CTRP - Court Reporting

This course is a continuation of basic realtime writing theory.  The student will continue to learn to write, read, and transcribe the spoken word by means of a conflict-free, realtime-ready shorthand theory and provide instantaneous translation.  The course is structured into 75 classes, which must be completed within the 15-week semester time frame.  Each class requires a minimum of three hours of practice time per day.  The course is designed for both on campus and Internet training.  On campus students will meet at a designated time and place.  Internet students can access the class at any time during the day, but are required to spend the same amount of time in class and out of class as an on campus student.  All students are expected to spend a minimum of three hours a day on homework, which includes practicing accuracy and speed. Testing material used for speed takes will be given at incremental speeds on unfamiliar material; the same material will not be used more than once every six months.  Students are required to transcribe steno notes and speed takes under institutional supervision or, if Internet students sign a sworn verification form stating that the work was completed without the aid of anyone present and without cheating.  Speed takes shall be monitored and timed in the same way.  Students are required to transcribe at least once a week.  All speed takes and tests shall be deleted immediately.  Internet students must sign a sworn statement verifying the material has been deleted from their computers and no backup has been made.  Students must be able to transcribe three minutes of unfamiliar dictation at 90 words per minute with at least 95 percent accuracy. Students shall have access to the minimum grading criteria as set forth by the NCRA.  Successful completion of the course requires a grade of "C" or better.  The course includes on-line computer-aided technology for realtime translation.

The prerequisite for this course is the successful completion of the Realtime Writing Theory courses (CTRP 1174 and CTRP 2274) or approval of the instructor.  The student will continue to learn to write, read, and transcribe the spoken word by means of a conflict-free, realtime-ready shorthand theory. The course is structured into 45 class periods.  The typical structured classroom meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout the semester.  Each class requires a minimum of three hours of practice time per day.  The course is designed for Internet training. The course suffices as a survey course to explore the two different modes of reporting: judicial reporting and broadcast reporting.  Students must be able to transcribe five minutes of unfamiliar dictation in the following areas:  80 wpm on literary material, 100 wpm on jury charge material, and 120 wpm on two-voice material.  All speed takes must be transcribed with a minimum of 95 percent accuracy or higher. Students must be able to write five minutes of literary material at 80 wpm with 96% accuracy or higher and write a ten minute broadcast news program with an accuracy rate of 96% or better.  Testing material used for speed takes will be given at incremental speeds on unfamiliar material; the same material will not be used more than once every six months.  Internet students must sign a sworn verification form stating that the work was completed without the aid of anyone present and without cheating.  Speed takes shall be monitored and timed in the same way.  Students are required to transcribe at least once a week. All speed takes and tests shall be deleted immediately.  Students must sign a sworn statement verifying that the material has been deleted from their computers and no backup has been made.  Students shall have access to the minimum grading criteria as set forth by the NCRA.  Successful completion of the course requires a grade of C or better.  The course includes online computer-aided technology for realtime translation.

This course will teach the student how the computer works with the shorthand writing machine to produce an instantaneous transcript using realtime translation.  The course includes computer concepts and terminology including basic file management, saving, editing, and printing.  The goal of the CAT course is to integrate computer concepts and English punctuation rules to produce an accurate and saleable work product.  Students will review basic punctuation rules and apply them to transcript production.

This course is a continuation of Speed Building II for Reporters and Captioners.  The student will continue to learn to write, read, and transcribe the spoken word by means of a conflict-free, realtime-ready shorthand theory.  This course dictation includes two-voice and multi-voice testimony (including medical and technical material), literary, jury charge and current events.  Captioning students must be able to write three 5-minute takes of literary material at 180 wpm with 96 percent accuracy or higher.  In addition, captioning students must write a 30-minute broadcast news program with an accuracy of 96 percent or better. Students are required to perform a line-by-line edit/analysis of steno notes.  Testing material used for speed takes will be given at incremental speeds on unfamiliar material; the same material will not be used more than once every six months.  Students will be required to transcribe steno notes and speed takes under institutional supervision or, if internet students, sign a sworn verification form stating that the work was completed without the aid of anyone present and without cheating.  Speed takes shall be monitored and timed in the same way.  Students are required to transcribe at least once a week.  All speed takes and tests shall be deleted immediately.  Internet students must sign a sworn statement verifying that the material has been deleted from their computers and no backup has been made.  Students shall have access to the minimum grading criteria as set forth by the NCRA.  Successful completion of the course requires a grade of "C" or better.  Students must be able to pass three 5-minute dictations with 95% accuracy in each of the following areas:  Q & A at 225 wpm, jury charge at 200 wpm, and literary at 180 wpm.  The course includes on-line computer-aided technology for realtime translation.

Introduction of court and realtime reporting procedures and practices for the court reporter including: professional responsibilities federal and state court systems; civil and criminal trials; logistics of reporting (marking exhibits, research and references, filing notes, invoicing, indexing, delivery of transcripts); reporting techniques (interruption of speaker, identification of speaker, swearing in of witness, vior dire, etc.); methods of transcript production; ethics and professional associations. Also includes a description and discussion of the role of the captioner and CART provider. Included in the course will be a simulation of trial and deposition where the student will take the part of the reporter and administer the oath, mark exhibits, and perform other responsibilities the court reporting should be aware of. Also, students will be required to apply professional ethics to various situations and identify appropriate reference sources used in transcript preparation. Students will also be introduced to the role of the captioner and how he or she functions in a captioning capacity with concentration on remote and studio broadcast captioning. In addition, the logistics of captioning will be discussed including proper setup, proper delineation of speaker/stories, how to handle non-spoken events, etc.