Textual analysis is an umbrella term used to introduce undergraduate students to a variety of methods for describing and interpreting messages contained in texts. A common goal of a number of textual analysis methods, including the analysis of qualitative interviews, social text analysis, discourse analysis, and conversation analysis, is to discover how participants construct and make sense of their social worlds by identifying the patterns and features of naturally occurring talk. The transcription process, whereby social interaction is reduced to text form for close study, is central to these forms of textual analysis. This article presents an activity that aims to introduce students to the use of transcription in textual analysis. It describes the use of the activity in an introductory course on Communication Research Methods. A list of references and suggested readings is included.