Good Morning. I have noticed that quite a few of you mentioning that you are going to add a new word to your "book" for future reference. As a newbie I have thought of this too. What method do you recommend. Do you simply write it into your medical dictionary, do you keep a notebook just for new words, or is it something you store on your computer? Thanks, Alison.

Hi alingj,

When I first started doing transcription (we got a 286 computer 3 weeks after I got there) I had a notebook (a small flip pad type) and every page was a letter of the alphabet. Every time I came across a new word I put it on the appropriate page.

These days you can create a document in your computer, have the computer alphabetize it, and/or you can search for the first few letters.

You can obviously do it either way, but I would probably choose the latter method over the one I used. Just save it every time you add a new word!

If you have any reference books that don't have a word you have come across you can also add it at the bottom of the appropriate page--I do that a lot also!

Another trick--if it's a word that you constantly misspell, just put it in your expander so that when you misspell it, the correct spelling is substituted.