Wick's Punctuation Rules for Court Reporters

The grading guidelines for the National Court Reporters Association state: "The RSR, RPR and RMR skills tests are developed based on the rules of punctuation set forth in The Gregg Reference Manual and Merriam Webster’s Dictionary."

A Facebook poll showed 86 percent of court reporters use either Morson’s English Guide for Court Reporters (Morson) or Court Reporting: Bad Grammar / Good Punctuation (Wells). Only 9 percent of court reporters use The Gregg Reference Manual (Gregg). The low Gregg usage is probably the result of its focus: English composition. Morson and Wells focus on punctuating court reporting transcripts.

Unfortunately, Gregg, Morson, and Wells have not been updated in more than 10 years. Morson was last published in 1997, Gregg in 2011, and Wells in 2011. The punctuation and style rules in Wick’s Punctuation Rules for Court Reporters are based on the most recent style guides:

• The Gregg Reference Manual (11th Edition, 2011)
• The Chicago Manual of Style (17th Edition, 2017)
• The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (4th Edition, 2018)
• The Associated Press Stylebook (56th Edition, 2022-2024)
• Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary for spelling.