A syllabus for the teaching of transcription at Hartnell College, Salinas, California

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A SYLLABUS FOR THE TEACHING OF TRANSCRIPTION AT HARTNELL COLLEGE, SALINAS, CALIFORNIA

A Project Presented to the Faculty of the School of Education The University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Education

by James J. Stark August, 1950

UMI Number: EP46588

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This project report, w ritten under the direction o f the candidate’s adviser and ap p ro ved by him , has been presented to and accepted by the F a c u lty o f the School o f E d u catio n in p a r t ia l f u lf illm e n t of the requirements f o r the degree

of M a s t e r of

Science in E ducation.

Date...

/O / 9S' o

A d v is e r

Dean

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

PAGE 1

THE PROBLEM............................. Purpose of the s t u d y ..................

2

Importance of the s t u d y ................

3

Delimitation of the study .................... Review of related l i t e r a t u r e .......... Summary of literature reviewed

12

Definition of the term "junior college" . . . .

12

Sources of data and method of procedure . . . .

13

14

FACTORS INVOLVED IN TRANSCRIPTION SKILL ........

15

The writing of readable shorthand ............

15

Typewriting techniques

20

.....................

Sum m a r y ............................... III.

10

....

Organization of this s t u d y ............ II.

4

..............

Definition of the term "transcription"

4

26

FACTORS INVOLVED IN TRANSCRIPTION SKILL (Cont'd.)

28

The coordination of reading and typing from shorthand notes .............................

2 8

The application of a knowledge of English ■grammar and punctuation ................... The proofreading process

....................

The arrangement of m aterial............ The handling of transcription material

31

33

35

....

36

iii

CHAPTER

PAGE Summarization of principal factors

IV.

V.

..........

THE STANDARDS FOR TEACHING TRANSCRIPTION

....

40

The use of office standards.................

40

Mailable copy standards .....................

45

Rate of production standard..................

47

S u m m a r y .....................................

50

..........

52

..................

52

DEVICES IN TEACHING TRANSCRIPTION . Twenty recommended devices

’’World's Worst Transcript” illustrated

....

S u m m a r y..................................... VI.

VII.

37

CONTENT OF THE TRANSCRIPTION C O U R S E ...........

64 66 67

Pretranscription training ....................

67

When to begin transcription..................

69

Beginning the transcription training

........

72

The content of the transcription course . . . .

73

Summary.....................................

77

GRADING AND TESTING IN TRANSCRIPTION.........

79

Speed of d i c t a t i o n ....................... . .

79

Speed of transcription.....................

82

The quality of the transcript................

84

Daily transcript grading

85

....................

Establishing the final g r a d e ............. . .

86

S ummary.....................................

87

iv

CHAPTER VIII.

PAGE SUMMARY OP S T U D Y .............................

BI B L I O G R A P H Y .........

89

92

v

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM The major important function of the curriculum of the American junior college, according to the authorities in junior college curriculum construction, is its vocational, terminal education function.• The large percentage of students enrolled in junior college work terminate.their education at the end of the two year course and enter the business world in paring. 1

the field for which they have been pre­

Thus, it is the duty of the.' persons constructing

the curricula for departments on the junior college level to keep the terminal education function uppermost in their minds. The final outcome for students attempting the secre­ tarial training curriculum of a junior college is to prepare them for immediate entrance into business offices of the community as qualified secretaries.

Though their skills

of shorthand, typewriting, and English, and their social adjustments with regard to self-discipline and personality development are continued throughout the undertaking of the secretarial curriculum, the correlation of this skill

-*■ Herbert A. Tonne, Principles of Business Education (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 19^7),p. ^24.

2 training is not brought together until the final semester when the all-important course in transcription is under­ taken.

It is, therefore, with the following principles in

mind that this study was made: (l)

The junior college marks

the completion of formal education for a large and increa­ sing proportion of young people; and (2 ) the transcription course on the junior college level should be a finishing course correlating all of the fundamental skills previously learned, readying the prospective secretary for immediate entrance into business offices. Purpose of the study.

The purpose of this study was

to construct a syllabus for the teaching of transcription at the Hartnell College, located at Salinas, California.

The

writer has kept constantly in mind the vocational, terminal education of the secretarial trainees, and has taken into consideration the factors involved in transcription skill, the standards for teaching transcription as measured by actual office situations, the point at which the'formal course in transcription should begin, the content of the transcription course, the teaching aids and devices useful in teaching a course in transcription, and the methods of testing and grading. It is the hope of the writer that such: a study will help to improve the organization and teaching of the course

3 in transcription on the junior college level. Importance of the study.

Total enrollments in junior

colleges have climbed sharply during the past twenty years. In 1929, the total enrollment, according to the last avail­ able statistics, presented by Sanders, 2 was reported at 50,529* while in 1948 the number had increased to 455*048. Likewise, the number of junior colleges in operation during the year 1 9 2 8 was reported to be 408, while the count in 1948 totaled 6 6 3 . 3 Tonne

4

reports that though junior colleges still

emphasize transfer to senior colleges, as shown by the curricula listed in their catalogues, yet only 25 per cent of the students enrolled in junior colleges (as reported In Chicago) go to institutionscf higher learning.

Likewise, on

the basis of another study? he reported that 33 per cent of the students who finished junior college courses went to college, and 62 per cent entered employment. 3 Thus, it would appear that the greatest emphasis in

2 Shirley Sanders, 11Analysis of Junior College Growth,” Junior College Journal. 18:307~313* February, 1948. 3 Ibid.

4 5

Tonne, op. cit. Ibid.

4

the establishment of junior college curricula should be placed on terminal education and less on senior college entrance requirements.

An attempt has been made in this

study to establish the content of the junior college trans­ cription course with the terminal education function in mind. Delimitation of this study.

Due to the importance of

the two years of training a prospective secretary receives in the junior college in preparing for the duties of a secretary, the necessity for establishing the secretarial training course for the entire curriculum from the terminal point of view would be advantageous.

However, due to the

scope of this study, only the content of the transcription phase of secretarial training is considered.

This study

does not consider the mental processes involved in dictation and transcription nor the remedial program based on techni­ ques of teaching transcription, but has focused its atten­ tion on the skills necessary for the achievement of success in transcription, and the content of the final, formally organized course in junior college transcription. Review of related literature.

The writer was unable

to locate a great deal of literature relative to the specifics of the nature of transcription on the junior college level. However, there has been a great deal of research conducted

5 within the past ten years centering around general trans­ cription skill.

Some of these investigations which proved

of great benefit in conducting this syllabus -are reviewed below. Wanous,^ in attempting to discover what office employ­ ers considered mailable transcripts, contacted 100 dictators-, and from their replies, found that the following four cri­ teria must be met before a letter is considered mailable: 1. It follows very closely the thought of the dictation. Minor variations from the dictation are permitted, provided they do not change the orignial meaning of the dictator. \

^

2. It contains no uncorreeted errors, such as misspellings, typographical errors, incorrect punctuation, incorrect syllabication. 3* It looks reasonably neat. The erasures must be neatly done. Strikeovers are not permitted. Margins should be fairly even and the letter in good balance. 4. It contains no omissions, such as an entire clause or sentence in the body of the letter, or the omission of the date, the salutation, and the complimentary close. By using these four criteria, 5 5 0 letters actually mail­ ed revealed that only slightly more than 50 Per> cent meet these requirements,proving that though these four criteria

S. J. Wanous, "Problems and Issues in Transcription," Seventh Yearbook. National Business Teachers Association, 19bl, p. 3 2 0 .

6

were labeled "office employers* standards for mailable transcripts," they were merely "office employers’ Ideals for mailable transcripts."

Though the percentage of maila-

bility in schools is low, it is not as low as this report would seem, do to the fact that the criteria used are not actual office mailable standards, but mailable ideals. In his attempt to find out the nature of transcrip­ tion errors, Wanous^ made a study of a group of graded transcripts submitted to him by a number of transcription instructors.

In his final tabulation, it was found that

English errors account for 55 per cent of the total errors; content errors, 28 per cent; typographical errors, 9 per cent; and letter-mechanics errors, 8 per cent.

Thus, a great deal

of attention must be given to English, spelling, and proof­ reading along with shorthand instruction. Relative to the activities involved in stenography, Wanous® made a job analysis of transcription duties of 115 stenographers and secretaries.

This study revealed that

stenographers spend slightly less than one third of the

7 Ibid., p. 318.

8 S. J. Wanous, "The Implications of Research Related to the Teaching of Transcription," National Business Education Quarterly, 8:24, May, 1940.

working day in transcribing shorthand dictation.

More time

is devoted to transcription than to any other stenographic duties. Leslie^ made a survey of 64l businessmen in an attempt to discover whether they turned over the correspondence being answered to the stenographer after the dictation.

The re­

sults showed that 5 0 1 * or over three fourths, of the dic­ tators always gave their stenographers the letters after the dictation, thus giving the stenographer an opportunity to get the correct spelling of the address and to check the meaning of a doubtful item by reference to the correspondence. Leslie recommends that the transcription teacher in attempting to maintain an office situation, prepare lists of names and addresses for the students to copy from rather than dictate these. Renshaw*^ contacted 519 schools in 4 states in an attempt to discover whether or not the transcription train­ ing was offered in two separate periods during the day, one for shorthand and one for typewriting.

*

He discovered that

2 6 7 , or 55 per cent of the schools sampled have one full

^ Louis A. Leslie, Methods of Teaching Transcription (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1949)* P . 1 3 6 . W. W. Renshaw, "Where Do We Stand in Transcription?" Business Education World, 27:465, May, 1946.

8 shorthand period and one full period at the typewriter every day for at least one semester.

He compares his results with

the results of a similar survey made in 1 9 3 ^ in which only 13 per cent reported two separate classes in transcription.

In preparing a course of study for transcription training* the instructor should keep in mind the advantages of such a double period. Miller*^ by contacting the 80 secretarial training majors from the years 1936-19^0 of the Ventura Junior College* Ventura* California* attempted to find out to what extent these graduates have beeen able to use the skills and knowledges learned in the secretarial training course while attending the junior college.

He found that almost 40 per

cent of these graduates were actually employed in secretarial work* that 30 Per cent

were married and no longer working*

that 14 per cent were employed in other work* and that the remaining small percentage had gone on to schools of higher education.

Thus, it would appear that the secretarial train­

ing given in the junior college should be quite comprehensive in preparing these 40 per cent for their actual means of

Dean Goff Miller* "A Follow-up Study of the Secret­ arial Science Graduates of Ventura Junior College* 193619^0*" (unpublished Master’s thesis* University of Southern California, Los Angeles* 19^3)j 75 PP*

9 livelihood. Ferris, ^ in determining the learning difficulties of high school shorthand students, contacted high school students in the city of San Diego by means of an inquiry, blank arranged to determine what problems the pupil had met in regard to (l) study habits and interests, (2) possible difficulties due to the nature of the subject, and (3 ) diffi­ culties due to the manner of presentation.

Her findings,

with regard to high school transcription, Included the difficulty students encountered, throughout the four semesters, with punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, spelling, and typographical errors.

It is, therefore, recommended from

statistics that students be given more training In these particular items in the first three semesters of shorthand, thus eliminating much transcription difficulty in the final transcription course.

Her findings were of great value in

developing the pretranscription training topic of this study, iv Winter J conducted an Investigation to determine the 1O

Beatrice Marie Ferris, "A study of the Learning Difficulties of High School Shorthand Students,” (unpublished Master's thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1 9 4 7 ), 78 pp. h. Jeannette Winter, "An Investigation of the Speeds of Dictation in Business Offices," (unpublished Master's thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 19^5),

38 pp.

10 speeds of dictation in business offices.

Using the interview

and observation methods in contacting 8 7 different business men and women dictators in Pullman and Spokane, Washington, and Billings, Montana, she timed each

dictator as she

dictated actual correspondence to his secretary.

She obtained

2 5 3 letters with which to use in finding the actual dictation

rates.

The average business letter was found to be dictated

at about 75 to 80 words a minute, but she also found that two-thirds of the total dictation was between 48 and 10 6 words a minute.

In concluding her study, she recommends

that 8 0 words a minute should be a minimum requirement for entrance into actual business offices, but that students should have a background speed up to 11 0 to 12 0 in order to meet the demand when the dictation may spurt up to speeds faster than ordinarily given.

Winter’s findings were of

value in this study when determining the measurement standards for the formal transcription course. Summary of literature reviewed.

