Cover pages, appearance pages, etc.

[Michelle Graciano]

Hi! I'm currently a 190/200 student at South Coast College in Orange, CA. I just started sitting out and have been trying to get the perfect cover page, index page, cert page and all of that other fun stuff for my 40 page transcript I will need to produce in order to graduate. Is there any place I can go to find guidelines as to how to set this up? I noticed the deposition reporters I sat out with had somewhat of a template on their software. Where can I get templates? I'm currently on Case Catalyst. Any help would be appreciated!

[Cathryn Bauer]

I have a set of sample depo transcripts that I have put together for students. Give me your email if you'd like them.

It is so important to be asking this question. There is a lot to transcript production, and the time to start learning it is before you leave school, unlike Yours Truly. Different agencies have different guidelines. And court transcripts are different, as well, varying from county to county, with yet more formats for state and federal courts. In California, there are minimum transcript format requirements which you MUST know and use; all the different sets of guidelines for California transcripts will be within these guidelines.

I recommend that students use their machines and CAT software to reproduce these and other sample transcripts. Once you graduate, you will be so glad you did this. Even if you have to adjust to different requirements per an agency or courthouse, you will be miles ahead already of you have a general idea of how a transcript is put together.

[Michelle Graciano]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. My email address is [e-mail]. I feel so overwhelmed with all of this. It seems like there is so much to learn!

[Cathryn Bauer]

I have sent them to you at your email address.

Don't retreat into being overwhelmed. Just focus on learning a lot every single day.

[Michelle Graciano]

What my question is is are there a set of guidelines as to what should go on which line, where the "birdcage" should be placed on the page, etc. I keep seeing so many different cover pages and I'm starting to be confused. Is it just based on what the agency likes?

[Cathryn Bauer]

Actually, yes. But definitely go to the CSR Board or the DRA Website to find the California Minimum Transcript Standards. You have to do these, and getting familiar with them will help you get a good foundation.

[Michelle Graciano]

Great! Thank you both for being so helpful. I definitely appreciate the sample pages :)