Oral History Interview Transcription Guidelines

1000 RIM DR., DURANGO, CO  81301
PHONE 970/247-7456      FAX 970/247-7422    Website: swcenter.fortlewis.edu

 by Todd Ellison, 1996 (updated 2006)

 1. Change as little as possible.  Accurately represent each speaker's words, conversational quality, and speech patterns.  Type contractions as spoken (I'll, not I will).  Exceptions: disregard filler/ crutch words like "er," "um," "and then," "you know," and leave out redundant false starts (see Moss, p. 83; see p. 87-88 for punctuation to describe unfinished sentences and interruptions).  Also leave out comments like "how interesting" or "really?" or "wow!" which the interviewer made only to show that he/she was listening.

2. Make it easy to read and understand.  Use our adopted standards: Bill Moss's transcribing manual and the file format (OHTRANS.FMT).  Use correct (not phonetic) spelling of words, even if they have not been pronounced quite that way (but do not try to improve on the sentence structure and grammar). Use your interview session notes for correct spellings and for ideas of explanatory footnotes.  Use square brackets [ ] to enter any necessary explanatory text that was not on the tape (see Moss, p. 84-86).

3. Be complete.  Be careful to transcribe all the words and transcribable sounds (including guttural sounds like ah, but with the exceptions noted in 1. above), and in their order of occurrence.  Include all of the elements of the Center's Oral History Interview Transcript Checklist.  Use parentheses ( ) with discretion to note audible expressions of emotion such as (laughs) when one speaker does, (laughter) when both do, or (pounds fist on table), or (tape turned off and on again), and to describe what is happening (reading from newspaper) or (sometimes) how words are spoken (with tears in his eyes).

4. Work with the tape. Note changes in the tape, for example: End of Tape 1, Side B; Begin Tape 2, Side A.  Use a transcribing machine rather than the recorder (which wears out the tape), and set the numbers counter at 0000 when starting the tape and note those numbers on your transcription at significant breaks, to make it easier for you to locate sections of the tape subsequently.

5. Allow the interviewee to review the transcript before it is made available for public use.  Inform the interviewee that their role is to check the accuracy of the transcription, not to re-work the text into a publishable format.  "Improving" on the choice of words or word order is not an option after the fact of the interview.  For your part, realize that spoken words may look much different in print and there are tactful little things you can do to make the transcript acceptable through your choice of explanatory phrases and your selective deletion of false starts and other extraneous sounds mentioned above.

6. Maintain a log (to be placed with the oral history project records at the Center) of each step in processing the transcript.  This information includes: who transcribed, audited, edited, corrected, and proofread the transcript final copy.  Collection documentation (which includes correspondence with the interviewee) should make known the nature and extent of changes in the transcript from the original tape.

SW-30

Other sources to consult (readily available through interlibrary loan, etc.):

Doing Oral History: A practical guide, by Donald A. Ritchie.  Second edition (New York: Twayne Publishers; Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 2005).  ISBN 0-19-515434-7 (paperback).  265 pages.  Available from the Society of American Archivists.  "Practical advice and reasonable explanations for anyone starting an oral history project, conducting interviews, using oral history in research and writing, videotaping oral history, preserving oral history in archives and libraries, teaching oral history, or presenting oral history.  Sample legal release forms, bibliography, and index."  Buy this book, or check it out from the library.  The call number is D16.14 .R57 1995 

Oral History Program Manual, by William W. Moss (New York, Praeger, 1974).  109 pages.   D16 .M857 

Transcribing and Editing Oral History, by Willa K. Baum (AASLH, 1977, reprinted 1991).  127 pages.   D16.14 .B38 1991 

Oral History: From tape to type, by Cullom Davis, Kathryn Back, Kay MacLean (ALA, 1977).  141 pages.  D16.14 .D38 1977 

The Tape-recorded Interview: A manual for field workers in folklore and oral history, by Edward D. Ives (Northeast Folklore Society, University of Tennessee Press, 1974).  130 pages.  GR45.5 .I93 1980

Oral History for the Local Historical Society, by Willa K. Baum (AASLH, 1971, 3rd ed., rev.  1987).  68 pages.  D16.14 .B37 1987

Tools for doing oral history  

Overview of the special collections at the Center of Southwest Studies

Center of Southwest Studies

Page last modified: August 31, 2006