th-that, uh, that I make darn sure that, uh, I have the facts backing me up.

Atty. Buzbee: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You're telling me you, you put this stuff in these blogs. Uh, you even said in the blogs, "I know this paper's reading these. Prove me wrong." You said that. Uh, you said that several times, actually. You made this statement on January 30, 2011 at 10:45 a.m. You said, "Many of these people suing don't live in Texas City." Are you telling me now that you made that up?

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Atty. Buzbee: You made that up?

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Mr. Cross: Well, if you want to use the word "made it up," I guess, uh, I don't, I didn't know.

Atty. Buzbee: Well, why'd you say it?

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Mr. Cross: Because it's the blogs. It's a bunch of, it's a bunch of junk in them blogs.

Atty. Buzbee: So all this stuff you've been writing in the blogs is just a bunch of foolishness?

BP Attorney: Objection, form. 

Interviewee: Ya-, uh, basically, my, a lot of it is.

Atty. Buzbee: It's false?

Mr. Cross: Everybody in there is pretty much false. If you, you see, uh...

Atty. Buzbee: I'm not asking about everybody else. I'm asking about you. Is the stuff you're writing in there false?

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Atty. Buzbee: Is it false?

Mr. Cross: N-No.

Atty. Buzbee: Well, is it true?

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Mr. Cross: S-S-Some of it, is, if, as far as what you're talking about where people live.That, that's, that is a, that is an impression of the people that, that live in Texas City. They're the impression of a responsible people. They're the people, that's a, uh, impression of a lot of people, community leaders, that, uh...

Atty. Buzbee: I just asked you a question.

Mr. Cross: ...that I'm around. Are, are you...

Atty. Buzbee: Are the... "Many of these people suing don't live in Texas City." You made that comment.

Mr. Cross: That is, that is that is not necessarily false. That's a belief.

Atty. Buzbee: Okay. So you don't know one way or another?

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Mr. Cross: No, I don't know.

Atty. Buzbee: But you w-w- very, perfectly happy to say what your, your belief is.

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Atty. Buzbee: You didn't say, "Hey, I don't know, I don't know the facts..."

Mr. Cross: Wait. It, it, it really has nothing to do with the, with the, with the j-, with the re-, uh, them PowerPoints that I put out. I stand by that.

Atty. Buzbee: I'm not asking about those right now...

Mr. Cross: It has nothing to do with a front page story...

Atty. Buzbee: I'm not asking about that right now...

Mr. Cross: ...that Jose and Bach. I know you you're not asking about that.

Atty. Buzbee: Well, let's focus on the question-answer format. Okay? We've already talked about it. I don't want Chad to jump on you again, people say you're being harassed or something. Just focus on the question-answer format. Do you know whether this statement you made, and there's a ton of them you made, where you...

Mr. Cross: You're talking about all in these blogs?

Atty. Buzbee: Sh- these are statements you made, public statements, sir. 

Man: M-, Mr. Cross has a right to look at a statement [inaudible 00:02:42]...

Atty. Buzbee: Well, if you represent him, stand over there... 

Man: I don't represent him, ...

Atty. Buzbee: ...by him and represent him, but otherwise be quiet. 

Man: ...but I represent truth and justice.

Atty. Buzbee: Really? Okay. 

Man: Yes, and I also...

Atty. Buzbee: I'm reading right here... 

Man: represent fairness, and if you're going to ask him if he quoted something, why don't you show the witness what you're saying he quoted?

BP Attorney: Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Atty. Buzbee: Why don't you be quiet? Make an objection! Otherwise, shut the hell up! 

Man: All right, I'm, I'm, I'm...

Atty. Buzbee: Tough guy, shut up! Let me ask you again...

Mr. Cross: I, I, I would, I would say here I...

BP Attorney: Objection, form.

Atty. Buzbee: Make an objection, otherwise don't say anything. You're not even... He's representing BP here, you're not, so shut up! Okay?

BP Attorney: Let's take a break.

Atty. Buzbee: Yeah. Don't, don't cross me, pal. I've already got a, something that I need to talk to you about...

Woman: It's currently 7 a.m.

BP Attorney: Thank you.

Atty. Buzbee: Don't cross me. You will not like it.

This is not a comprehensive guide. If you have questions, please email worker@speechpad.com