Our actual favorite tools, software, and reference materials to help you learn and build your own scoping business. Full disclosure, there are a few affiliate links.
We have used a full range of headphones during our more than 25 cumulative years in the business. Clear and crisp audio is essential to getting the job done accurately and efficiently. Noise-canceling headphones are essential for most scopists.
While you can hear the audio without headphones, we recommend them so much that we’re putting it as an essential. They will help clear up a tricky word that maybe is difficult to hear, and they will help you really focus on what you’re doing and cut out any distractions in your environment. We recommend over-the-ear, noise-canceling headphones, but we go through phases of whether we like over-the-ear headphones or earbuds. Here are a few links to our go-to headphones.
The right software is an absolute must for this profession. All your work is done inside the computer-aided translation software program. You will need to think about purchasing the software near the middle of the program. Use our link to get a discount.
Be sure to purchase the Edit edition, which is for scopists and proofreaders and not as expensive as the full version court reporters use. Also, Stenograph offers our students a discount as well as leasing payment plans.
The majority of the time, we are on our laptops. This is obviously a personal decision, but our favorite is the Lenovo.
As we said, you can do this on a laptop, but when scoping from your home office, you may want a bigger screen to keep it easy on the eyes. We like to hook our laptops up to a large monitor or two.
A foot pedal minimizes the work you need to do with your fingers, can help improve speed, and can prevent you from missing portions of the record that were spoken but not reported. This is not a requirement but can be a timesaver on tricky transcripts or if you prefer to use audio software outside of the computer-aided translation software.
What’s the strangest place you’ve ever worked from? If you can believe it, we’ve worked from the car, from the bathroom as the kids were bathing, and even sat on the floor of an airport lounge. But more often than not, we are working from home. Here are a few of our go-to work-from-home essentials.
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Bad Grammar/Good Punctuation (BGGP) by Margie Wakeman Wells. ISBN9781881859598
We follow Margie’s guidance on many recommendations regarding the punctuation of the spoken word. She is very well respected in the industry, and many court reporters also follow her recommendations. She offers a discounted price for scopists and proofreaders.
Morson’s English Guide for Court Reporters by Lillian Morson. ISBN9780965793209
This is another well-loved English language guide for court reporters. This book is considered by many to be the “bible” of transcript punctuation.
The Best Punctuation Book, Period, by June Casagrande. ISBN9781607744931
A great high-level view of punctuation, in general, which can help when one gets a little lost in the weeds of punctuation.
The Gregg Reference Manual by William A. Sabin. ISBN9781283391474
This isn’t a guide specific to court reporting, but a lot of the recommendations in the other books are based on this one. It’s also more affordable than BGGP and Morson’s, so it’s a good place to start.
Atomic Habits by James Clear. ISBN9780735211292
Packed with evidence-based self-improvement strategies,
Atomic Habits will teach you how to design habits that work for you rather than against you.
Without a doubt, our greatest resource is our graduates. Educated, nurtured, and coached by our team, the SI graduates who make this list are ready to support you. Are you a court reporter who hasn’t worked with a scopist before? Then book a consultation with the team to make sure you are ready to take on support staff.
