Subject: tc-list The Dowel Error-Correction Method

From: "Bruce Prior" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 09:52:10 PDT

TCers --

Here's how I go about doing my transcription of the Freer Gospels (W -- 
032):  The 1912 Sanders Facsimile perches on a heavy-duty music stand to the 
right of my computer desk.  I start a page by touch-typing the text 
line-by-line in Uncial, using the LaserCoptic font, produced by Linguist’s 
Software in Edmonds, Washington.  I use the Coptic font since it includes 
supra-lineation which I use for nomina sacra.  When something in the text 
needs some comment, I add a superscript number and jump ahead to the bottom 
of my upper-and-lower-case transcription page and add a numbered footnote.  
When I finish a page in Uncial, I print it out.  Then I roll the printout 
over a 7/8-inch diameter short wooden dowel.  I then place the dowel-draped 
printout on the Facsimile page and compare the text letter-by-letter.  I 
have yet to type a perfect page the first time.  Maybe someday!  After 
making corrections, I print the page again.  With the Uncial text on the 
music stand and the Grossdruckausgabe of NA27 on a bookstand in front of me, 
I produce the first draft of my line-by-line transcription in Payne 
LaserGreek font, also by Linguist’s Software.  Whenever the W text differs 
from NA27 in any way except for nomina sacra and other abbreviations, I 
highlight all relevant words with bold type.  I add chapter and verse 
numbers and punctuation and paragraphing very largely governed by clues in 
the manuscript.  I follow general punctuation conventions used by UBS4, 
including capitalization of the first letter of direct discourse.  When that 
page is completed, I use the same dowel method to compare it with my Uncial 
text and with the Facsimile.

J. Bruce Prior in Blaine, WA
[email-masked]

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