The following con­

clusions may be made in regard to the above research findings: (l)

It is difficult to set up standards of mailability

for transcription classes by using offide standards because of the poor quality of letters actually used to transact business in the actual office situation.

11 ^ :2)

A great deal of attention must be given to

English, spelling, and proofreading along with shorthand instruction in the transcription course due to the large percentage of these types of errors found in completed transcripts. (3)

In studying the duties of secretaries, more time

is devoted to transcription than to any other task] thus the training a student receives in learning to transcribe effi­ ciently is of vast importance in the success of a secretary. (4)

Due to the fact that the majority of businessmen

do not dictate the names and addresses of the letters they dictate, it is necessary for the transcription instructor to prepare such lists, if the textbook does not provide them, in order to duplicate an office situation as closely as possible. (5 )

The fourth, or final semester transcription

course of more than half of the schools teaching transcrip­ tion conduct this class in two consecutive daily periods, the first period for shorthand, the second for typewriting. Such a fact is of importance in preparing a syllabus for the teaching of transcription. (6 ‘ ) A student,in order to enter an actual business office, should be able to take dictation at approximately 12 0 words per minute even though the average dictation in

12 an office Is between 70 and 80 words per minute, to enable her to meet the demand when the dictation may spurt up to speeds faster than ordinarily given. 'Definition of the term "transcription." Transcription in this study shall be understood to mean the process of producing symbols correctly in attractively typewritten manuscripts which express the exact, but not verbatim, thought that has been dictated.

Transcription"is not an

integration of the skills of typewriting and shorthand, but is a separate and distinct skill to be developed by the pupil through instruction and practice.

It is an ability

growing out of the possession of the two skills, typewriting and shorthand.

That factor which causes the combination

of the shorthand-typewriting ability to function is a com­ posite process.

Reading ability enters into it--not only

the ability to read shorthand outlines but a general compre­ hension of the English language as well.

Knowledge of

vocabulary, grammar forms, sentence sense, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, syllabication, and paragraphing all contribute something to the transcription ability. centration, judgnent

Con­

as to the arrangement, and skill in

reading ahead while typewriting are a part of this process. Definition of the term ".junior college." There are many different concepts of the term "junior college."

13 As Tonne states: Some people think of it (the junior college) as a one-year institution; some, as a two-year institution} others believe that it should cover four years, embracing what are .now the last two years of high school and the first two of college. Some private high schools are called junior colleges. The junior college is often regarded as a finishing school, either academic or vocational, or as a preparatory institution for senior college.1 ^ In this study the junior college is regarded as an institu­ tion, either public or private, offering instruction equival­ ent «•to the first two years of college. Sources of data and method of procedure. The data for this study were secured through library research; the bulletin of information concerning the curricula of the Hartnell College, Salinas, California; personal correspondence with the secretarial training staff at Hartnell College; and the writer's own experience in the teaching of transcrip­ tion on the college lower division level.

The library re­

search was used in bringing together pertinent data in the development of the several topics of this study.

Particular

regard was given the attitudes and ideas of the various authorities particularly in the fields of shorthand, type­ writing, transcription, and secretarial training.

The

bulletin of Hartnell College was used in the presentation 14

.

Tonne, op.. cit., p. 421.

14

of the curricula used in developing the pretranscription period previous to the formally organized transcription course.

Personal correspondence with the secretarial train­

ing staff at Hartnell College helped the writer develop the chapter on testing and grading in transcription.

The writer's

own experience has provided the continuity of the various chapters in developing the study toward the final outcomes of the transcription course content to be taught at Hartnell College. Organization of this study.

The remainder of this

study develops the organization of the transcription course using as its basis the terminal, vocational aim of junior college education.

Chapters II and III develop the factors

involved in transcription skill.

The standards to be main­

tained and how they are developed are discussed in Chapter IV.

Chapter V presents the teaching aids and devices to be

used in the teaching of the transcription period, the methods of beginning the course in formal transcription, and ending with the content of the transcription course on the junior college level.

In Chapter VII, the methods of grading and

testing are discussed, and Chapter VIII presents the summary of the study.

The bibliography used in making this study

follows the .organized syllabus.

CHAPTER II

FACTORS INVOLVED IN TRANSCRIPTION SKILL Though remarkable progress has been made In the teach­ ing of shorthand and typewriting, the true possibilities of transcription teaching have not, as yet been fully analyzed. Due to the fact that the training prospective secretaries receive on the junior college level must prepare them direct­ ly for office work, the teaching of transcription on this level should co-ordinate and develop all of the factors that are directly Involved in transcription skill.

Chapter V

discusses the basic factors, shorthand and typewriting, and Chapter VI presents other principle factors that are responsi ble for the development of complete transcription mastery. The writing of readable shorthand.

No matter how

fast a student can take dictation, it is of little value to her if she cannot read and transcribe it.

Much of the speed

of transcription is lost not to the fact that the student did not get all of the dictation, but due to the fact that she did not write her outlines in a readable manner.

The

ability to read ones own shorthand notes must be started early in the shorthand training, during the "pretranscription period.

Rogers says that "students must learn to read their

16 own notes."'1' In teaching students to read their own notes, she further states: When your students have difficulty in reading their notes, ask them to bring the note's to you. Do not read the notes for them--probably you can read them; even if improperly written, the outlines are usually readably written. Help the student to analyze her notes. First read the character as a unit--a sound unit. If this does not suggest the word, ask the student in what direction the note was written; was it a curve or a straight stroke outline if the curve does not suggest the word. Or could the outline be a brief form; what does that brief form say? Perhaps the word preceding has been mis-read. Could it be something other than you first thought it to be? Do everything you can to help the students read their notes. We want our students to read; we do not want them to remember what they have written.^ In the process of transcribing from shorthand notes, not only must the student be able to read her notes, but she must be able to read them rapidly. timing of students in their reading.

This requires the Authorities agree that

in acquiring speed in transcription, a student should be able to read their shorthand outlines at a very minimum of 150 words a minute.

Though timings are made from the beginning

of shorthand training in the reading of shorthand plates from the text, during the pietranscription period, timings in

1 Elizabeth L. Rogers, "Tips on the Teaching of Transcription," Journal of Business Education. 23:19-20, May, 1948. 2 Ibid.

17 gaining rapid reading practice from their own notes should be undertaken in order to reach the minimum reading skill requirement before the actual transcription process is begun. Rogers states: Work on their reading ability as much as you (the teacher) work on their writing ability. Reading of the well-written shorthand plates is excellent practice, especially for theory review; but be sure that students do a great deal of reading of their own notes. After all, their notes are the ones that are going to take them over the ^ "shorthand bridge" from the dictator to the letter. She further states that,

in her long experience as a

transcription instructor, best rapid reading results are maintained when students are asked to read the assignments fifteen or twenty times at home.

However, Leslie and Renshaw

find that for intense study in developing the skills of writing readable notes and reading outlines rapidly, the home-work assignments should be for the student to read the shorthand plates four or five times and to copy them twice. Due to the fact that the transcription class at Hartnell College will meet two hours each day of the week, the latter suggestion would seem to fit in best with the syllabus con­ struction of this course.

3 Ibid. 4 Louis A. Leslie and Wallace W. Renshaw, Gregg Dictation and Transcription Teacher* s Manual (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1937)> P • 267 f

18 The term "readable shorthand," to

most transcription

teachers, means shorthand notes that the student is capable of reading, not only immediately after writing, but also a week or two thereafter.

Too, the notes must be read acc­

urately and without hesitation by the transcriber.

Trans­

cription teachers are apt to forget that a great deal of the stenographer's transcription in an actual office situation is not done immediately after the dictation is completed. There are other more important duties for her to perform, and thus she must put her dictation notebook aside until such a time as it is convenient for her to transcribe.

In

some transcription classes students hand in fairly accurate transcriptions, not because they read it from their notes, but because they had excellent memories. "Too many times in

As Rowe states,

our shorthand classes we (the teacher)

ask the students to transcribe only immediately after they have taken, the dictation.

A place should be made in the

transcription course for transcription from cold notes to reveal weaknesses in shorthand knowledge and to impress upon the student the.importance of getting all dictation down In readable shorthand."^

^ John L. Rowe, "Establishing Goals for Teacher and Pupil in Transcription," Business Education World, 2 7 :3 8 2 3 8 3 , March, 1 9 4 7 .

19 Concluding the discussion of the factor of the writ­ ing of readable shorthand notes,Wanous and Whitmore developthe theory further by stating: Notes that can be read accurately and unhesitat­ ingly, whether they are "hot" or "cold',* must be written correctly. Common phrases should be utilized; the characters should be well-proportioned and clearly defined. Names and addresses should be written in such a form that there is no danger of misspelling. Corrections or insertions should be clearly marked. Care should be exercised in the indication of capitals, quotations, and italics. 6 In connection with the above quotation, the writer wishes to point out that the transcription teacher who mis­ interprets the statement, "a correctly transcribed outline is a good outline,"7 and allows his students to form any kind of outline without regard to shorthand theory when dic­ tation is given, is preparing students for slow, hesitant transcription.

Students hesitate in transcribing when their

outlines are poorly constructed with regard to proportion and incorrectly written with regard to shorthand theory. The above statement was made in connection with the formation of new outlines when taking new dictation, and not in

S. J. Wanous and Irol V. Whitmore, "Consider the Principal Factors that Affect the Development of Transcription Skill,1’ The Balance Sheet. 23:396-398, March, 1942. 7 Louis A. Leslie and Charles E. Zoubek, Gregg Dic­ tation Simpli-fled Teacher1s Handbook (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company^ 1949)3 P» 22.

20 connection with the automatization of brief forms, develop­ ing the use of correct phrasing, and forming well-propor­ tioned outlines through the establishment of correct short­ hand penmanship techniques.

Teachers allowing students to

get by during the pretranscription training without regard to correct shorthand form may be developing good transcrip­ tion memories, but they are not developing speedy transcri­ bers . Typewriting techniques.

As Renshaw points out, tran­

scription is usually begun when the student is halfway thro­ ugh his typewriting course and still has much to learn con­ cerning the techniques in typewriting making for speed by o

eliminating wasted motion.

They are not yet masters of the

typewriter and often too little stress has been placed in their typewriting instruction on those techniques that are important in transcription.

Thus, a review of fundamentals

might profitably precede actual transcription. Wanous and Whitmore, 9 and Blackstone and Smith‘d

O Wallace W. Renshaw, "Teaching Transcribing Skill," Business Education World. 16:141-143, October, 1935-

9

Wanous and Whitmore, ojo. c i t .

E. G. Blackstone and Sofrona L. Smith, Improvement of Instruction in Typewriting (New York: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1949), PP. 381-¥08.

21 point out the following typewriting techniques which are essential to transcription speed of producing mailable copy, which have been condensed by the writer: Good posture eliminating fatigue- When students be­ come engrossed in difficult transcription, watch them inch forward in the chair, hunch over their notebooks, wind their legs around the chair legs, and throw themselves out of position.

Physical balance is essential to correct stroking

technique and to speedy and accurate operation of the type­ writer. An even touch-An even touch is so essential to mailable copy and speed of production.

An uneven touch gives

the copy a spotty appearance, and by breaking the rhythm it cuts speed.

An uneven touch may be caused by incorrect

hand position, poor stroking of the keys, or some other fundamental typewriting fault. Correct reaches to keys- Incorrect reaches to keys also may be caused by incorrect hand position, poor stroking of the keys, or by flaws in the typist's mental processes. Shifting for capitals- A shift key can be held down too long as well as not long enough.

Actual business letters

should have no capitals out of line. Even typing- Spurt typing may be a decided handicap. If a typist has formed the habit of typing in spurts on

22 straight copy, he will be stopping both in reading notes and in typing.

As a result, he will be extremely slow in

transcribing his notes. Rapid carriage throw- The process of transcription increases the tendency to follow the carriage across slowly on the return.

The carriage throw

technique may have to be

reconstructed. Keeping the eyes on the copy- This habit is easily broken when transcription begins.

The transcriber often

looks off the copy to see whether he has made any errors in typing, trying to recall what word was dictated at the time he made an indistinguishable outline, or to check whether or not he is near the end of a line,making no use of the bell on his machine.

