1 Reply Latest reply on May 20, 2020 2:28 PM by National Archives Catalog

    2 RETURNs before what is obviously a new paragraph?

    Laurie Nelson Newbie
    Laurie Nelson May 14, 2020 7:40 PM

      I'm not entirely clear about what to do when I'm reviewing other people's transcriptions. If I see a long page of text all run together, I believe it will be hard to read for someone looking for specific content. So I have been adding 2 RETURNs before what is obviously a new paragraph, that is the first sentence of the paragraph is indented or it starts on a new line. If I don't add the returns, the text runs on and on into a huge paragraph that was not intended by the original writer.

       

      Am I correct in doing this?

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        • Re: 2 RETURNs before what is obviously a new paragraph?
          National Archives Catalog Adventurer
          National Archives Catalog Expert May 20, 2020 2:28 PM (in response to Laurie Nelson)

          We tell transcribers not to worry too much about matching the exact format of the original document (this includes line or paragraph breaks or spacing). The most important thing is to type the words that you see in the document. For our purposes, the goal of transcription is to enhance searchability. Every word you transcribe helps improve search results for that document in the Catalog. So, whether or not the spacing or line breaks match exactly, it will still return a search for the words in the document. However, it can often help the next reader follow the flow of the document, so you can use your best judgement to see it will help make sense of the document. We don't have a formal review process for transcription, so feel free to transcribe any of the millions of pages of records available in our Catalog.

           

          Suzanne

          Community Manager, National Archives Catalog

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