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What is academic transcription: Everything you need to know

by Lasse Finderup, Head of Growth at Good Tape24 January 2024
What is academic transcription: Everything you need to know
Lasse Finderup

What is academic transcription: Everything you need to know

Have you ever felt intimidated by the overwhelming amount of audio and video content in your academic journey? Academic transcription services might be the answer you're looking for.

So what exactly is academic transcription? It effectively converts audio and video recordings of lectures, seminars, discussions, and debates into text format.

Doing this not only streamlines the process of putting together and evaluating massive volumes of data: it also improves accessibility and understanding, making it a helpful resource in the academic world.

How does academic transcription work?

In academics, transcription is similar to a careful note-taker, thoughtfully transcribing spoken words into written form. The transcription process begins with audio or video recordings of lectures, interviews, or seminars, which are then cautiously transcribed.

While it may appear manageable, it requires a keen eye for detail to ensure that complicated terms and complex conversations are appropriately preserved in writing.

To ensure that every critical detail is recorded accurately, you need an academic transcription service, which will automate the process, leaving you with peace of mind that all the recordings will be professionally transcribed.

Every minute piece of information is recorded by the academic transcription services since any detail slipping through the cracks is a problem in academia.

Transcription services for students

Transcription provides a more simplified technique to learning than chaotic note-taking and rewinding lecture recordings. From lecture transcriptions to seminar talks, it will cover you in all aspects and provide multiple benefits. Let’s have a look at a few:

  • Reliable and comprehensive learning: Transcription services convert audio lectures and workshops into written content, benefiting students who study visually or struggle to keep up with live lectures. This style facilitates thorough review and study, boosting comprehension of complex subjects.

  • Efficient study and revision: Transcripts are excellent, especially during test preparation. Students may rapidly reference transcripts, underline key areas, and concentrate on vital coursework features, streamlining study sessions and making revision more effective.

  • Inclusivity and accessibility: Transcription makes instructional information available to all students, including those who are deaf or have learning disabilities. It guarantees that resources are offered in a manner that is appropriate for a wide range of learning styles and requirements, creating an inclusive academic environment.

Transcription for researchers

Transcription services may play an important part in research by improving many areas of study processes and research methods. Transcription accelerates researchers' operations and offers a strong foundation for qualitative analysis by translating interviews, focus groups, and field observations into written text which can be used for official records as well.

Let’s see what aid it provides to researchers.

  • Facilitating qualitative analysis: Transcription is a crucial tool for qualitative researchers. It converts conversations from qualitative interviews or focus groups into text, making interpreting and coding data easier.

  • Enhancing accuracy and reliability: In research, data accuracy is critical. Transcription guarantees that every spoken word element is recorded, including pauses, intonations, and emotional cues. With higher accuracy rates, you can have increased reliability in your publications.

  • Speeding up the process: Transcription has the potential to accelerate the research process dramatically. Researchers may swiftly browse through transcribed texts, easily discover significant areas, and efficiently arrange their data rather than spending hours analysing recordings.

But do these benefits actually apply in the real-world context? Let’s have a look at it under the lens of a renowned research paper published in the International Journal of Computer Applications:

According to their research, the addition of text transcripts versus solely audio recordings enhances accessibility. For students with significant hearing loss, students with mobility, learning, or sensory impairments all may not be able to take notes by themselves and must rely on hired notetakers to acquire lecture notes or use softwares for audio to text transcriptions. In the surveys conducted during this research, findings indicated that academic transcriptions help students improve their academic performance.

Lastly, the main proposed system by the researchers followed a method of post-lecture transcription in which digital audio recordings of the lectures were employed to provide students with transcripts.

Good Tape follows a similar method where you can upload your file and allow its AI-based algorithm to convert the lecture audios into written documents for better understanding.

Benefits of academic transcription

Academic transcription services provide several benefits that span the academic spectrum, affecting the lives of students, instructors, and researchers alike. These services make educational and research environments more productive, inclusive, and efficient.

Let’s have a look at a few benefits academic transcription carries with itself.

Language support

Transcription services frequently feature multilingual help, which benefits non-native English speakers and those learning a foreign language.

This function aids in translating lectures, interviews, or research papers into several languages, making academic information more accessible and understood by a varied student and faculty community.

Improved and flexible learning

Transcription accommodates many learning styles. For example, written transcripts of audiovisual content may be extremely beneficial to visual learners.

Time-saving

Transcription services save both students and educators a significant amount of time. Without having to listen to hours of recordings, students may swiftly review class topics and focus on crucial study areas.

Accessibility

Transcription services are an important part of making education more accessible, particularly to students with impairments. Transcripts provide an alternate means for students with hearing difficulties to access audio and video information.

Choosing the right academic transcription service

Choosing the correct transcription service is about selecting the ideal tool for the job: you want something dependable, efficient, and worth your money. Key considerations include how accurate the service is (since no one wants an error-filled transcript), how quickly they can turn out your work (because waiting forever isn't pleasant) how securely they can process your data, and, of course, whether the price is appropriate for your budget.

In this aspect, Good Tape stands out as a top pick. It is recognised as reliable, so you can rely on it to get accurate transcripts. They also provide a quick service allowing you to be on time. Additionally, they value your privacy, so you won't have to worry about your information being shared.

And the best part? Their services are quite cost effective as well, so you may receive high-quality results without breaking the bank. And what could be better than three free transcriptions each month?

Good Tape transcription software: A key tool for researchers and academics

It's quite easy to work with Good Tape. There are no technical complexities, and the entire procedure runs smoothly, guaranteeing that you have your transcribed papers as soon as possible. Here's a full step-by-step instruction to get you started.

  • Upload your file: The first step in the process is to upload the file you need to transcribe. Make sure the file is complete and has all the information you require.

  • Select the language: Good Tape has a number of options when it comes to choosing the language of transcription. Select the one you want, although you can also choose the “auto-detect” option for the system to identify the language in the audio automatically.

  • Transcribe the text: Once the file is uploaded and the language is chosen, proceed further by clicking the “transcribe” button. Your audio transcription process starts here.

  • To wait or not to wait: If you’re a casual plan user, you will have to wait for some time for your transcription to be completed due to excessive load by the users. However, if you’re a professional or a team user, you get your results almost instantly. The wait time depends on the plan you’re subscribed to.

  • Be notified: You will receive a notification once your transcribed document is ready. An e-mail containing the link to access and download the document will be sent to your inbox.

Ready to fuel your academic journey? Get started today and make your academic journey easy by getting all your lectures in written form.

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We believe everyone should have access to top-quality automatic trancriptions.

That's why Good Tape is completely free to use. No credit card required.

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