Each time he looks at his machine the

transcriber becomes a shade less confident of his mastery over that machine. Making carbon copies- Transcribers must be taught the best ways to assemble and insert the pack into the machine] to type so that each carbon copy in the pack is of maximum clearness; to correct mistakes so that they are almost invis­ ible; to remove the packs efficiently; and to separate the pages of the carbon pack quickly. Using the various service mechanisms- These machanisms were added to the typewriter for the specific purpose of

23 speeding up machine operation, but the operation of these mechanisms is lik'ely to have been neglected in typewriting but should not be overlooked in the final transcription course.

Some of these mechanisms are: devices for setting

marginal stops; the variable line spacer; the shift lock; and the back spacer. Skillful correction of errors- Insufficient practice may have been given prior to transcription, especially in the erasing of carbons, and the crowding and spreading of letters in words.

It is absolutely necessary that a stenographer

be able to erase errors correctly.

Everyone will make errors

at times,and no stenographer can afford to waste the time or the paper that would be necessary to type every piece of work without an error.

The transcription instructor must

give careful directions on how to make neat erasures on both originals and carbon copies. Touch typing of symbols and numbers- A transcriber types date lines, street addresses, quantities, amounts, and other material that includes numbers and symbols.

The strok­

ing of the top row of keys should be as automatic as the stroking of the alphabet keys.

These symbols and numbers in

transcription work must be struck correctly as there is no context before or after a number to tell the reader whether or not it has been accurately typed.

24 Syllabication- A transcriber should know the principle rules for the division of words at the ends of lines.

He

should also develop the dictionary habit. Artistic placement- The student in typewriting has learned to judge and place material from printed copy; now she must learn to judge and place her materials from the length of her notes.

This is an important teaching problem

in the transcription course, for trained secretaries should not have to retype most of their material to make it accept­ able

to the dictator. The reader will agree that if the transcription in­

structor attempts to spend too much time in developing these typewriting techniques, there will not be a great deal of time left for developing two of the final outcomes of a transcription course--namely, the increased speed of trans­ cribing the notes.

However, the transcription teacher,

through careful observation, must note those students who have not mastered these techniques, essential for complete transcription skill, and help them to reconstruct them. Due to the fact that many typewriting classes fail to place enough emphasis on the development of these essential typing-for-transcription techniques, many teachers have found it desirable to introduce transcription training in the typing program, thus making sure that these techniques

25 are correctly established.

The non-shorthand students

would be following through the lessons in the textbook and the shorthand students would be getting as many typing values' from transcription practice as they would from much of the textbook copy work on business letters and forms. ’The-reason for this is that the transcription practice would be more realistic* since it is more like the kind of work the typist will ultimately do.

Too* the teacher can observe constantly

to see that the correct techniques are properly mastered. Rowe warns* however* that shorthand-transcription training should not be Introduced in the typewriting program too early as the- low level of the student’s ability and speed of typ­ ing would lead only to inefficient transcription and typing habits.

He states that the minimum typewriting speed should

be between 35 and 45 words a minute before such a program is undertaken.

TT

Due to the scope of this study* the writer did not include the remedial work for correcting faulty typewriting techniques. 'However* Blackstone and Smith in the Appendix of their book, Improvement of Instruction in Typewriting.12

-*-1 John L. Rowe* "Proceed from the Simple to the Complex*" Business Education World, 27:270-272* January*

1947. 12

Blackstone and Smith* pjo. cit., pp. 381-443-

26 list the faults that both student and teacher should check in developing the correct techniques of typing and tested methods of remeding these faulty techniques,which the reader may find, tielpful. Summary. Before actual transcription skill can be developed, it is necessary that the student be able to write readable shorthand notes and that he have a thorough mastery of the typewriting techniques so necessary for attaining the development of shorthand skill before transcription can take place, the notes must be of a readable nature as trans­ cribers in an actual office situation must, at times, read ''cold" notes, or notes that are more than 24 hours old. Good, readable shorthand notes make use of common phrases and brief forms; well-proportioned characters; clearly mark­ ed corrections and insertions; and clearly marked indications of capitals, quotations, and italics.

Students must learn

how to read their own notes, which should be undertaken early in the shorthand program during the pretranscription train­ ing period. Although most students, upon entering the final stage of transcription, have completed the advanced courses in typewriting, the transcription instructor must check con­ stantly to see that each student has mastered the techniques of typing so necessary for transcription speed improvement.

27 Some transcription teachers, wishing to insure the develop­ ment of these correct typewriting techniques, have included beginning transcription training in the typewriting program. It has been warned, however, that such an integration should not be brought about until such students have reached the level of from 35 to ^5 words per minute, the minimum type­ writing speed necessary for beginning transcription train­ ing. To insure gaining the final aim of transcription-namely, the speed production of mailable copy— the factors, of shorthand and typewriting are of utmost importance.

How­

ever, there are other facrors which must also be taken into consideration.

The following chapter attempts to enumerate

these additional factors.

CHAPTER III

FACTORS INVOLVED IN TRANSCRIPTION SKILL (continued) As stated in Chapter V in the presentation of the two factors, the writing of readable shorthand tod the develop­ ment of the mastery of correct typewriting techniques, the final development of transcription skill involves a number of definite factors.

In addition to the two factors already

mentioned, others, which are included in this chapter, are the coordination of reading and typing from shorthand notes, the application of knowledge of English grammar and punctu­ ation, the proof-reading process, the arrangement of material, and the handling of materials. The coordination of reading and typing from short­ hand notes.

Of the many possible ways of reading shorthand

for transcription, including reading the entire dictation be­ fore any typing is attempted, reading the dictation by para­ graphs, reading the dictation by sentences, or reading a single word and then typing it, Wanous and Whitmore1 discourage the use of each one.

They point out that reading the entire

letter wastes time; reading by paragraphs is impossible un­ less the dictator indicates paragraphs, which is also a waste

1 S. J. Wanous and Irol V. Whitmore, "Consider the Principal Factors that Affect the Development of Transcrip­ tion Skill,” The Balance Sheet. 23:396-398, March, 1942.

29

time; reading by sentences is likewise a waste of time as the sentence is usually too long and requires rereading; and that reading by words is dangerous because some shorthand out­ lines are the same for more than one word and because some outlines may not have been clearly written.

Their method

for teaching the reading of shorthand for typing is by the use of "thought phrases."

This includes the marking of the

dictation notes into phrases natural to the student's think­ ing as she transcribes.

The advantages of transcribing in

thought-phrases according to the authors are:

there is little

danger of misreading characters; there is little need for mis­ reading because the phrase can be carried in the mind while it is being typed; students do not have to be taught to read in thought-phrases as they have been doing just that when read­ ing from printed copy; and punctuation should be simpler as the sentences naturally fall into definite phrases.

Concern­

ing the thought-phrase transcription technique, these authors say: That the student should be a fluent reader of shorthand is a foregone conclusion. For the purpose of efficient transcription it is believed that the student should read his notes in thought-phrase units. The teacher can teach him to do this by having him mark his shorthand copy into thought units. By having the student read and transcribe in unison with other members of the .class, the teacher can effectively convey the idea of correct procedure in reading short­ hand during transcription. When the student becomes proficient in transcription, he will stop typing to read only frequently. His eyes will have formed the

30

habit of grasping as many of his notes as he needs to give meaning to the material he is transcribing. . . .Obviously these reading and transcription drills should be used at the beginning of the transcription course. They should be continued until such time as the student can transcribe without stopping at fre­ quent intervals to read his notes.2 Though Leslie and Renshaw^ do not explicitly discuss the thought-phrase technique of reading shorthand for transscription, they do mention that if the teacher offers no guidance, the pupils will probably transcribe one word at a time, leading them into many errors requiring much erasing. If explaining that they should read ahead, many pupils are inclined to read through the whole letter before beginning the transcript, thus wasting much time.

These authors sug­

gest that the method used by expert writers is to read a little ahead of the word being transcribed, quoted as follows: In general, the transcriber should not have to read past the next period. Ordinarily, he should not have to read more than the next three or four words. In any case, the good transcriber must learn to read ahead while he is typing what he has already read. The good transcriber will keep the carriage of his typewriter moving steadily because of his ability to type one word while reading another. . . . Picture the shorthand reporter sitting down to trans­ cribe a case that has filled 200 notebook pages of shorthand and beginning by "prereading” the entire 200 pagesj4 2 S. J. Wanous and Irol V. Whitmore, "Transcription Teaching Aids and Devices," The Balance Sheet. 24:8-10, Sep­ tember, 1942. 3 Louis A. Leslie and Wallace W. Renshaw, Gregg Dic­ tation and Transcription Teacher *s Manual (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1937)> P- 21. * Ibid.

The reader knows that telling students how their men­ tal processes should work in reading shorthand for transcription is one thing, but actually knowing whether or not they are using your recommendation is another.

It is simple to tell

students they should read three or four words ahead of the point at which they are typing, but there is no way of knowing if they are doing so.

The Wanous-Whitmore thought-phrase

technique can actually be guided by the teacher through unison reading in class.

These drills, done often enough at the be­

ginning of the transcription training period, can be carried over into the transcription at the typewriter.

By reading and

typing in terms of phrases, too, will eliminate many of the errors in punctuation. The application of a knowledge of English grammar and punctuation.

In an actual office situation, the dictation is

not given In a fluent manner--dictators are interrupted fre­ quently by telephone calls, visitors, or other office workers. Because of these frequent interruptions, the final dictation may result in a change of construction in the middle of a sent tence or even in an incomplete sentence.

Thus, due to the

errors in dictation, the efficient stenographer does not trans­ cribe verbatim what is dictated.

She must be taught to correct

all minor errors without questioning the dictator; but she

32 must also be taught that all major errors in dictation such as occur when she is not certain what the dictator meant to say, should be checked with the dictator. Mistakes in punctuation can be eliminated by the stenog­ rapher reading her notes, when interruptions occur, and in­ serting the punctuation required before the dictation is re­ sumed.

If there is a question in the stenographer’s mind as

to whether a particular construction, spelling or division of words is correct, the correct use of form should be checked before the transcribed material is handed to the dictator. The excuses "Well, I wondered about that" and "That’s what I had in my notes," are no longer acceptable in the actual office.5 To aid the teaching of transcription In presenting the more important rules for syllabication, spelling, English grammar, and punctuation, Leslie and Zoubek^ have provided in their transcription text, Gregg Transcription Simplified, marginal reminders relative to the transcription of the short­ hand presented in the shorthand plates.

By discussing these

marginal reminders as the material is read, the teacher is assisted in presenting the more Important rules of syllabica­ tion, spelling, English grammar, and punctuation of the con­ structions most frequently used in ordinary business 5 Wanous and Whitmore, pp.. pit. 6 Louis A. Leslie and Charles E. Zoubek, Gregg Trans­ cription Simplified (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1950), pp. 415-426.

33 correspondence--in this way eliminating the types of errors that cause correspondence to be unmailable. The proofreading process. Many of the numerous errors found on transcribed copy could be eliminated if the students were taught the necessity of proofreading accurately.

In

connection with their typewriting courses, they have been taught how to proofread for typographical errors— errors that were made from typing from straight copy.

They learned to

proofread and correct all errors before the material had been removed from the machine to avoid the necessity for re­ inserting and aligning the copy.

The transcription teacher

should emphasize this technique even stronger, as complete retyping should be avoided whenever possible, and proofreading in the machine is one guard against that necessity.

Merely

scanning the copy, however, for typographical errors as was done in the typewriting class is not enough for the final transcription course.

It is necessary to pay close attention

to the thought of the copy in order not to overlook transpo­ sitions, to catch one word that may have been substituted for another word, or to catch errors in punctuation, spelling, . «>

and syllabication.

As suggested by Rogers, 7 it is necessary

7 Elizabeth S. Rogers, "Tips on the Teaching of Trans­ cription," Journal of Business Education. 25:19~20, May, 19*1-8.

34 to teach critical awareness in transcription classes.

Dur­

ing the process of transcription, she tells her students not to’W i t e something just because, the notes look that way,” and during the process of proofreading, she requests that they ask themselves, rtDoes the letter make sense to me?”® Proofreading is a tedious process, but it is a compulsory re­ sponsibility of the stenographer if the completed work is to be mailable.

