Oppression Aware Podcast, Fairy Tales, and Games

I’ve written about tools that make the process of transcribing podcast episodes easier (Otter.ai and YouTube), but it is also important to know what to transcribe and how the finished transcript should look. That’s what this style guide is for.

Because style guides can be a bit abstract, all of the information in this style guide is presented in three ways. Written explanations are given in the “How to Write and Format a Transcript” section. These instructions are repeated as a template in the “Transcript of Podcast Episode Title” section. Finally, an example transcript that demonstrates all of the things talked about in the previous sections is given in the “Transcript of Writing Alchemy Episode 100 – Imaginary Game Part 1” section. To make things easier, this article is also available as a word document: General Style Guide for Podcast Transcription.

Before we get started, I want to make it clear that there isn’t as single best way to do podcast transcripts. This style guide contains common practices for making transcripts clear, informative, and readable. You don’t have follow the exact format given here. Do what works for you. What matters most is readability and consistency within the transcript. If you would like an alternative explanation for how to format transcripts, I recommend checking out “The Podcaster’s Guide to Transcribing Audio” by the folks at the Join the Party Podcast.

When deciding the exact format of the podcast transcript that will work best for you, it is helpful to know how you will be posting the transcript. For example, for maximum accessibility, the Writing Alchemy episode transcripts are posted in four different formats. Because one of these formats does not show bold text, participant names in Writing Alchemy transcripts are written in all caps.

Please note that this article contains general advice for podcast transcripts. For those interested in the Writing Alchemy specific style guide, that can be found here: Writing Alchemy Transcript Style Guide.

Photograph of a microphone being held up in a stand with a pop filter in front of it. In the background is the top of a computer screen displaying an audio editing program.

How to Write and Format a Transcript

Core Transcript Practices:

• Write the name of the person who is talking in bold, followed by a colon, and then what was said in the regular font style. Note that there are different ways of doing this formatting (for example, using all caps instead of bold). Do what works for you. What matters most is readability and consistency within the transcript.
• Make a new paragraph each time a new person speaks, or if a person switches between talking as a character and talking as themselves.
• Don’t indent paragraphs. Instead, format the transcript document to automatically have a space after each paragraph. Note that this is particularly helpful if posting the transcript on a website, as many websites automatically add spaces after paragraphs. Doing this helps avoid situations where extra spaces are put into the transcript that will need to be deleted once it is on the website.
• Descriptions of music, sound effects, and other important sounds (like dice rolling, group cheers, and sounds that are commented on) are written in brackets on their own line. Note that background sounds that no one reacts to are usually ignored.
• Expressive sounds that are part of talking, like gasps, sighs, and laughter are described in brackets in the same line as the talking they go with.
• Brief descriptions of unusual ways of speaking, such as whispering, squealing, or talking in a silly voice, are written in brackets right before the words that were said in that manner.

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Tags: accessibility, audio transcription, how to, podcast, podcast accessibility, podcast transcript, resource, step-by-step, style guide, Transcript, transcript style guide, transcription