Transcribing & Abstracting — What's the Difference?

This topic may seem basic to you, but sometimes it can get confusing about the two. So, what are a transcript and an abstract? How do you transcribe and abstract a document? I will share what each of these terms mean and demonstrate them using an example.

Terms to Know

A transcript is an exact copy of the document. This means not correcting spelling, punctuation, and the wording (in the context of the document). If there are 5 words in a line and continuing to the next line, keep 5 words in a line. Preserve the way it's written.

An abstract is a summary of what the document contains. The abstract should include all the important (main) details of the document.

Now that you have a little understanding of the terminology, it's time to put them into focus.

Transcribing

If there is a specific software that you use, go ahead and use it. Whatever works for you is best.

I will be using Microsoft Word for this demonstration. I've transcribed the 1st page of a document my great-grandmother wrote about her family history.

As you can see in the screenshot, the document is left-sided align. The transcript is somewhat similar to the original document. Make sure the format of the document is the way it was written.

Tips for Transcribing

If some of the word(s) in the document aren't legible, then use brackets around the word or part of the word you can see.[ ]

Turn off spell/ grammar check.

Abstracting

1. Remove any Boilerplate language.
2. Summarize all relevant information

Hopefully, you have a better understanding of transcribing and abstracting a document. We can do these simple steps to analyze the documents themselves and the understand context of them.

Comments

Applying the DNA Plan- Worked Example

This is a continuation of my post Having a DNA Plan in Place with a worked example. The 1st step is to formulate a research question or goal. My goal is to identify who is the mother of my great-grandmother. You can view my posts about this challenge here . Next is to choose a DNA test. Since I am trying to identify a mother, I need to use mtDNA testing at FamilyTreeDNA. The 3rd step is to find a candidate. In the chart below, I created to illustrate the possible candidates to take a test. Brother 1, 3, and 4 are now deceased. Brother #2 is the best candidate. Remember, mothers pass mtDNA to all their children. There are no links that break this maternal line. If Brother #2 wouldn't be willing to submit a sample, I would need to trace down a descendant of the probable mothers' sibling(s), then hope that the person(s) would take a test. Hopefully, this post will help illustrate what a testing ...

Vestal (Images of America) - Book Review

This is the first edition of "What's NEW in my Bookshelf?" Recently, I received a book called Images of America-Vestal by Vestal's town historian, Margaret Hadsell. Here are my personal thoughts on the book. Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Prehistoric Vestal 2. Vestal 3. Ross Corners 4. Tracy Creek 5. Twin Orchards 6. Vestal Center 7. Willow Point 8. Mile Wide Summary The book mainly shows photos of prominent settlers and locations around the town of Vestal. It briefly mentions pre-Vestal and the families, churches, schools, businesses, etc. within parts of Vestal. Evaluation I liked how the author inserted plat maps into the book. At the beginning of each chapter, there is a section of the entire map in which part of it will be "zoomed in" on specific areas of Vestal. I was a bit disappointed with this book because I expected more context, though I did love ...

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Trees or Bushes Are in Your Family Tree Database?

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!): 1) Almost all of us have genealogy software that we use to manage our research and our family tree. Some researchers use only an online family tree. What do you use? 2) For this week's SNGF, tell us how many "trees" (or "bushes" you have in your genealogy management program database. How did you figure it out? 3) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post. Please leave a link in a comment to this post. I use RootsMagic 7 as my genealogy program database. I only have one tree on RootsMagic at the moment. I download the file and back it up every few months. On Ancestry, I have 18 trees. One is s...

Lacie's Genealogy Blog

Search This Blog