Once you have completed your interview, it is best practice to write an interview abstract and biographical sketch to add additional context for researcher use.

The interview abstract is a summary of what the narrator shared in their oral history. It might also be thought of as the front door to the interview, one that allows the potential user to better understand its contents and make a more informed decision about whether or not to engage more deeply with the content. In creating the abstract, your goal is to tell the story of the interview accurately and succinctly. Here’s an example of an abstract that we wrote for an interview that lasted about two hours.

The biographical sketch should provide an overview of the basics of your narrator’s life. If possible, include the narrator’s full name (including maiden names, as applicable) and birth year (but not full birth date) at the outset, and then build from there. One key difference from the interview abstract is that the biographical sketch will commonly include details that were not mentioned in the interview itself. As such, when constructing your biographical sketch, it’s totally appropriate to refer to your preparatory research to firm up specific details. That said, the interview media or transcript will usually be the primary source for your writing. Here is the biographical sketch that we wrote for the same interview noted above.

In creating these contextual pieces, try to avoid the following: repetition of words or phrases; insertion of your own point of view; writing in current time (e.g., Narrator X continues to ....”); and significant duplication of details between abstract and bio sketch. Note also that, for certain types of projects, translations of these pieces may prove especially useful for outreach to targeted audiences.

Transcription is a time- and resource-intensive activity, so before you commit to creating full transcripts, ask yourself if transcription is actually appropriate for your project. (A good interview index can provide a lot of utility as well.) To produce a clean, finalized transcript, the rule of thumb is eight hours of work per every one hour of interview media collected.

If you do decide to move forward with transcription, consider using a piece of software like Express Scribe to improve your efficiency. We like Express Scribe because it allows you to slow down the speed of playback to whatever pace is comfortable, and also because it enables your use of Function Key commands to manipulate audio playback (rewind, fast forward, pause and play). This second feature eliminates the need to use a mouse and, by keeping your fingers at the keyboard, makes the transcription process far more efficient.

When you create a transcript, start it with a header identifying the narrator, interviewer, date, location and total length of recording. Each time someone speaks, identify them using their initials at the start of a new paragraph.  Do not transcribe every verbal tic (“um,” etc.) or false start. Transcribe as if the subject is speaking in complete sentences, but don’t overcorrect to where you change the meaning or context of their words. Also do your best to retain the narrator’s dialect.  Add timestamps at five-minute intervals.

Once completed, re-read your transcript while listening to the recording, and correct any errors that you encounter. After that, you might consider sending the transcript to your narrator for their review, being sure to highlight passages or names that you had a difficult time understanding. That said, clarify for yourself how willing you are to edit transcripts for literary value. Narrators are sometimes surprised by how their speech looks in transcribed form and take pains to revise the text to more closely approximate a written document. This approach can become problematic as the literary edits pile up, so be prepared to have a conversation about editing boundaries if you find that one is warranted.