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The objective of the course is to become a Certified Court Reporter.
All Stenomask court reporters are certified by the National Verbatim Reporters Association, which conducts court reporting testing at various sites throughout the year. Passage of the test is mandatory for employment by the States of North Carolina and South Carolina.
Free-lance court reporters are certified by the National Verbatim Reporters Association. No certification is presently required in North Carolina for free-lance reporters, although most firm owners prefer to hire a certified verbatim reporter (CVR).
This course
uses a pragmatic and comprehensive approach to training a court reporter.
Instruction includes techniques of the voice system of reporting,
transcription techniques and techniques for reporting depositions as well
as civil and criminal proceedings in the courts. The course content has
been
endorsed by the National Verbatim Reporters
Association.
1.
Orientation.
2. 16 consecutive classes of instruction.
3. Guest
speakers.
4. Each class has a specific learning objective to
be
achieved. Material is cumulative so that skills
learned in class
one are used in class two and so on.
5. Classes will consist of a
period to introduce new
legal, medical or general business vocabulary
terms, a
vocabulary quiz, discussion of, demonstration of
and
practice of a reporting and/or transcribing technique,
review of
homework, dictating and transcribing time.
Classes also include
information the student will need
about our court system, legal
practice, legal citations
and other matters necessary for the
development of
court reporting skills.
6. Homework assignments each
class.
7. 40-hour internship program of actual
reporting
experience.
Financing for
the course and/or equipment is the
responsibility of the student.
Students may pay by check, money
order or cash.
NOTE: Each class after orientation devotes time to dictation with the Stenomask and includes a study of vocabulary terms. Each class after class 1 begins with a quiz covering previous class content. The following summaries deal with the objective study involved in each class.
Orientation: Getting acquainted with court reporting; overview of course content and materials; questions and answers about court reporting
Class
1: Introduction to legal terminology; becoming familiar with the
Stenomask, dictating
quietly with the Stenomask, dictating quietly
behind a speaker, dictating literary material
Class
2: To learn to over-enunciate during the reporting process, to build
speed while
dictating quietly behind a speaker, transcript
preparation
Class 3: To become familiar with the operation of the reporting equipment and learning to proofread
Class 4: Components of a Trial, learning to understand Opening Statements, more proofreading tips, learning to administer the oath and becoming a Notary Public
Class
5: Becoming familiar with the duties of an official court reporter;
becoming familiar
with the requirements for becoming a court reporter;
become familiar with the jury
charge/Criminal Pattern
Charges
Class
6: Becoming familiar with court structure (federal system) and Civil
Pattern Jury
Charges
Class 7: Become familiar with court structure - the state system; deposition study
Class
8: General spelling considerations for court reporting; deposition
study: stipulations by
counsel, reading and signing of the transcript,
errata sheet (design and use) punctuation study (general punctuation for
court reporting and numbers)
Class 9: Deposition study: Rule 30 (c) Examination and Cross-Examination; Record of Examination; Oath; Objections; Rule 30 (f) Certification and Filing by Officer; Exhibits; Copies; Notice of Filing; the reporter's deposition Certificate; punctuation study: semi-colons
Class
10: Introduction to business terminology; learning to take notes while
reporting;
learning to create a seating chart; punctuation study:
dashes
Class
11: Reading Back: the technique and Q&A; exhibits (marking,
retention, custody);
punctuation study: quoting and commas
Class 12: Reading back with objections; reporter's comments in the record; punctuation study: possessives
Class
13: Citations for the court reporter; introduction to medical
terminology and
medical depositions; punctuation study: general
punctuation
Class 14: Forms: Certificate of Non-Appearance, appearance page, Non-Deposition Certificate, medical terminology and medical dictation, the musculoskeletal system
Class 15: Pharmacology and the PDR; test-taking techniques
Class
16: Creating a complete transcript/student
portfolio
All classes are now being conducted as correspondence classes, which may be begun as soon as tuition is paid in full.
Upon enrollment, a permanent record is created and maintained by the school for each student. Progress through the course is recorded in these records by numerical grades.
As material is submitted to the school, it is graded as follows:
1. Quizzes are objective in nature and receive a numerical score.
2. Homework is graded for content and execution.
3. Transcripts are graded for accuracy and format.
4. Cassette tapes are monitored and graded for overall accuracy and quality.
All material
submitted to the school by the student, when graded, is returned to the
student in a subsequent class. Grades, as well as suggestions for
improvement, are contained on
review sheets which accompany all
returned materials.
1. Students receive upon commencement of the course the following supplies:
Stenomask
Class 1
Reference materials:
Business
Terminology Class 10
Medical Terminology Class 13
Legal Terminology
Class 1
Notebook and
supplies orientation
Reporting/transcribing equipment Class
3
2. Students receive written materials in each class.
3. The training utilizes the following methods of dictating practice material: cassettes and videotape.
Videotaped proceedings will be of depositions or other actual proceedings.
4. Cassette
tapes, recorders and computers/typewriter are also used extensively during
classes. Certification testing is administered through the use of these
pieces of equipment; therefore, this training is provided as a practice
for passing the certification test.
REPORTING AND TRANSCRIBING
EQUIPMENT
Statistics maintained by the school over the years indicate that a student's opportunity for successful certification testing increases dramatically the more actual experience the student has practicing with the reporting equipment outside the classroom. Therefore, reporting and transcribing equipment is part of the course for all students, the cost of which is included in the tuition.
The equipment provided is a two-track Marantz recorder designed for professional voice recording. It is used by many certified court reporters across the country. Transcription software is also provided.
Additionally, all consumable supplies incident to take-down and transcription, such as cassette tapes and transcription paper, are provided by the school. Additional supplies may be ordered from the school.
CERTIFICATION AND
GRADUATION
All students who complete this course will receive a
certificate attesting to their completion. In addition, both a written and
reporting/transcription test will be given prior to completion. Passing
grades on this test are considered to be a 75 on the written portion and
95% accuracy on the reporting/transcription portion at the following
speeds:
170 words per
minute literary dictation
200 words per minute jury charge
dictation
225 words per minute Q&A dictation
©2003-2005, Stenomask Schools of North Carolina, Inc.