Punctuation is crucial for any text. It emphasizes where each sentence starts and ends. If punctuation marks are used well, this can make an article comprehensive. It may appear to be too difficult when the story comes to making transcripts and especially adding quotations.
While listening to audio taken for transcription, it is necessary to be attentive to its content and the speed of speech. Making transcripts independently is a bit complicated thing that takes too much time. It is useful from the point of boosting lots of skills. At the same time, delivering the result expected is a thing that needs not only attention but also making all transcripts according to the grammar and punctuation rules. If this appears to be too time-consuming, lots of professional companies render transcription services online using advanced transcription software and grammar checkers. They can help with inserting punctuation marks in the right places and making quotes well. These are the most common troubles that make a headache to many people who struggle with making transcriptions on their own.
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Starting Points about Punctuation in Transcripts
There are certain points you should consider while making your transcripts. Let’s emphasize all the most important aspects in these terms:
- Quotation marks use
Quotation marks are widely used to quote any information cited or read into the recording. Place quotation marks around the target material.
Period and comma in any case always go inside quotation marks. The same thing is with a semicolon, dash, exclamation, and question marks – they are inserted inside quotation marks when they are applied to the matter of quotation. But, they go outside the quotation marks when they are related to the entire sentence. Follow these simple punctuation rules always.
Single quotation marks are used to separate a quote inside another quote. Never use single quotation marks to emphasize any word.
- Using “quote/unquote” words
There is no common rule here. But, in general, it is appropriate to use the word “quote”. Still, it can be also omitted or simply said during the speech only. No capitalization is required in this case for a word after dash unless that is a proper noun.
- Using commas
Any comma serves a special purpose. If one is missed, the entire meaning of a sentence can sometimes alter dramatically. So, applying commas right is an extremely important point. In general, commas are used for a couple of purposes:
- isolate some items in the consequence of three or more;
- set off different tag clauses as well as introductory and parenthetical elements;
- separate cities, states, and countries as well to coordinate adjectives;
- set off quoted elements, contrasting phrases, and prevent confusion.
- Using ellipses
It is not the best idea to use ellipses to emphasize the interruption of thought or incomplete sentences. It is preferable to use a dash or double hyphen for that purpose.
- Separately about parenthesis
It is always better to avoid parenthesis at any cost. Better split a sentence into two separate pieces if this does not lead to misinterpreting of what has been said.
General Rules and Examples to Apply
The most important thing at this point is to address the style guide you have. If you don’t have such, use general recommendations that originate from Associated Press Style-guide. Let’s review the examples.
- Speaker: So, yesterday was the day when all these things happened. And as Mike says in these cases, “The best improvisation is a well-prepared one.” So, like, yesterday – let’s only keep moving.
[Applause]
- The speaker is speaking with one’s voice but emphasizes the use of someone else’s words. For this reason, this part is quoted.
- Speaker: Oh, yes, I know that he was pretty much “sarcastic” about that.
- Quotes are inserted when a person quotes someone. If the “quote” is said, it is spelled out and punctuated appropriately. It may be possible even to speak with quotation marks or without those.
- Another good trick to save and apply
Speaker 1: So, as Jessie emphasized before, “Do you know that Jessica told me the next day? She liked everything, ‘Jessica made a good suggestion.’” And then I was astonished, you know? Do you what that suggestion means?
Speaker 2: Nope, I actually don’t get it
- Sometimes even triple quotes are applied, especially when people tell a story as well as when something happens.
Making all quotations arranged well is a kind of complicated point for you? That is the same complicated thing both for informal and formal purposes? There is no need to become disappointed about that. You may always entrust your challenges to professional transcribers.
Difficulties with Quotes and Other Aspects of Transcription?
Transcribing the content of speeches is a thing that is far from an easy one. You need to pay attention to lots of aspects, like the clarity of speech and wording. If this speech is industry-specific, you need also emphasize any specific terminology indicated there. What to do with accent and background noises? These points may severely damage the quality of transcription and the essence of what has been said.
If you are experiencing these troubles, there is no need in becoming disappointed or missing your time. You may easily ask a professional transcription website to help you with the materials complicated for making transcriptions and quotes. How can this type of service help you?
- The service may easily catch difficult words and provide you with the original essence of what has been said – properly transcribe your content.
- This option may help you with saving time and nerves as you are not struggling with detecting all nuances of the speech and formalizing the results of transcription.
- You will get a ready text made using professional software. It is much easier to make a transcription for professionals who have completed hundreds of such projects and have tested practices for that purpose already.
- You may not be aware of professional terminology and unknown words that may appear in quotes. But, professional transcriptionists are usually able to detect and explain difficult words and even jargon.
You may either struggle to make transcriptions on your own or ask professionals to help you with these sometimes challenging tasks. Need to know more?
How Professional Transcription Services Work?
Any transcription service is an option that requires minimal involvement of a customer. It is based on applying advanced AI and speech recognition technology. Professional human transcribers may be also involved. So, there are two types of transcription services: automated transcription services and human transcription services. The course of action in both cases is pretty much the same.
A customer needs to choose the most suitable transcription option and the price for it. This price will remain stable during the entire transcription process. Before uploading recordings for transcription, it is necessary to make sure that the platform works with the format of your files. Such services usually work with the most common formats. But, if you have any totally different things, it is always better to clarify this point at the start before paying for the service you need.
Later, your order will be confirmed and the transcription service will start itself. If you choose automated transcription services, things are made fast, even within a couple of minutes. For human-made transcription services, it can take some time to provide you with ready transcriptions – usually around 12-24 hours depending on the length and complexity of a task.
For some complicated transcription cases, there is always a quality assurance stage. The professionals of this service proofread content transcribed and check grammar correctness, including quotes that appear in texts. After the verification stage, ready transcriptions are delivered to a customer. The process is usually straightforward.
H3 How to Choose Your Best Transcription Service
There are several points to pay attention to while searching for the right service provider and negotiating all details. TOP points you need to emphasize at the start:
- Accuracy – a TOP aspect that any transcription service cares about. Modern software and technologies enable rendering transcriptions with an 80-90% level of accuracy for automated services and 99-100% – for human-made transcriptions.
- Turnaround time – this matter varies from service to service. Some companies offer a wide range of time options that impact the price of the services respectively. But, usually, the results of rendering automated transcription services are delivered within a couple of minutes or hours depending on the length of recordings. For human-made transcription services, such results are provided within 12-24 hours.
- Prices – this aspect also matters. Rates are higher for the services rendered by certified transcriptionists – around 1.25$ per minute of recording. The optimal rates for automated transcription services are around 0.25$ per minute of recording. In terms of prices, there is no need to overpay for sure. Technologies that are currently applied for making transcriptions enable providing results quickly and at a moderate rate. Above were indicated the average rates for transcription services worth paying for those.
Draw your attention to these most important aspects while choosing a company that can help you with recordings rich in quotes and other complicated things. For this type of material, involving professional transcriptionists is the best option.
Bottom Line
Making transcription is a thing that needs special attention to the matter of accuracy, including the grammar and punctuation aspects. Special importance, in this case, the rules of making quotes right have. Pay attention to the common rules of inserting quotation marks and commas. It may be difficult and time-consuming for a non-professional to arrange all these things right for the first time. But, asking professional transcription services may easily facilitate this process and help with getting accurate content with all quotes in place.