Tonne, Popham, and Freeman suggest the following

proofreading techniques: Students receive valuable experience in working to­ gether and in checking work if they proofread in pairs. Each transcriber is assigned a proofreader, and every­ one is responsible for proofreading not only his own work but that of his partner, whose papers he signs. Undetected errors can then be charged against the proof­ reader as well as the writer. Since it is always easier to find the errors made by others, this device often helps to develop the eagle eye of the competent stenographer. . . .If the teacher hopes to give no better training than that which will prepare his graduates for positions in stenographic pools where super­ visors are hired to detect errors and supervise their correction, he will not emphasize this part of train­ ing as much as he will if he wants his graduates to hold positions in which they can be {trusted to proof­ read their own material. . . .He [the teacher] can reasonably expect that by the time the transcript has passed through the hands of two students and is given to him for approval, it will usually be in mailable form. 9

8 Ibid. 9 Herbert A. Tonne, Estelle L. Popham, and M.. Herbert Freeman, Methods of Teaching Business Subjects (New York: Gregg Publishing Company, 1949), pp. 228-229.

35 Though the method of proofreading in pairs has its merits, it must be pointed out that before the student has completed the transcription course, he must be expected to proofread his own work accurately alone. The arrangement of material. The arrangement of material on a page is one of the essentials of producing copy that is mailable.

Students in typewriting have learned to

arrange material artistically on the page from printed copy. Though in transcribing from shorthand notes it will be neces­ sary for them to learn to judge approximately the length of the final typed copy from their shorthand notes, Leslie and Renshaw10 suggest that students in beginning the transcrip­ tion course can take advantage of their previously learned placement training by being presented an actual placement scale and told the number of words in the dictated matter. This, however, is only for the beginner in transcription.

In

discussing the final outcome for the transcriber in arranging material on a page, Wanous and Whitmore have this suggestion to make: Mailability and speed are affected by the manner in which the transcript is arranged. Transcribers should learn to judge the approximate length of the

10 Leslie and Renshaw, op. cit., p. 19.

36 typed copy from the length of their shorthand notes. Retyping material purely for placement is inefficient. In judging notes, a stenographer must learn to take into consideration such factors as tabulations, para­ graphing, long inside addresses, a large number of enclosures, or a long list of names to whom carbon copies are being sent. A stenographer should have a clear mental picture of the setup of the final draft of the letter or report before she begins to trans­ cribe .11 The handling of transcription material.

One of the

final outcomes in the course of transcription is the speed of production.

Even though the student is capable of pro­

ducing quite accurately, speedily, and grammatically correct transcription from her readable shorthand notes, the time taken, for transcription may be greatly affected by the way in which transcription material is handled.

Condensed by the

writer, Wanous and Whitmore list the following procedures in handling transcription material: 1. Reading notes with ease requires that the note­ book be placed so that the typist’s body is not thrown out of line when the notes are being read. 2. Adequate lighting causes errors to decline up • to 2 5 $ due to the ease of reading provided. 3. Addressing envelopes in chain fashion will re­ duce production time. Secretaries should devise such time-saving methods in connection with other routine tasks which must be performed. Easy access to papers used requires that papers to be used should be arranged in the drawer so that they can be reached with a minimum of motion.

H

Wanous and Whitmore, op. cit.

57

5- Typing aids. such as erasers, shields, and pencils should be within easy reach.

6. Completed materials should be placed where they will not become soiled and where they will not be open to the gaze of anyone who happens to go through the offlee.12 Rowe would add one more suggestion to this list-~Just keep on the desk what the student is going to be using for the transcription task at hand thereby leaving the entire desk 15 top free for the entire process. Time and motion studies show that the secret of expert stenographers* success is that they spend only one-third as much time handling their working materials as do the slower 14 stenographers. Students of transcription need to be taught two things in connection with the handling of trans- . cription materials:"

the importance of organizing work

materials and how these materials should be organized for quick use. Summarization of principal factors. Tonne, Popham, and Freeman list the following principal factors as neces­ sary for success in transcription skill which the writer has analyzed in Chapters V and VI:

-*•3 John L. Rowe, "Principles of Teaching Transcription Skill," Business Education World. 271:467-469, April, 1947. 1 it

Coleman L. Maze, Office Management (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1947), pp. 557“558.

38

1. To write readable shorthand notes 2. To improve typewriting techniques 3. To co-ordinate the reading of shorthand with the typing from symbols 4. To apply the knowledge of English, punctuation, and spelling that he already has 5. To develop word sense and the ability to hear word endings 6. To increase vocabulary and become word conscious 7. To master the spelling of a basic business vocabulary 8. To recognize commonly used grammatical con­ structions to enable him to apply the correct punctuation to them 9. To estimate the transcription space required for each "take" in order to assure correct placement 10. To arrange materials for a steady flow of work 11. To select correct materials 12. To clean the typewriter at the end of each transcription period 13. To use the dictionary intelligently 14. To get the gist of the meaning of a dictated unit to make sense in the transcript in terms of this central idea 13. To follow directions 16. To develop responsibility for a usable final product!5 In developing the course content for the teaching of

Tonne, Popham, and Freeman, op., cit.. pp. 211-215.

39 transcription on the junior college level, the instructor must keep in mind these many factors that are essential for immediate entrance into an actual office situation.

These

factors might be considered as subordinate aims necessary for attaining the overall transcription aim, which is the producing of mailable copy at a fair rate of speed.

CHAPTER IV

THE STANDARDS FOR TEACHING TRANSCRIPTION In the two preceding chapters a discussion was pre­ sented of the factors involved In transcription skill.

The

next problem to be considered before the transcription course can be set up is the matter of the standards to be used in the teaching of transcription.

Most teachers of transcrip­

tion agree that there are two primary aims of a course in transcription, popularized by Wanous and Whitmore as the "twin aims of transcription."-*-

The aim rated first in

importance by many teachers IS the production of mailable copy and the aim rated second is production at a fair rate of speed.

This chapter first of all presents a discussion

of the use of office standards In teaching transcription, and then the discussions of the standards established for judging mailable copy and the standards commensurate for the speed of producing mailable copy follow. The use of office standards.

In an actual office

situation, it is necessary that all letters transcribed by the secretary be acceptable by her employer for mailing or

1 S. J. Wanous and Irol V. Whitmore, "Use of Office Standards to Teach Transcription," The Balance Sheet, 23:340341, April, 1942.

41 for transmittal to the person desirous of receiving the correspondence.

However, there are times when one standard

will not exactly fit that of another standard.

Letters grow

out of many situations and where one situation may demand that a letter be transcribed according to the exact wording of the dictation, including punctuation marks and the taboo of erasures, such as is the case of much of the transcrip­ tion in the law office, another situation may arise in which the secretary can "get by" with any standard of typing, including the X ’ing out of errors.

Such is the case of

interoffice communications in most offices, in which case appearance is of secondary importance.

2

In further regard of the difficulty of using office Standards, Dickinson made a study of what employers con­ sidered mailability in business correspondence as comparable with the standards set up by teachers in judging mailable letters.

She sent s tudents1 letters containing errors of a

minor or controversial nature to business offices and asked the employers to rate them as mailable or unmailable.

The

same papers were also marked by transcription teachers. The errors marked as making a letter unmailable, listed in the order of the frequency mentioned, were:

2 Ibid.

42 As judged by schools.: (l) misspelling, (2) poor erasing, (3) poor placement, (4) shorthand errors, (5) punctuation errors, (6) strikeover, (7) untidy appearance, (8) error in sentence structure, (9) limit the number of erasures, and (10') typewriting error. As judged by business offices: (l) misspelling, (2) poor erasure, (3) punctuation error, (4) misspelling--division, (5) typewriting--omitted letter, (6) poor placement, (T ) faulty shifting, (8) separa­ tion of title and name, and (9) typewriting--spaeing between words.3 Though it will be noted that many of the types of errors mentiond which cause letters to be termed unmailable, whether judged by the transcription teacher of the office employer, overlap, it will also be noted that there is not complete agreement between the two.

According to 100 dicta­

tors a letter is mailable if it meets the following four criteria: 1. It follows very closely the thought of the dictation. Minor variations from the dictation are permitted, provided they do not change the original meaning of the dictation. 2. It contains no uncorrected errors, such as misspellings, typographical errors, incorrect punc­ tuation, incorrect syllabication. 3. It looks reasonably neat. The erasures must be neatly done. Strikeovers are not permitted. Margins should be fairly even and the letter in good balance.

3 Tilly S. Dickinson, "Standards of Mailability in Schools and Business Offices," Script Shorthand News. 21:23, October, 1942.

43

4. It contains no omissions, such a,s an entire clause or sentence in the body of the letter, or the omission of the date, the salutation, and the compli­ mentary close. Wanous states, however, that these criteria are ideals of mailability rather than standards of mailability, as an analysis of 550 letters actually^mailed revealed that little more than 50 per cent meet these requirements. 5 Thus, the difficulty of setting up transcription standards on the basis of actual office standards is quite apparent.

However, the

poor quality of letters actually being used to transact business in the business world may be the fault of the schools that are training the office transcribers.

It is

Just as likely for the teacher to set the standards of the control for the business office as anyone else.

The student

carries with him into the office the standards he had to meet in the classroom.

Unless something is said to him he

continues to turn out the same kind of transcripts on the Job that he has turned out in the classroom.

If the stan­

dards he had to meet in the school were high enough and rigid enough, he has no adjustments to make in the control of transcripts he turns out in the office where high ^ S. J. Wanous, "Problems and Issues in Transcription," Seventh Yearbook. National Business Teachers Association, 1941, p. 3 2 0 . 5 Ibid.

44 transcription standards for mailable copy may be held.

fi

Though conflict is apparent among business employers as to just what constitutes mailable transcripts, research find­ ings concerning their wishes should not be overlooked entirely in setting up transcription course standards. The writer next wishes to point out the difficulty of measuring the rate at which a student should be able to take dictation when measured in terms of office standards. In the case of one large firm which undertook to measure, in words a minute, the dictation of its executives, it was found that the rate of the slowest dictator was 12 words a minute and the rate of the fastest dictator was 130 words a minute.^

A transcription standard based on dictation time

in this firm would require one stenographer to transcribe ten times more rapidly than another.

Due to the complexity

of reaching definite standards by basing judgments on the varied standards within the actual office situation, it has been necessary for the writer to break these standards down into (l) mailable copy standards and (2) rate of production standards, discussed in the remainder of the chapter.

6 Dickinson, pp.. cit. 7 Wanous and Whitmore, pp. clt.

45 Mailable copy standards. As pointed out previously in this chapter, it has been found that what dictators consider to be mailable copy standards are not the stan­ dards for correspondence actually being mailed out of busi­ ness offices.

Due to this cnnflict, it is necessary to take

into consideration the ideas of authorities in the teaching of transcription as to what constitutes mailable copy in their transcription courses.

Anderson made a study of the

research done up to and including the year 1948 in the field of shorthand and transcription errors, and in her final analysis found that the research studies agreed that most copies were considered unmailable if they contained the following errors: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Punctuation Typewriting Grammar Spelling Capitalization Substitution of words Omission of words Arrangement of mechanical details Syllabication. 8

In determining just what the authorities believe to be the factors necessary in establishing whether or not a letter is mailable, the writer found that there was a great deal of agreement.

Two quotations from the writings of

8 Ruth I. Anderson, "Research in Shorthand and Tran­ scription," Journal of Business Education. 23:18-20, Febru­ ary, 1 9 ^8 .

46 authorities and their judgment with regard to mailable copy are given below.

Howe would include the following in deter­

mining the mailability of a letter: 1. A letter -is mailable if the teacher is willing to affix his signature to the transcript as being his own personal work. 2. The letter should be reasonably well centered and neat in appearance. 3. The transcript is mailable if the message is clear and satisfies the dictator. (Not verbatim.) 4. The letter must be completed within a designated interval of time. 5. No grade is given unless the carbon copies meet the same standards as that for the original.^ Quinton lists, as quoted below, a set of standards which may be used in determining the mailability of a letter of somewhat greater understandibility than those proposed above.

She says a letter is not mailable if it contains

one or more of these: 1. Spelling error, including incorrect syllabication. 2. Uncorrected typographical error, including errors marked but not corrected, strikeovers, and errors cor­ rected with pen or pencil. 3. Error in grammar. 4. Serious punctuation error.

9 John L. Rowe, "Fundamentals of Transcription," Business Education World. 27:508-510, May, 1947.

47 5. Sentence error, including incomplete sentences and terminal punctuation in wrong place. 6. Serious deviation in wording, altering the original meaning. 7. Untidy erasures. 8 . Poor placement, including uneven righthand margins. 10

In conclusion, it may be stated that a proper stan­ dard for judging mailability would find a letter unmailable *

if it contained one or more of the following errors: typographical, punctuation, grammar, spelling, capitaliza­ tion, substitution of words, omission of words, syllabica­ tion, and placement. Rate of production standard. Due to the fact that many dictators dictate at a very slow rate while others dictate at a much faster pace, as pointed out earlier in the chapter, it is very difficult to set up rigid standards as to just how fast a student must take dictation and tran­ scribe his notes before he is capable of entering an office. Likewise, the typewriting rates of students in the tran­ scription class will vary from 45 words a minute to as high as 80 or 9° words per minute.

