What is Scoping?

For those of you who have arrived at this page and are not familiar with the world of court reporting and/or scoping, I guess I should probably explain what a scopist is really all about!

Scoping is a bona fide profession that not too many people outside of the court-reporting venue know about. In short, a scopist supports court reporters by editing their transcripts.

Nowadays, the court reporter writes in steno code, just like before, but now the transcript is stored on a computer file instead of the old paper "cash register" tapes that were in use previously. These files are then transcribed into English with the use of software known as CAT (computer-aided transcription) software, such as Advantage Eclipse IV.

Due to a variety of reasons, the transcript never translates perfectly into English. Therefore, someone must manually scan through the transcript, or "scope" the work to correct these problems. Enter the scopist, who is also responsible for formatting the transcript and ensuring that it has the correct formatting, as well as proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Many court reporters use scopists on a regular basis, and some use them on a part-time "overflow" basis when they get backed up. However, studies have been done to show that a court reporter can increase their income by a good percentage with the use of a good scopist. This is because the reporter makes more money in the courtroom or depo suite than they do sitting in the office editing their jobs.

By sending their day's work to the scopist, they can be out the next day on another reporting job, earning their regular income, instead of staying in the office and editing. Even though they are paying a page rate to the scopist for editing their previous day's job, they are more than making up for that expense by doing more reporting.

For an in-depth look at the scoping profession, please visit Judy Barrett's scoping blog.