Why Proofreading Matters in Court Reporting

By: Colleen Jilio-Ryan | Posted in: court reporting

Court reporting professionals are required to create a written record of everything that transpires within the courtroom. It involves recording the spoken word, body language, inflection, and any communication that is made between the participants in the case. Proofreading your work is the determining factor as to whether or not the document you produce is genuinely as accurate and concise as it should be.

Here are some reasons that substantiate why proofreading matters in court reporting:

Accuracy Is Essential

As a court reporting professional, proofreading your work gives you a chance to find small errors that could lead to significant confusion if not corrected. Taking each sentence one at a time and carefully going over it will help you find small mistakes that you may have overlooked the first time.

Grammarly Can Miss a Thing or Two

Even Grammarly can make a mistake. No program is perfect. It may work very well most of the time, but don’t leave that one in a million to chance. Even though your editing program says everything is correct, recheck it to make sure. You will be glad you did, especially when you find the first mistake the program missed.

Make Sure the Chronology Fits

As you read through your transcripts, make sure everything fits chronologically. In some cases, you may be working with several recordings. Going over each one allows you the opportunity to make sure that every piece of information is in chronological order and that your timeline is right on track.

Punctuation! Punctuation! Punctuation!

Always double check your punctuation. A missed period or misplaced comma can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Just like realtors claim location, location, location, a court reporter’s mantra should be punctuation, punctuation, punctuation!

When you first sit down to begin the review process, always make sure you have all of your information at hand. It allows you to make sure each piece is in the right order and can be placed in its proper position after you have carefully gone over it with a fine-toothed comb. Make sure to go over it one last time before finalizing it in order to confirm that you’ve done everything in your power to make your finished piece as accurate and reliable as possible.