Thus, if rigid transcription

10 Kathryn Quinton, "Standards in Transcription," Journal of Business Education. 23:21-22, April, 1948.

48 speed standards were set up, it would be difficult for some of the students to ever meet the required standards while other students would surpass the standards without a great deal of effort. Since the practice in business is to give the best job to the most proficient transcriber and an inferior job to the slow transcriber, Wanous and Whitmore suggest that it would be wise for the teacher to set an individual goal for each student and to encourage students to attain the highest proficiency possible. 11

A good plan is to set the

transcription standard at two-thirds of a student's type­ writing speed.1^

This procedure automatically sets up an

individual standard for each student; at the same time it provides a definite challenge to his industry.

A student

who can type 6 0 words a minute from printed copy should be able to 40 words a minute from shorthand notes, providing the material which is copied in both cases is similar in character, equal in difficulty, and that writing periods *

are of equal length.

Wanous and Whitmore, however, point

out cautions in this respect:

11 Wanous and Whitmore, ojo. clt. 12 Quinton, op., cit.

49

. . .a student who can type 6 0 words a minute from straight copy is not able to maintain the same speed in typing letters. His speed in writing from letter copy will he approximately 45 words a minute. It is on this figure that the student’s rate standard for transcribing letters should be based. For the stu­ dent in question, this standard should be approximately 30 words a minute. It is important that these dis­ tinctions be kept in mind, for teachers frequently fail to understand the great difference that exists between student’s speed on short writings of straight copy material and his transcribing speed as determined from letter dictation for longer periods of time. 13 After deciding upon the best methods of testing for dictation speed, typewriting speed, and transcription speed, the instructor must determine the minimum speed requirements for these various skills in the office environment.

Stu­

dents who have completed a two year course in shorthand and transcription should be able to take dictation of from between 10 0 to 1 2 0 words per minute while students who have completed over two years of shorthand and transcription i 14 should be writing at from 12 0 to 140 words per minute. The 100 to 120 dictation speeds would entitle them to enter into most office situations as the average dictation speeds of dictators is from 7 5

to 90 words per minute,^ but the

13 wanous and Whitmore, pp.. cit. 1^ Meta B. Bergen, "Our Shorthand Program," Business Education World. 27:22-23, September, 1946. r» minim n

15 Ibid.

#

50

additional speed in taking dictation is necessary due to the sudden spurts in dictation often encountered in taking dictation in the actual office situation.

The speeds men­

tioned above, however, are not adequate for the student entering into such specialized fields as the legal secre­ tary would encounter; in this case, additional transcription training beyond the two or three year limit, and commensurate with definite legal secretaryship training, is necessary. The acceptable rate of transcription for most busi­ ness men is from 2 5 to 55 words per minute.1^ Summary. This chapter has attempted to present the difficulties involved in setting up standards for the tran­ scription class by using the actual office situation as a guide due to the conflicts and differences of standards encountered even within one single office.

However, it is

necessary to use the actual average office situation as a basis for setting up the transcription, course standards as students on the junior college level will be entering the various offices upon completion of their two years of study. The "twin aims" of transcription prove to be the ability to produce mailable copy at a fair rate of speed.

"Mailable

copy" means a. transcript that makes sense; is clean; well

16 Ibid.

51 centered; free of strikeovers, spelling errors, incorrect punctuation, and wrong word division; and free of errors that have not been cleanly corrected.

The speed of pro­

ducing mailable copy will vary with the type of office in which the stenographer works.

However, it has been found

that the average dictator dictates at from 75 to 9 0 words per minute and that the stenographer should be able to take dictation at from 1 0 0 to 1 2 0 words per minute in order to be able to take the sudden, fast spurts of dictation.

After

two years of shorthand and transcription training, which Hartnell College offers, she should be able to maintain this speed.

The transcription speed rate acceptable to

most business men is from 2 5 to 35 words per minute.

CHAPTER V

•DEVICES IN TEACHING TRANSCRIPTION In teaching transcription on the junior college level, the instructor must keep in mind that his students, upon completion of the final transcription course, are to be pre­ pared for immediate entrance Into specific office routines. In preparing this chapter of specific teaching aids and de­ vices for the junior college transcription instruction, the writer has attempted to keep in mind the devices useable In the final objective of terminal transcription fluency.

De­

vices which tend to take the learner’s or the instructor’s attention away from the terminal, vocational outcome of junior college transcription have not been considered. Twenty recommended devices.

Due to the scope of this

study, it was impossible to list all “good" devices.

The

writer has, therefore, attempted to discuss only those de­ vices which seem to be practical for the teaching of trans­ cription to junior college students.

A device which is

considered "good” In one situation may be considered "bad" in

another.

Thus it is necessary for the instructor to

exercise judgment in determining whether or not the particu­ lar device will be a waste of time, or will be a means of attaining the particular objective to be 1.

The transcription textbook.

reached. Perhaps the best

53 device for lending continuity to the transcription course and for guiding the student's learning when not in the pres­ ence of the instructor is the use of a good textbook.

Leslie

lists the following characteristics of a good transcription textbook, which has been condensed by the writer: (1) Contains a well-organized, well-arranged body of teaching material. (2) Provides shorthand plate material for use as the learner's homework for further improvement of the primary shorthand skill. (3 ) Provides suitable exercises and tests which the teacher would otherwise have to construct herself. (4) Provides such mechanical aids as lists of addresses to be used for the transcripts, in order to stimulate the business situation and save class time other wise spent in dictating names and addresses. (5 ) Does not provide mere busywork--all work in the textbook contributes to the objectives of the course.1 2.

Motivating awards.

Transcription teachers have

found that the certificates and medals, offered by a number of the companies publishing magazines to be used as supple­ mentary materials, are excellent devices to be used in rais­ ing the interest and enthusiasm of the class and in challen­ ging the industry of the transcription students.

The writer

has not attempted to describe the numerous variety of awards

1 Louis A. Leslie, Methods of Teaching Transcription

(New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 19^9), pp. 130-131-

54 available for achievement in shorthand, typing, and trans­ cription; however, the publications offering such awards are the Business Education World, Gregg: Writer, and Gregg News Letter. 2 3.

Letterhead stationery.

transcribed on printed letterhead.3

Every letter should be

When this is done, two

functions are performed: it not only provides added moti­ vation, but it also provides practice in transcribing letters on actual office stationery, which will more closely resemble the transcription function of actual office procedures.

Such

printed letterheads, if not provided by the school, may be obtained in regular printed letterhead pads from publishing companies, they may be obtained as donations from local busi­ ness firms, or ’they may be duplicated in the duplicating department of the school.

It should be remembered, however,

that the learner will derive more benefit from transcribing on different styles of letterhead, so that when she goes into the business office she will have had practice on a letterhead at least similar in pattern to the one found in the new office.

2 Ibid.. p. 132.

o

Clyde I. Blanchard, ’’Daily Transcription Schedules,” Business Education World, 25:127-128, November, 1944.

55 Address lists. Since few businessmen dictate the inside addresses, each address should he copied from a printed or stencil-duplicated list in the pupil's own hands.^ This tends to follow actual office procedure, as most bus­ inessmen give the secretary the original piece of correspon­ dence and she copies the address therefrom.

Thus, by having

the students copy addresses from a duplicated list, the instructor will save much time as well as come closer to the usual office situation. 5*

Transcription demonstration.

Some teachers have

found the use of demonstrations helpful in putting across particular points to the students.5

Such a demonstration

should consist of the typing from shorthand notes of at least two letters to show how the good transcriber maintains even, continuous typing and, also, how she makes ’the rapid transition from one letter to.the other.

The demonstrator

should:also show how the transcriber easily and automatic­ ally handles carbons and envelopes and how she indicates that each letter has been transcribed. 6.

Addressing envelopes.

Due to the fact that the

use of envelopes is expensive and time consuming, many

^ Ibid. c Leslie, ojd. cit., p. 1 3 8 .

transcription teachers leave the task of teaching the ad­ dressing of envelopes to the typewriting teacher.

However*

most of the students would not have typed enough envelopes to be able to perform the task automatically and efficiently The writer found it advantageous, during the first few lessons when envelope addressing was first introduced, to have students obtain a dozen actual business envelopes for this purpose.

The teaching of folding and inserting of busi

ness letters in the envelopes was then facilitated.

How­

ever, this would have proved too expensive for the average pupil in the class if continued.

Therefore, the students

proceeded to cut paper to the size of standard business envelopes, and once a week the students prepared envelopes for the letters transcribed during the period-.

Though it

is true that after addressing only a few envelopes, the student soon learns how the task should be done, it is also true that in order for the performance to become automatic, the motions must be repeated time after time over a period of weeks. 7.

Carbon paper. When entering an actual office,

there will be times when the secretary will have to make six or even eight carbon copies of her transcript.

It would not

be a hard or expensive task to provide enough sheets of carbon paper for each person in the class to make one carbon

57 of her transcript; for each person to make six or eight car­ bons, however, is a different situation.

The writer found

the following plan helpful in solving this problem: during fifteen days of the semester (one day a week), all but two students were required to make one carbon copy of each letter transcribed; the other two students were given six sheets of carbon paper and told to make an original and six copies of each letter; the following week, two different students were given an opportunity to do the multiple-carbon job while the remainder of the class transcribed the letter with one carbon copy.

Thus, all students were given an

opportunity to type carbon copies a number of times and a chance to perform the multiple-carbon task a few times throughout the semester.

When making only one carbon copy,

the best method of making neat erasures on carbons is not fully comprehended.

Performing the task of neatly erasing

five or six carbon copies a few times throughout the semester helps them in this respect. 8.

Postscripts. Businessmen often use a postscript

in certain letters to emphasize particular phases of the letter, as the postscript appears more conspicuous than any £ other part of the letter. Therefore, in order that the

6 Ibid.. pp. 142-143.

58 student will know how to handle the postscript when she encounters it in an office, the teacher should occasionally add a postscript when dictating material from the text.

The

postscript might state that the dictator is sending a car­ bon copy of the letter to a particular person.

The first

few times, the students might be warned to watch for such phrases and to make the extra carbon copy without special instructions.

Then the procedure might be used without

warning to see how many students will remember and make the carbon copy without the instructions. 9-

Intentional errors in dictation.

In the routine

of classroom dictation, the students are given only matter that has been carefully edited.

This is an ideal situation

and, because it is ideal, it is not adequate preparation for the actual dictation of the business office.

The business

man, with hundreds of other things on hiSi mind and with constant interruptions, is guilty of all the errors in grammar and sentence construction that one can imagine. The writer tried to duplicate this situation by, occasion­ ally, dictating material containing grammatical errors. At the beginning of this type of training, mention was made that an error had been made which they were expected to detect and correct.

Later on, no mention was made of the

error, but the matter was left to the alertness of the

59 students.

Extra credit was given to those who found and

corrected the error.

At times, too, the whiter would say,

"Go back to where I said *. . . . .', and change it to read this way, !........ 1."

The students are certain to get

much of this in the business office, and they should be trained for it. 10•

“Loaded" letters. A loaded letter is one that

contains many applications of a transcription rule; as, for example, a half-dozen different comma usages. 1 By noting the variety of comma error made in the transcripts of the class, the instructor should find it easy to load letters of his own construction, thus quickly and intelligently meeting many remedial needs.

Such letters used as dictation material

provide a means for giving remedial instruction at the same time that the transcription practice is continued. 11.

Direct machine dictation.

There will be times

in the office routine when the employer wishes to leave the office hurriedly and will not have time to dictate while the secretary takes a message down in her notebook.

Too,

some secretaries will be using machine transcription devices as well as their notebook.®

^ John L. Rowe, "Fundamentals of Transcription," Business Education World, 27:508-510, May, 1947.

8 Donald J. Tate, "improvement of Transcription Instruction," Journal of Business Education. 22:13-14, May,

1947.

60 Though the transcription class is not the place to pre­ pare Dictaphone operators,,the instructor might occasionally dictate a letter or two directly to the typewriter giving the voice-to-ear-to-typewriter training so essential, at times, in an office, thus varying the routine of the class. 12.

