General Reviewer Principles

Updated: 3/18/25

The Parrot Editorial Checklist

Here are 6 main points a reviewer needs to keep in mind during review:

1. American English 

2. Appearances 

3. Consistently formatted transcripts

4. Inclusion of non-verbal communication tags and the use of preset tags

5. Delete all brackets and or any internal notation 

6. Marking Proceeding End Time, court venue, and speaker organizations

1. American English Spelling/Punctuation

All of our transcripts make use of American English. 

Here's some reminders: 

• Color, not colour
• Honor, not Honour
• -ize not -ise (as in realize, not realise)
• Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. and St. (use a period after the honorific)

2. Appearances

Human error can result in a discrepancy between what is heard and what is spelled out in the speaker ID. Always be sure to check that name spellings are in alignment with what is provided in the speaker ID panel. 

There is an additional source for spellings of names that can be found within the Speaker ID box. Clicking on the alignment tab on the upper left hand of your screen will bring up additional details of the case file including appearances, examinations, ending time, and case. 

When a name is heard in audio that’s not found in the speaker IDs, the best we can do on our end is to stay consistent in spelling throughout the transcript. 

• For example: If you hear “Thomas” and the name is transcribed as such from the start, make sure that this is the spelling used throughout, and do not switch to “Tomas,” for example. 

Sometimes it is truly impossible to identify a speaker. In this case, please use as much identifying information as possible. For example: Unknown Male Judge #1, Unknown Female Police Officer #3

3. Consistent Formatting/Spelling

Occasionally, there may be something that could be transcribed multiple ways. It's your discretion, in these cases, which option to go for, but once you've decided how something should be spelled or formatted, you should stick with this throughout the transcript. 

• For example:  When referencing a company’s name like “McDonald’s” vs. “Mcdonald’s” make sure to stick with one variation of the spelling

4. Inclusion of non-verbal communication and using preset tags

When video is provided, it’s important to capture movements such as nods or shakes of the head, particularly in instances where there is no verbal utterance. 

Please use common sense here to avoid drowning the transcript in tags for every gesture made. 

• An example of when it is important to include a non-verbal tag: a speaker can shake their head to indicate no to a question without saying it. 

There are a number of preset tags for this purpose. Occasionally a transcriber will create their own. As much as possible, please keep usage to the presets to avoid interpretation. For instance, if you hear a strange vocal sound:

❌Detective Phillips: And then she <clears-throat> said no.

✅Detective Phillips: And then she <vocalization> said no. 

5. Delete all brackets or internal notes

As part of an internal system to communicate with one another as transcribers and reviewers, transcribers will sometimes enclose questions or thoughts with an asterisk in brackets to make it easier to search for all instances at the end or review to ensure they are found and addressed.  Upon resolving it, the brackets and question must be deleted. 

• This is easily overlooked so do be mindful. They look like this: 

6. Marking proceeding end time, court venue, and speaker organizations

At the end of the recording, ensure that the proceeding end time is documented properly and is noted on the Information tab.