The development of transcripts is central to the work of many researchers yet questions of what and how researchers transcribe, and why, receive little attention in research literature. Conversation analysis is one research approach that has consistently addressed the integral relationship between theoretical and methodological perspectives, transcript development and transcript analysis. This article considers that relationship. An analysis of classroom talk is used to establish how aspects of young children's interactional competence are found in features of talk made available for analysis through transcription that deliberately and methodically seeks to record taken-for-granted features of social interaction. (Contains 1 table.)