Individual dictation.

Tate suggests the follow­

ing procedure of providing the dictator-secretary atmosphere of individual dictation: Have the students come one at a time to the desk and give them regular office dictation.' Provide interruptions, corrections, regressions, and if you're a man you might ever mumble through the ragged stump of a "chawed" cigar. The dictator should spurtj he should proceed at a painfully slow pace, all the time watching to see if the student remains composed under the varied situations'. In the middle of a sentence, stop to ask the student for a suitable word--this tends to keep him alert during the dictation.9 ^3*

Control of outlines.

Occasional opportunities

should be provided for transcription students to take dic­ tation very slowly in order that all students can get it and in order that all students can pay close attention to the outlines are very well written, the students might ex­ change notebooks to see if they can read each others notes. 14.

Teacher's original dictation.

9 ibid.

Students should

61 have an opportunity of learning to type the "Attention” and "Subject" clauses in the right places on the letter as they will be expected to do in the office.

Most transcription

textbooks and supplementary dictation books do not provide such clauses.

The teacher might, therefore, dictate answers

to letters dictated from the textbook lessons, providing one or both of the clauses.. This would not be a good device, however, if used to such an extent that it takes time from other things.

11

The teacher might also dictate a letter of

her own correspondence announcing that she will sign and mail the best letter transcribed.

This, done occasionally,

makes students proud to have a letter of their's chosen as the best, and actually mailed. 15.

Dictation by businessmen: As suggested by Leslie: '

Sometimes a local businessman will be willing to come in and dictate unimportant letters to the class, just as though he were dictating them to his own stenographer. In such a case it is usually well to seat the businessman at the teacher's desk with one learner sitting at the desk with one learner sitting at the desk taking the dictation. Other­ wise the businessman sometimes seems.to suffer from stage fright.12 This situation provides an employer-secretary

11 Leslie, op. ci»t.t 143. 12

Ibid.

62

relationship similar to that met in the actual office situ­ ation. 16.

Letter forms.

To aid in becoming acquainted

with the many business variations of the letter forms learned in the classroom, each student might undertake a project of collecting sample business letters. J

In this

collection, after each student has collected ten or twelve letters, it would be possible to undergo an examination of all the letters and discuss the many and variety of varia­ tions.

Exhibits of groups of these letters on the bulletin

board should provide the student much information concerning placement> paragraphing, letterhead style, etc. 17.

Letter-placement aid.

Typewriting and trans­

cription teachers are beginning to frown on letter placement scales supposedly mathematically worked out.

Leslie suggests

a better device consisting of framing and hanging three wellplaced, neatly typewritten letters--a long letter, a short letter, and a medium-length letter--in the front of the 14 transcription class. He believes that these illustrations help students in learning letter placement a great deal more

13 John L. Rowe, Establishing Goals for Teacher and Pupil in Transcription,11 Business Education World. 27:3823 8 3 , March, 1947. Leslie, ojd. cit.. p. 145.

63 than the placement scales. 18.

Desk-arrangement aid.

In helping students to

grasp the Importance of handling materials correctly, Leslie makes the following suggestion: A model desk layout should be displayed conspicu­ ously in the front of every typing room used for trans­ cription, showing exactly where everything should be placed during transcription. By the use of a little ingenuity, it is possible to mount on a board or a cardboard of suitable size actual letterheads, enve­ lopes, erasers, and so forth. If this is not possible, a large photograph may be made, although it is diffi­ cult to get photographs large enough to be seen in the back of the room. If this is impossible, someone in the Art Department can make a conventionalized chart showing this layout. This chart should be of ample size, so that each learner can see it and identify each thing on it even though the learner may be in the last row in the room.^ 19*

Prodfreading aid. -1

Tone, et_ a_l.,

In learning to proofread,

“I r~ 9

Rowe, ' and Green

"I O

recommend the use of

the ’’World’s Worst Transcript," a different transcript being published in the Business Education World each month, a sample transcript is illustrated on the following page. This device helps to make the task of learning to proofread -*-5 ibid. 16 Herbert A. Tonne, Estelle L. Popham, and M. Herbert Freeman, Methods of Teaching Business Subjects (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1949), P* 228. 17 John L. Rowe, "Principles of Teaching Transcrip­ tion Skill," Business Education World, 27:467-469, April, 19k1' ip 10 Alice C. Green, "A Lesson In Transcription," Business Education World, 27:260-262, January, 19^7-

64 (The following illustration of the "World's Worst Transscript"-*-9 contains 52 errors.

The time allotted for find­

ing these errors is 5 minutes.)

Mr. R. E. Grant Pulton and Craig, Inc. Springfield 10, Massachusets Gentlemen: We are pleased to make acknowledgement of your request of Febuary 30 for particulars regarding the features of the neu equipment recently developed by Standard Products corpora­ tion. Incidently, we are happy to know that you are thinkq of giving your buisiness the benifit that moderization and bett­ er selling facilities -are bringing to so many merchant today. Iffi that conection, did you receive last months' copy of our standards on Goverment contracts. Some one recently wrote us, "its advantages to any merchant is so great, that we do not want to make an investment wi­ thout seeing the demonstration by the repersentative in your territory. We'received letters to that affect in too seperate ocassions Its' a privelege to look forward to add your name to our list of all-ready satisfeid costomers. Yours Very Truly

C. L. Condon Sales Pormotion Manger, REG:snt Enc.

^9 "World's Worst Transcript," Business Education World, 27:297j January, 1947*

65 accurately more Interesting by requiring the students to find a certain number of errors in a given length of time. Tonne recommends the "World's Worst Transcript" to be used in varying the homework assignments.

Green suggests that

the instructor^may have a chance to cover a great many transcription rules which prove to be more meaningful to the students when using this poor

transcript.

The industri­

ous teacher can find many ways of using these monthly "Worst Transcripts" in making the teaching of transcription a little easier and a little more interesting to the students. 20.

Comparison tests. Effective in developing

transcription speed are comparison tests. 20

Since trans­

cription speed should be approximately two-thirds of a stu­ dent's copying speedy these tests provide a check on his progress.

They furnish an incentive for maximum effort.

Moreover, each student is quickly and easily furnished with an individual goal.

In comparison tests, the student first

types from printed copy. shorthand notes.

Later he types the same copy from

Material of the regular speed test variety

should be used when these tests are introduced; when letter transcription is well under way, letter copy can and should

20 S. J. Wanous and Irol Whitmore, "Transcription Teaching Aids and Devices," The Balance Sheet, 24:8-10, September, 1942.

66 be used.

These tests can be of any length and they can be

given as often as desired.

For the purposes of a progress

check-up, however, it is doubtful that the teacher will want to give these tests more frequently than once a week. Such a test probably should not be more than ten or fifteen minutes in length. Summary.

In listing the suggested teaching aids and

devices to be used in teaching a transcription course on the junior college level, the writer has attempted to eliminate all devices which would be of little or no value in such a class.

For instance, the elaborate transcription error

chart requires so much time in checking innumerable boxes, that the same amount of time could better be devoted to remedial drill of some sort.

The same is true of the trans­

cription ‘'baseball" games--too much time is wasted in record keeping and activities foreign to transcription development. Devices which tend to take the learner’s attention away from the terminal, vocational outcome of junior college trans­ cription were not recommended.

CHAPTER VI CONTENT OF THE TRANSCRIPTION COURSE

The transcription training a student receives at Hart­ nell College, Salinas, California, covers a two year period. Such training may be broken down into the following elements: (l) pretranscription:

one semester of Gregg Shorthand theory

and two semesters of shorthand speed building; two semesters of college English; one semester of business English; and three semesters of typewriting; (2) beginning transcription:

latter

part of third semester and the first two weeks of the fourth semester; and (3) formally organized transcription course: fourth semester.

A semester at Hartnell College is eighteen

weeks in length, and the first three semesters of typewriting and shorthand are taught daily for 55~niinute periods.

The

fourth semester transcription course meets for two consecu­ tive 5 5 -minute periods daily, both periods taught in the type­ writing room.

The following elements of transcription training

are discussed in this chapter:

the pretranscription training

period, when to begin formal transcription, the introduction of transcription, and the content of the fourth semester trans­ cription course. Pretranscription training. As the final outcome in learning to take dictation through the use of the shorthand symbol is the matter of transferring those symbols into the

68

written English form, it may he said that the pretranscrip­ tion training begins the moment shorthand training begins. The content of Chapter V and VI presented the many factors making up transcription skills, Including the writing of readable shorthand notes, the mastery of typewriting speed, accuracy, and correct techniques; the correct usage of the English language, including spelling, punctuation, syllabica­ tion, and grammar; the artistic placement of material on a page; and the careful and efficient handling of materials. All of these skills and techniques cannot be learned in one formally organized transcription course.

Time and repetition,

rather than intensive practice, are needed to bring about the mastery of these skills and techniques.

Thus, it may be said

that the time the student enters Into the elementary short­ hand, elementary typewriting, and college English courses, she is entering the pretranscription training period.

Leslie

would go far beyond the eLementary secretarial training courses to place the beginnings of pretranscription training; he says, “pretranscription training begins almost as soon as the baby leaves the cradle. . . .If, in the fourth grade, the learner ■ can learn the difference between its and it's, that is valuable pretranscription training that will save both him and the teacher trouble in the transcription room eight to ten years later."1

The writer feels that most teachers would agree with

1 Louis A. Leslie, Methods of Teaching Transcription (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 19^9)* P. 8 7 .

69 the following quotation from Renshaw: Take full advantage of pretranscription training. Even in the first few days of shorthand and type­ writing instruction, this can be done -profitably. In reading back from shorthand notes, for instance, make verbal distinction between hear and here. In typing, for instance, check hyphenation. Make it snappy, so that pretranscription training will not intrude too heavily on basic Instruction in shorthand and type­ writing .2 In preparing students for the transcription course, many of the following errors could be eliminated during cthe pretranscription training period through careful teaching: errors in punctuation, English grammar, capitalization, and syllabication; errors overlooked in careless proofreading (not only typographical errors, but errors producing a diff­ erent meaning from that intended by the dictator); errors made in placement of material on a page; messy erasing of originals and carbons; and errors in spelling, particularly of words that have the same sound, but different English meanings. When to begin transcription. Leslie and Renshaw^ say that the final organized course in transcription should not

2 Wallace Renshaw, l,Ten Commandments for Teachers of Transcription,” Business Education World. 24:67, October,

1943. 3 Louis A. Leslie and Wallace W. Renshaw, Gregg Dictation and Transcription Teacher's Manual (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1937), PP-3“5-

70

be attempted until the student has achieved a definite mastery of the three separate skills•consisting of the abil­ ity to read shorthand notes; to supply spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, and the many details of typographical style that go to make up the well-typed letter; and at the same time to operate the typewriter rapidly and accurately. These authorities believe transcription to be a fusion or integration of the three fundamental skills, shorthand, typewriting and English.

Thus, the longer the school can

afford to delay transcription practice, the greater- will be the final skill.

Wanous and Whitmore agree with these auth­

orities by stating:

"While schools throughout the country

offer transcription training in every semester of the steno­ graphic course except the first, the most satisfactory results are probably obtained if the training is given in the final semester. »i4 In determining when the point has been reached that the three skills can be operating independently "while some­ thing else is focal in c o n s c i o u s n e s s , Leslie and Renshaw suggest that the pupil must have reached that point of ^ S. J. Wanous and Irol V. Whitmore, "Planning the Transcription Course," The Balance Sheet. 24:60-61, 95* October, 1942. 5 Leslie and Renshaw, op., cit.

71 mastery where he is able to write from dictation 60 to 80 words a minute, and read it back successfully; type 30 to 50 words a minute; and when his English errors are not too serious.

Rowe believes that the formal transcription train­

ing should not be attempted until a shorthand dictation speed of at least 7 0 to 8 0 words a minute and a typewriting speed of 35 to 45 words a minute are reached, and a know­ ledge of basicletter forms and other typewriting complete­ ness is mastered.^ By using the fundamental skill requirements in helping to determine which of the four semsters of the junior college secretarial training course is best for starting the actual 7

transcription training, Anderson' states that after compiling the results of several research studies in shorthand and transcription, agreement seemed to be universal in these studies that at the end of the second semester, the dicta­ tion speed should be 60 words a minute; at the end of the third semester, 80 words a minute; and at the end of the \

fourth semester of training, 100 words a minute.

