Select the episode before the transcript
ABC Help identifies transcript availability for flagship current-affairs programmes and directs viewers to select an episode, then use the Transcript dropdown below its video. The examples it names include 7.30, Australian Story, Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners.
Suppose a student remembers an interview from Australian Story but has only a person's name. Find the programme's episode page and compare the title and date with the subject. A related ABC News article may mention the same person without being the full episode or its transcript. Preserve that distinction before copying a passage.
Use text to locate a passage
Open the selected episode's transcript and search for the relevant name or phrase. Record the speaker and a few words of surrounding context in your own research note, without treating a search occurrence as the whole exchange. Read the question or narration that introduces the passage.
For a worked source pair, keep the episode URL, title, date, transcript heading and the question the passage answers. If a player position is useful, add it only after actually locating the passage in the video. A paragraph's position in a transcript is not automatically a measured video timestamp, especially where introductions, credits or other material affect the sequence.
Choose the source that supports the claim
Use the transcript for efficient text discovery and the video when delivery, images or surrounding sound matter. If the transcript and a remembered quotation differ, return to the official material before deciding what can be quoted. Keep your own summary labelled as a summary.
Check the specific episode's current availability before assigning a viewing task. The help page explains the navigation route; it does not establish that every historical episode remains playable or that every ABC programme offers a transcript.
For the Australian Story interview, the completed research note should identify the question or narration immediately before the quoted answer. Add the transcript reference and the observed video position when available. If the exercise concerns a visual scene instead, describe that scene separately so a text search does not become an unsupported account of what the programme shows.
Questions about this guide
Where does ABC direct viewers to episode transcripts?
Select the episode on the programme page, then open the Transcript dropdown below the video.
Can transcript position be treated as video time?
No. Add a player timestamp only after actually locating the passage in the video.