Our transcriptions are done via FromThePage (FTP) software and must follow these protocols to keep the transcription process consistent. Consistency is key.
Our goals for transcription is to provide better searching within our materials and to provide accessibility to our patrons.
If you have questions or need help, please look at the tips from the National Archives. We are following their guidelines. Transcription Tips - National Archives
Line breaks, spacing and paragraph breaks
- Hit enter once after each line ends. Insert an extra line break between paragraphs to keep the paragraph spacing clear.
- Do keep or add extra spacing if the original item has them. This is so screen readers do not pause too much when reading the text.
- The software does not support indentation in the transcriptions.
Spelling
- Transcribe people's names and misspellings exactly as they appear, including typos and abbreviations: Thpmas or Wm. For town and city names, however, type as is and add correct spellings in brackets to aid in searching. ex. Thpmas [Thomas]
- Keep punctuation as it is and capitalization etc.
- Record duplicate words
- Capitalization - keep as it is in original document
Letterhead and Images
- Describe any images in letterhead or anywhere else in the document i.e. [Red Cross logo]
- Type out all text in Letterhead
- Look out for text errors in text provided (ocr pages) Often times ocr does not provide correct text.
What to do with illegible text?
- If characters in a word are difficult to read, make a guess and enclose the entire word in single square brackets: [Tomlinson?] or mark as [illegible]
- Stray marks/slips of the pen do not need to be recorded.
USD does not use Advanced mark up tags or Table Encoding.