Thus, it

would seem that the formal transcription training should be

^ John L. Rowe, "Proceed from the Simple to the Com­ plex," Business Education World. 27:270-272, January, 19^7* f R. I. Anderson, "Research in Shorthand and Tran­ scription, " Journal of Business Education. 23:18-20, January, 1948.

72 given around the middle of the third semester or the begin­ ning of the final or fourth semester of shorthand training. This is the plan followed at Hartnell College. Beginning the transcription training. The authorities studied by the writer agree that the teaching of transcrip­ tion should begin from the simplest of dictation material through the complex material comparable to that which the student will encounter in the actual office situation.

Thus,

the following plan for introducing transcription has been quoted as performed by Leslie: Period 1, step 1. Transcription of simple letter of 100-120 words from plate in textbook. Students read and re-read letter, clarifying any problems of spelling or punctuation. Teacher gives machine setup. Students type letter without erasing errors (but they circle them in pencil to prevent, development of careless habits). Students are told not to hurry but to keep the carriage moving as they read ahead in shorthand while typing. Students type letter a second time while they are timed. Teacher praises effort. No papers are collected. Periods 2-6, step 2. Transcription from two letters that are dictated slowly after they have been, prepared as homework. Students transcribe untimed, then timed. Errors are circled in pencil. Periods 7~10, step 3. Transcription of two newmatter letters that have heen previewed on the blackboard. Students transcribe untimed, then timed, Students make first transcription under time as soon as they seem to be ready for the transition. After 10th period, step 4. Transcription of more letters of longer length and greater difficulty. Teacher gives erasing drills until class can make erasures in 15 to 30 seconds. Students correct errors. Students begin

73 to choose their own margins and placement. Multiple carbons are gradually introduced. Envelopes are required.” By using this plan, the instructor erases the fears of transcription that might arise by having the students transcribe from well-written plate material in which all problems of spelling and punctuation have been discussed. The problems increase to greater intensity throughout the course until the students are transcribing material com­ parable to that which they will be arranging in a business office. The content of the transcription course. As stated previously in the chapter, the formal training in transcrip­ tion should be reserved until the final or fourth semester due to the need of a mastery of the three fundamentals, shorthand, typewriting, and English, before such training can be started.

At Hartnell College, such a plan does exist.

The transcription course, offered to fourth semester short­ hand students who have completed, also, three semesters of typewriting, two semesters of college English, and one semes­ ter of business English, meets daily in two consecutive 55“ minute periods each conducted in the typewriting room.

Using

8 Herbert A. Tonne, Estelle L. Popham, and M. Herbert Freeman, Methods of Teaching Business Subjects (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 19^9)>PP• 220-221.

74

the Hartnell College plan as a basis, and using content sug­ gestions of such authorities as Tonne, Popham, and Freeman,^ and Leslie,-^ this section of the chapter attempts to set up the semester schedule for the content of the final semester in transcription training.

The plan has been arranged for

the eighteen-week semester at Hartnell College.

The writer

has attempted to make the pattern of the course as flexible as possible due to the fact that no two classes of students have the same particular needs.

It is up to the individual

teacher to adjust the schedule to fit the needs of the class. During the first and second weeks, it will be necessary for the teacher to determine shorthand reading rates, type­ writing abilities, and English backgrounds of students taking the course; correct faulty typewriting techniques of students; review brief form outlines; improve the reading rates of students; develop a technique of reading shorthand during transcription; develop ability to type from shorthand sym­ bols; develop ability to punctuate easy material during tran­ scription; discuss the rate and quality standards of tran­ scription; and give training in transcribing familiar material particularly from shorthand plates in the textbook.

9 Tonne, Popham, and Freeman, op., pit., pp. 216-218. 10 Leslie, pp. pit. pp., 8 7 -1 9 0 .

75 During the third through the fifth week, the teacher will continue to give training on preceding units as needed, but in addition will give training in transcribing short, simple letters from textbook plates and dictation; provide practice in proofreading transcripts; give training in cor-recting various types of transcription and typographical errors; review various types of letter styles; review pro­ cedures for centering and arranging letters; give training •>

in differentiating between words similarly spelled; give instruction in and an opportunity to apply rules for expres­ sing such items as amounts and dimensions in letters; give training in hyphenating word compounds; and review the spelling of frequently misspelled words. During the sixth and seventh weeks, continue to give training on preceding units as needed; review shorthand suf­ fix forms; emphasize the importance of speed as well as accuracy in transcribing letters; give training in organizing letter-writing materials for quick use; develop ability to make clean, clear carbon copies of letters; develop ability to punctuate difficult matter during transcription; review capitalization practices; and give training and practice in transcribing series of letters. During the eighth and ninth weeks, continue to give training on preceding units as needed; review shorthand

76

prefix forms; give training in transcribing office memoranda; give training and practice in transcribing long, difficult letters; and give training in transcribing short reports accompanying letters. During the tenth and eleventh weeks. continue to give training on preceding units as needed; review shorthand phrase forms; give training and practice in transcribing letters from '’cold11 notes; train students to take dictation at uneven rates of speed; and give training in transcribing notes revised during dictation. During the twelfth throughthe fourteenth weeks. con­ tinue to give training on preceding units as needed; give training in transcribing various types of business reports; and give training in transcribing speeches and articles. During the fifteenth through the eighteenth weeks, continue to give training on preceding units as needed; give training in editing dictation for transcription; and give practice in sustained dictation-taking and transcribing. The reader will understand that the foregoing semester schedule has been set up in order to continue the pretranscrip­ tion training and at the same time encourage higher dictation, typewriting, and transcription speeds on the junior college level.

The final semester of transcription training is the

all-important semester for the junior college secretarial

77

trainee as it is the leveling-off process before the secre­ tary steps into her first office job.

Thus, since retention

of learning specific skills is much keener just before the skill is to be used., the final, formally organized tran­ scription course must be set up with this thought in mind. Summary. Among transcription authorities, it is agreed that pretranscription training should begin very shortly after the training in shorthand begins.

This pre­

transcription training not only includes the teaching of the theory of shorthand, and the giving of much practice in tak­ ing dictation to continually increase dictation speeds, but it must also include discussion and presentation of the simple rules of punctuation, spelling, syllabication, and phases of grammar that will be encountered in the business dictation of an office.

It is also agreed that the formal

training in transcription should not begin until the three skills, shorthand, typewriting, and English, have been mastered to the point that these three skills can operate independently "while something else is focal in conscious­ ness."

This point has been reached when the pupil can write

dictation at about 7 0 to 8 0 words a minute and read it back successfully; type 35 to ^ 5 words a minute; and has a fairly comprehensive knowledge of English grammar, including spelling, punctuation, sentence construction, and syllabication.

Due

to the fact that students take dictation at approximately 6 0 words, per minute at the end of the second semester of

shorthand training, 80 at the end of the third, and 1 0 0 at the end of the fourth semester, formal training in transcrip­ tion would not be given until toward the end of the third or beginning of the fourth semester.

The formal course in tran­

scription for the junior college student must be a finished course, including a continuation of the pretranscription training, and comprehensive study in increasing dictation, transcription, and typewriting speeds, thus preparing him for entrance into a secretarial job immediately upon comple­ tion of the course.

CHAPTER VII GRADING AND TESTING IN TRANSCRIPTION

In his reading, the writer has found a number of meth­ ods of testing and grading used by Various transcription teachers In establishing grades for their students.

However,

the writer is sympathetic with the methods used at the Hartnell College, Salinas, California for whom this sylla­ bus has been prepared, and will, therefore, discuss the methods used at the junior college for the testing and grad­ ing in the fourth and final semester of transcription.

This

chapter was made possible through personal correspondence with the secretarial staff at Hartnell College. Speed of dictation. The textbook used for the fourth semester transcription course at Hartnell College, Salinas, California,is Gregg Transcription Simplified written by Leslie and Zoubek.^

The textbook is used to provide much

reading of well-written shorthand plates as homework.

Also,'

because of the "marginal reminders" providing the correct spelling and simple rules of hyphenation and punctuation, the instructor has a means of performing the pretranscription training necessary while building greater shorthand speed. 1

Louis A. Leslie and Charles E. Zoubek, Gregg Trans­ cription Simplified (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1 9 5 0 ) bkl pp.

8o Though the textbook is used to some extent in building greater shorthand dictation speed, it is necessary to bring in \

supplementary, new mateiral.

Much of this material is taken

from such books as Rational Dictation Studies,

2

Correlated

Dictation and Transcription,3 Dictation at In-Between Speeds,^ Dictation for Transcription,5 and Modern Graded Dictation.^ Also used for supplementary dictation are the monthly copies containing the certificate tests in The Business Teacher!. This supplementary material provides the needed speed build­ ing training necessary for gaining higher dictation speed levels.

Though this study is interested only in the fourth

semester's grading levels, the writer has presented the en­ tire second year's grading for different *levels of dictation

^ Edward J. McNamara and Charles E. Baten, Rational Dictation Studies (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 19^3),292 pp. Hamden L. Forkner, Agnes E. Osborne, and James E. O'Brien, Correlated Dictation and Transcription (Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1940), 545 PP* 4 Charles E. Zoubek, Dictation at In-Between Speeds (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1938),3^5 PP* 5

Charles E. Zoubek, Dictation for Transcription (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1937)* 504 pp. (5 Sadie K. Newman, Modern Graded Dictation (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1934), 440 pp. Business Teacher, (a periodical published monthly by The Gregg Publishing Company, New York).

81 speeds as a means of comparison:

The following outline

presents the requirements for grading on the semester '.and half-semester basis: First-half, third semester: A--Pass B--Pass C--Pass ©--Pass

the the the the

8 0 —word test twice 80-word test.once 60-word test twice 60-word-test once

Second-half, third semester: A-~Pass B--Pass C--Pass D--Pass

the 100-word test once the 80-word test twice the 80-word test once the 80-word test once (8 5 -9 ^ per cent)

V

First-half, fourth semester: A--Pass B--Pass C--Pass D— Pass

the 100-word test twice the 100-word test twice (8 5 - 9 4 per cent) the 100-word .test once' the 80-word test once

Second-half, fourth semester: A--Pass the the B— Pass the the C--Pass the D--Pass the

100-word 120-word 100-word 120-word 100-word 100-word

test test tes*t test test test

three times and twice three times and once three times twice

These "tests" are based on five minute dictation peri­ ods and in order to "pass," the student must have an accuracy percentage in between 85 to 94 per cent, this letter grade falls to the next level.

It will be noted that the 120-word

test is the highest requirement of the fourth semester. However, in order to obtain the 120-word speed easily, the

82 transcription instructors provide many opportunities for their students to take dictation at speeds beyond the 1 2 0 word level.

Students who have had shorthand training before

entering Hartnell College do not enter the first semester shorthand class* but instead* enroll in the second semester class.

Thus* in order to complete their two-year training

in dictation and transcription* a fifth semester class is offered in which the speeds beyond 12 0 words per minute are necessary for meeting the "A" level.

However* the scope^of

this study does not go beyond the fourth semester limit. Speed of transcription.

In measuring the speed of

production in a transcription course* it is necessary to take into consideration the speed of typing* handling stationery* operating the machine parts* checking questionable points in reference books* proofreading* and correcting errors.

Most

of these individual points are rather difficult to measure during the process of transcribing.

Thus* they must be taken

into the "whole" picture at the end of the transcription period when the transcripts completed are handed to the instructor.

The more important factor in measuring speed

of production and the simplest to measure Is the speed of typing. It is difficult to set standards of typing speed for any transcription course due to the fact that standards vary

83 in the many business firms and the typing abilities of those who enter transcription vary.

Thus, the instructors of

transcription at Hartnell College have found it desirable to set a -minimum standard for rate of transcription at 25 words a minute.

If .the student transcribes below this

rate, she is considered inadequate for satisfactory office work.

The reader,will remember in Chapter VII, it was

found that a transcription rate between 25 to 35 words per /

minute seemed to be necessary for secretarial success, and that the transcription rate should be two-thirds the typing speed rate.

Thus, Hartnell College has set up individual

standards for each student requiring that he maintain a transcription speed rate of two-thirds his typewriting rate, which must be above the minimum of 25 words per minute. In helping students to reach their individual goals, comparison tests are given at least once a week.

At the

beginning of the semester when the comparison tests are introduced, the students type first of all from straight copy and then from the shorthand plate of the same material. Later, they type from a-printed letter and then from the shorthand plate of the same letter.

