A major problem in doing linguistic research from tape-recorded material is finding specific tape content for later, detailed analysis of data. A project on use of language in medicine being carried out at the Cornell University Medical College has developed a method of cataloguing taped material that eliminates the need for transcriptions and permits rapid locating of a specific tape segment. The project studies taped conversations between doctors and patients to observe how speakers hear and understand each other in natural conversation and to use findings to teach medical students the uses and functions of language in medicine. Contents of tapes are organized into eight categories: address, or time of utterance; speaker; main conversational division; specific speech act; lexical content; miscellaneous linguistic and non-linguistic information; attitude displayed by the speaker, and the conceptual category - an abstract interpretation of the subject discussed. Categories are explained here with examples, and an appendix furnishes a transcript of recorded conversation and its corresponding cataloguing sample. (CHK)