Learning about Scoping and How to Become a Scopist

Scoping

Scoping is a job that has something to do with court reports. This may not be a familiar term to most people. But this can be a rewarding job especially for stay at home moms as well as those who want to work part time and earn extra income.

Court reporters record court proceedings with steno typing, audio recording and video recording. They will then produce printed reports based on the recordings. Whatever type of recording is used, there are different programs designed for translating the recorded proceedings. These programs are called CAT or Computer Aided Transcription. However, most of the time, there are problems with the grammar, spelling and formatting of the transcribed documents. This is where scoping comes in. It’s similar to proofreading a written work. The court reporter will then read the transcribed document and make necessary revision. This usually takes a lot of time so the reporter needs to spend much time in editing than recording another court proceeding to earn.

Court reporters hire scopists to take care of the transcription and revision of the report. They may need to pay for the scoping job but this will allow them to record more court proceedings than doing this the whole day by themselves. Even if they pay for it, the amount that they will earn will still be more than transcribing and editing reports on their own. If you’re a stay at home mom and you have free time to earn more money, you can be a scopist and work for court reporters or lawyers. All you need is good English and grammar. Knowledge with court or legal terms is an advantage but not necessary since you can always look up these terms on the Internet. However, you may need to take a training to become a scopist.

There are vocational schools as well as online scoping courses on the Internet that can help you land this type of job and earn while staying at home.