New to CastingWords: Unclear style questions

Discussion in 'CastingWords' started by _J9, Jul 17, 2014.

  1. _J9

    _J9 New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2014
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    I've only done two assignments with CastingWords so far and have already come across a lot of unclear style situations.

    Ellipsis: I was downgraded by one reviewer for putting a space before ellipsis but they didn't specify what was correct. Would it be: That was when...we discussed it with the words on each side touching?

    Paragraph breaks: I read in a forum that you should put a break every three sentences but then was downgraded for doing it 'willy nilly.' Which is correct?

    Single quotes: When a speaker says, We refer to them as 'cash grabbers,' I feel like that should be in single quotes as opposed to just plain text, but this is not specified.

    Speaker labels: In my audio there was a male speaker who was not an interviewer or interviewee nor was he an audience member - he was just someone in the room but he helped to clarify the question so I feel that what he said was relevant.

    Brackets: There was only one point in the audio where the interviewee laughs but I'm not sure when adding brackets for things like [laughter] is relevant - would that only be for TV shows? This was research on middle schools and I have no idea what it's going to be used for - a book maybe?

    Hyphenation: Should words like pushback and schoolwide be hyphenated (push-back, school-wide) or not?

    Starting a sentence with 'well': They do not specify whether one should omit 'well' but it seems to be used in the same way as 'so' and 'and' so I have been doing it that way.

    General: How 'clean' do they want the transcript? Do they want the ideas to be very clear or should they retain some of the flavor of the person speaking? Should the commas be placed where they are grammatically correct or to indicate where a speaker paused in the audio?

    Sorry for so many questions at once but I'm having some anxiety about being downgraded and don't know where else to ask.
     
  2. oldbones

    oldbones Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2013
    Messages:
    18
    Likes Received:
    0
    i doubt that you were downgraded for just this. i often don't put every single infraction. Yes no spaces. Yes, no spaces.

    Paragraph breaks: I read in a forum that you should put a break every three sentences but then was downgraded for doing it 'willy nilly.' Which is correct?[/QUOTE]

    No, not straight three sentences. But short readable paragraphs. usually that's about three sentences.

    Single quotes: When a speaker says, We refer to them as 'cash grabbers,' I feel like that should be in single quotes as opposed to just plain text, but this is not specified.[/QUOTE]

    In Amer-English single quotation marks are only used inside double quotation marks. Period. CW does have some incorrect single quotation marks in their directions. how sloppy is that?

    Speaker labels: In my audio there was a male speaker who was not an interviewer or interviewee nor was he an audience member - he was just someone in the room but he helped to clarify the question so I feel that what he said was relevant.[/QUOTE]

    Type all audio. Sounds like you did it right.

    Brackets: There was only one point in the audio where the interviewee laughs but I'm not sure when adding brackets for things like [laughter] is relevant - would that only be for TV shows? This was research on middle schools and I have no idea what it's going to be used for - a book maybe?[/QUOTE]

    Not sure what you mean. use [laughter] on a separate line when the group laughs and [laughs] when the speaker laughs and it's not on a separate line.

    Hyphenation: Should words like pushback and schoolwide be hyphenated (push-back, school-wide) or not?[/QUOTE]

    Things that are not normally hyphenated don't. Don't know what to tell you, look them up maybe.

    Starting a sentence with 'well': They do not specify whether one should omit 'well' but it seems to be used in the same way as 'so' and 'and' so I have been doing it that way. [/QUOTE]

    Well is often a filler or junk word. i tend to leave it out.

    General: How 'clean' do they want the transcript? Do they want the ideas to be very clear or should they retain some of the flavor of the person speaking? Should the commas be placed where they are grammatically correct or to indicate where a speaker paused in the audio? [/QUOTE]

    i think it is spelled out in the Style Guide. A lot of this is judgement calls.

    Sorry for so many questions at once but I'm having some anxiety about being downgraded and don't know where else to ask.[/QUOTE]

    Chances are you are not being downgrade about just one or two things. After a while we get a really good read on what transcriptions fit the grades. It also has to do with the way we edit and put transcript portions ack together and how much the editors have to change.

    I had a long detailed answer typed up but it went off in cyber space someplace. Hope this briefer answer helps.
     
    #2 oldbones, Jul 18, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 18, 2014

Share This Page