Team Guide 

Full Verbatim Style Guide 3.3 

Introduction to Full Verbatim 1 
Basic Style Guide Formatting 1 
Tags and Other Noises 1 
Numbering 1 

Full Verbatim Guidelines 2 

Filler and Crutch Words 2 
Approved Full Verbatim Spellings 2 
False Starts 2 
Feedback Words 2 
Stutters 3 
Number Stutters 3 
Repetitions 3 
Repetition or False Start? 3 
Repetitions and Crutch Words 3 
Pronunciation and Accents 3 
 

Introduction to Full Verbatim 

This style guide ​IS NOT​ for use in Clean Verbatim files. The most important aspect of ​Full Verbatim​ is that we 
must transcribe a ​ ll​ ​utterances made by the main speaker(s). That is, include all​ ​speech: filler and feedback 
words, false starts, stutters, stammers, and repetitions, and spell out any spoken punctuation. Always take the 
time to carefully listen to the file again after transcribing it. Our brains get accustomed to automatically 
correcting for Clean Verbatim, and you will find that listening to the file again, you will catch utterances you 
missed the first time.  
 

Basic Style Guide Formatting 

Since Full Verbatim files are completed as single-step, you are expected to adhere to TM's Basic​ ​formatting 
guidelines, although you may use Advanced if you wish! Specific exceptions found in this style guide (​e.g., always 
use double dashes followed by a space for false starts, informal spellings are permissible, etc.​) will trump the Clean 
Verbatim style guidelines when completing Full Verbatim files. 
 

Tags and Other Noises 

Please use the same TM-approved tags as found in the TranscribeMe Style Guide. D​ O NOT​ use any other tags. 
Also, just like in Clean Verbatim, non-verbal or non-human sounds should be ignored. We only transcribe speech 
and use the tags specifically mentioned in the Style Guide. 
 

Numbering 
The Basic style guidelines have no set number rules. Use your best judgment, convey the appropriate meaning, 
and be consistent. Number stutters, however, must be spelled out. See ​page 3​. 
 

 
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Team Guide 

Full Verbatim Guidelines 

Filler and Crutch Words 
Since all utterances are transcribed in FV, be sure to capture all filler and crutch words as said by the main 
speakers. Note that all filler and most crutch words, particularly ​like a ​ nd ​you know​,​ ​should be offset with 
commas.​ ​Sort of​, k​ ind of​, and other crutch words such as ​maybe​, however, generally are NOT offset with commas, 
as this makes the text unnecessarily choppy. 
 
● She​,​ uh, she was sort of going to maybe, like, g-go to th-the bookstore. 
● Uh-uh, no. I, you know, didn't read it. 
● I was, like, you know, kind of amazed he, um, was there. 
 

Approved Full Verbatim Spellings 

Use the below spellings only. 
 
● Speech Fillers:​ uh, ah, um, hmm (NOT ​mm​) 
● Affirmative:​ uh-huh, mm-hmm  
● Negative:​ uh-uh, hmm-mm, mm-mm, huh-uh, nuh-uh 
 
Yeah (NOT ​yea​) 
Yep or Yup (NOT ​yip​ or ​yap​, etc.) 
Okay or OK (NOT ​m'kay​ or ​'k​) 
 

False Starts 
In Full Verbatim, you must capture false starts of any length. ​Please use a double dash followed by a space to 
mark all false starts.​ NEVER offset false starts with merely a comma. 
 
● I was going to, uh, call-- phone him, uh, later today, you know? 
● Did you go-- walk to the store? 
● Can you dri-- run to the mall? 
 

Feedback Words 
Since every word/utterance must be captured, this also means transcribing all feedback words, even if they add 
no meaning and clutter the transcript. 
 
I think it's, you know-- 
Yeah. Uh-huh. 
--really, um, im-im-important that we-- 
Mm-hmm. Right. 
--include sort of all, you, you know, f-f-feedback words-- 
Okay. Gotcha. 
--in th-th-the transcript. 
 

 
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Team Guide 

Stutters 
When part of a word is repeated and the same word continues after, then we note this with a single hyphen and 
no space. This is called a stutter. A
​ ll stutters must be included in a Full Verbatim transcript.​ Proper nouns 
will always keep their first capital letter whilst non-proper nouns at the beginning of a sentence will not. 
 
● I-I'm g-g-going to the st-store. R-R-Ralph forgot to get br-bread a-again. 
● D-d-does J-Ji-Jim want to, um, like, join u-us for din-dinner? 
● M-m-my mo-- my dad wanted to go to B-Bos-Boston this fall. W-what do you think? 
 

Number Stutters 
If a speaker stutters over a number, please spell it out. Notice that this may affect consistency. 
● I had 11 cats at one stage, but when I adopted t-t-two dogs, I had to give up all but 4 cats. 
● It was the year 2000 six-sixteen that I f-first got, uh, Netflix. Or maybe it was 20 f-f-fiftee-teen. 
 

Repetitions 
When a full word is repeated (even a short word like I), then we separate them with commas. 
● I, I, I went to the, the store, but I-I-I've, um, you know, forgotten the br-bread again. 
● Sally decided to go, go, go to the m-movies last, last night. 
 

Repetition or False Start? 

If more than one word is repeated, it is a false start and should be marked with double dashes. 
● I, I went, went to the-- to the, um, b-bakery. 
 

Repetitions and Crutch Words 

Filler and crutch words are not​ ​factored into the word count when considering a repetition versus a false start. 
● I want, uh, want, like, want to go to-- you know, go to the patisserie.  
● H-h-hey, wh-what's the, um, you know, the time over in Syd-Syd-- like, in M-Melbourne now? 
 

Pronunciation and Accents 

While we want to type what the speakers actually say in Full Verbatim, we don't want to go overboard in making 
up unusual spellings to reflect the pronunciation. Also, please write out the full ​-ing​ suffix and the full word t​ hem 
rather than ending in -​in'​ or typing ​'em​. 
 
We do, however, include informal pronunciations as they are found in a dictionary, such as g ​ onna​, w
​ anna​, ​kinda​, 
etc. If the word is listed in a standard dictionary, you can use it; otherwise, spell it out appropriately according to 
the dictionary. 
 
Said: I'm g ​ onn'​ go ​ta​, u
​ hhhhh​, ​ta​ that th-there ​stoar--​ ​ta​ '​ em​ stores where they be kinda... ​liiiike​... s​ ellin' 
milk. Y'all h
​ earin'​ ​meh​? 
 
Type: I'm gonna go to, uh, to that th-there store-- to them stores where they be kinda, like, selling milk. 
Y'all hearing me? 

 
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