Finally, their rates

are calculated from a printed letter.and then from their own dictation of a similar letter.

These instructors feel

that students cannot be expected to transcribe a letter at

\

84 two-thirds the rate they type on straight-copy timed writing tests.

Thus, when transcribing letters, a com­

parison is made of the transcription rate with the typing rate on similar letters. The quality of the' transcript.

In Chapter VII, the

standards for determining whether or not a letter could be mailed were discussed.

Hartnell College also uses the mail-

able copy as a means of testing and grading the transcript. In order to measure the grade of mallability, their grading system is as follows: A--A satisfactory letter with no error other than, for instance, a slight off-center spacing, but not serious enough for retyping. B--A letter that could be made mailable with a slight correction (the correction to be made and the material to be resubmitted). F--A letter that is unsatisfactory because of a mis­ spelled word, a sentence which has the wrong meaning, such poor spacing that retyping would be necessary, or any other error that makes the material unmailable. In such a grading system, slight variations that would make no difference in the* meaning of the letter are not con­ sidered wrong at Hartnell College.

Acceptable punctuation

is permitted, even though it does not correspond exactly to the printed copy from which the letter was dictated.

Para­

graphing that differs from the printed copy is accepted if reasonable.

The number of "A" letters required is determined

85 by the speed goals (a rate of two-thirds their typewriting rate) set for each student.- It is necessary to take into consideration the quality of the transcript in determining the grades of transcription students due to the fact that the quality is more immediately noticeable to the employer even than the speed of the transcription. Daily transcript grading.

Due to the large number

of students enrolled in the transcription courses at Hartnell College, the transcription instructors are urged to grade only an "adequate sampling" of each student's work.

In de­

termining the adequate sampling, the teacher reads back, at the end of the transcription period, the material dictated at the beginning of the class, while students check their transcripts.

The teacher announces that she will select one

or two letters from the group submitted by each pupil, hold­ ing them responsible for the letter graded.

She does not

announce on which day the random check will be made, nor does ■she announce which letters will be chosen.

In this way, the

students are striving constantly to maintain mailability throughout all letters submitted.

Too, it is felt that in

this way, the teacher is not grading papers constantly, but is still maintaining an adequate sampling of her students' work.

86 Establishing the final grade.. Since transcription involves so many techniques, the instructors at Hartnell College feel that a one-letter test does not measure a student's ability to turn out mailable copy at his best speed.

They believe that a much truer index of a student's

ability can be obtained from a sampling of his work for a period of at least a week.

The number of situations in

which he will have been placed will be great enough to per­ mit a fair evaluation of his efficiency, and his work will not have been done under the strain of a testing//situation. Therefore, rather than place too much weight on uone or two letters in a particular class period, the final grade is established from the teacher's record of the final two or three weeks of the semester.

This record includes the

student's speed of taking dictation, speed of transcribing, the number of mailable copies he has submitted during this period, and the scores made on shorthand word-list testing after particular reviews of brief forms, word endings, or word beginnings.

Though final testing days are scheduled

for the transcription course as in all other classes taught at Hartnell College, the grade on the final test bears no more weight than the daily accomplishments of the student.

87

Summary.

In testing and grading in the fourth

semester transcription class at Hartnell College, Salinas, ■California, there are several elements taken into consideration. These consist of speed of dictation, speed of transcription, and mailable quality of the transcript.

In Judging the speed

of dictation, in order to make an "A", the student must pass the 1 0 0 -word test three times and the 1 2 0 -word test twice; ‘'B", pass the 100-word test three, times and the 120-word test once;

"c”, pass the

1 0 0 -word test three times; and HD !I,

pass the 100-word test twice.

The tests are 5 -minute takes

and in order to pass, the per cent of accuracy must be from 95 to 100.

The minimum standard for transcription rate has

been set at 25 and the students are encouraged to maintain a transcription rate equal to two-thirds their typewriting speed rate.

Numerous comparison tests are given throughout

the semester enabling the students to compare their typewrit­ ing speed rates with their transcription rates and encourag­ ing them to strive for higher rates by means of comparison. In Judging the quality of the transcription, mailability is stressed.

For a letter to receive an ‘'A”, it must contain

no errors.

Verbatim transcripts are not necessary if the

student's wording does not change the meaning of the content of the letter; likewise, deviations in punctuation do not make a letter unmailable unless the punctuation is incorrectly

88 placed.

For a "B", the letter could be- made mailable with

a slight correction.

The error is corrected and resubmitted

before.a grade is recorded.

No other grades on transcripts

are given except an "F" for failure if the letter is judged unmailable through misspelled words, changes in content mean­ ing, etc.

The transcription instructors grade only random

sampling of the transcripts submitted, and the final grade is based on all of these 'different elements which are graded and recorded in the teacher's record.

The writer does not

say that the methods of testing and grading at Hartnell College are the best, because perhaps there is no best way of testing and grading; but he does maintain that the methods seem to be adequate and fair to each individual in the class.

CHAPTER VIII

SUMMARY OF STUDY The writer has attempted in this project to set up a syllabus for the teaching of transcription at the Hartnell College, Salinas, California.

It has been found that over

half of the enrollments in junior colleges throughout the country terminate their formal education at the end of their two year junior college training.

It was with the terminal,

vocational function in mind that this study in junior college transcription training was-based. The content of this syllabus includes the factors involved in transcription skill, the standards for teaching transcription as measured by actual office situations,- the point at which the formal course in transcription should begin, the content of the transcription course, the teaching aids and devices useful In teaching a course in transcrip­ tion on the junior college level, and the methods of testing and grading in such a course. During the past ten years, a number of research studies have been conducted in the field of transcription. The following findings were invaluable in accomplishing this syllabus: (l)

Pretranscription training starts the day a student

enters the elementary shorthand and the elementary typewriting classes.

90 (2) Students should not attempt the transcription course until their dictation speeds are from JO to 80 words per minute and their typewriting speeds up to at least 35 or 45 words per minute. (3) Agreement seems to be that t_he minimum dictation speeds at the end of the second semester shorthand class should be 6 0 words per minute; at the end of the third, 80 words per minute; and at the end of the fourth, 1 0 0 words per minute. (4) Authorities in transcription agree that the teaching of transcription should begin with the simplest of dictation material through the complex material comparable to that which the student will encounter in the actual office i

situation. (5) The content of the formally organized course s should include materials for a continuation of the pretran­ scription training as well as training for increasing the speeds of dictation and transcription. (6 ) The speed of transcription should be approxi­ mately two-thirds the typewriting speed, and should lay between 25 to 35 words per minute for office success. (7) Transcription courses in over half of the schools teaching this subject cover two full periods a day, the first concerning shorthand, and the latter, typewriting.

91 (8 ) In determining the types of errors made in com­ pleted transcripts, 55 per cent of the total errors are English errors; 28 per cent, content errors; 9 per cent, typographical errors; and 8 per cent, letter-mechanics errors. (9) Over half the letters used to transact business are not considered mailable by office employers. (10) Approximately three-fourths of the office dicta­ tors turn over their correspondence to their secretaries after the dictation. (11) The secretary devotes more time to transcription than to any other office duty. (12) The average office dictator dictates from 75 to 9 0 words per minute, but speeds up to 1 0 0 to 1 2 0 are neces­

sary for sudden spurts of dictation. (13) Upon completion of the two year course in short­ hand .and transcription, a student should be taking dictation at 10 0 to 1 2 0 words per minute. By using the findings of research studies in the field of transcription, and by using the suggestions of authori­ ties in this field, this study has been compiled; and it is the hope of the writer that the syllabus will help to improve the organization and teaching of the course in transcription on the junior college level.

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B I B L I O G R A P H Y

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. BOOKS Blackstone, E. G., and Sofrona L. Smith, Improvement of Instruction in Typewriting. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1 9 4 9 . ~T70 pp. Forkner, Hamden L., Agnes E. Osborne, and James E. O'Brien, Correlated Dictation and Transcription. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1940. 545 PPLeslie, Louis A., Methods of Teaching Transcription. New York: The Gregg Publishing Company^ 1 9 4 9 . 3 5 8 PP • _______, and Wallace W. Renshaw, Gregg Dictation and Tran­ scription. Teacher1s Manual. New York; The Gregg Publishing Company, 1937* 330 pp. _______, and Charles E. Zoubek, Gregg Transcription Simpli­ fied. New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1950. 442 pp. _______, Gregg Dictation Simplified, Teacher1s Handbook. New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1949. 171 pp. McNamara, Edward J., and Charles E. Baten, Rational Dictation Studies. New York: The Gregg Publishing Company^ 194’3^ 2 9 2 pp. Maze, Coleman L., Office Management. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1947* 8 9 0 pp. Newman, Sadie K., Modern Graded Dictation. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1934. 44o pp. Tonne, Herbert A., Principles of Business Education. New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 19474 559 PP* _______, Estelle L. Popham, and M. Herbert Freeman, Methods of Teaching Business Subjects. New York: The Gregg Publishing Company, 1949 . 4 3 8 pp. Zoubek, Charles E., Dictation at In-Between Speeds. The Gregg Publishing Company, 1 9 3 8 . 34*5 pp.

New York

93 Zoubek, Charles E., Dictation for Transcription. The Gregg Publishing Company, 1938. 504 pp. B.

New York:

PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Anderson, Ruth I., '.'Research In Shorthand and Transcription,” v. Journal of Business Education, 23:18-20, January, 1948: 23:18-20, February, 1948. Bergen, Meta B., ’’Our Shorthand Program," Business Education World, 27:22-23, September, 1946. Blanchard, Clyde i:., "Daily Transcription Schedules," Busi­ ness Education World, 25:127-128, November, 1944. Dickinson, Tilly S., "Standards of Mailability in Schools and Business Offices, " Script Shorthand News, 21:23, October, 1942. Green, Alice C., "A Lesson in Transcription," Business Edu­ cation World, 27:260-262, January, 1947* Quinton* Kathryn, "Standards in Transcription," Journal of Business Education, 23:21-22, April, 1948. Renshaw, Wallace W., "Teaching Transcribing Skill," Business Education World. 16:141-143, October, 1935* "Ten Commandments for Teachers of Transcription," Business Education World, 24:67, October, 1943. .

"Where Do We Stand in Transcription?" Business Edu­ cation World,- 27:465, May, 1946.

Rogers, Elizabeth L., "Tips on the Teaching of Transcription," Journal of Business Education, 23:19-20, May, 1948. Rowe, John L., "Establishing Goals for Teacher and Pupil in Transcription," Business Education World, 2 7 :3 8 2 -3 8 3 , March, 1947* _______, "Fundamentals of Transcription," Business Education World, 27:508-510, May, 1947. _______, "Principles of Teaching Transcription Skill," Business Education World, 27:467-468, April, 1947.

94 _______,"Proceed from the Simple to the Complex,” Business Education World, 2 7 :2 7 0 -2 7 2 , January, 1947. Sanders, Shirley, "Analysis of Junior College Growth, .Junior College Journal, .18:307-313* February, 1948. Tate, Donald J., "improvement of Transcription Instruction," Journal of Business Education, 22:13_l4, May, 1947Wanous, S. J., "The Implications of Research Related to the Teaching of Transcription," National Business Education Quarterly, 8:23-24, May, 1940. _______, and Irol V. Whitmore, "Consider the Principal Factors that Affect the Development of Transcription Skill," The Balance Sheet, 23:39.6-398, March, 1942. _______, "Planning the Transcription Course," The Balance Sheet, 24:60-61, 95* October, 1942. _______, "Transcription Teaching Aids and■Devices," The Balance Sheet, 24:8-10, September, 194.2. _______, "Use of Office Standards to Teach- Transcription," The Balance Sheet, 23:340-341, April, 1942. "World’s Worst Transcript," Business Education World, 2 7 :2 9 6 297* January, 1947. C.

PUBLICATIONS OF LEARNED ORGANIZATIONS

Wanous, S. J., "Problems and Issues in Transcription," Seventh Yearbook. National Business Teachers Association, 1941, pp. 316-322. D.

UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS

Ferris, Beatrice Marie, "A Study of the Learning Difficulties of High School Shorthand Students." Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1947* 78 pp. Miller, Dean Goff, "A Follow-up Study of the Secretarial Science Graduates of Ventura Junior College, 1936-1940.", Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1934, 185 pp.

Winter., W. Jeannette, "An Investigation of the Speeds of Dictation in Business Offices." Unpublished Master’s thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. 38 pp.

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