TERMINOLOGIES

RELATED TO HANDWRITING
IDENTIFICATION AND
EXAMINATIONS
ALIGNMENT
 It is the relation of parts of
the whole of writing or line
of individual letters in
words to the baseline. It is
the alignment of words.
The relative alignment of
letters.
ANGULAR FORMS
 These
are sharp and straight strokes that
are made by stopping the pen and
changing direction before continuing.
ARCADE FORMS
 These
are forms that look like arches
rounded on the top and open at the
bottom.
THREADY FORM
 This
is an indefinite form that looks flat and
wavy.
GARLAND FORMS
 Thisis a cup-like connected form that is
open at the top and rounded on the
bottom.
CHARACTERISTICS
 These are any property or mark which
distinguishes and in document
examination commonly called to as the
identifying details.
Kinds of Characteristics
 General/Class characteristics – These
characteristics refer to those habits are part of
basic writing system or which are modifications of
the system of writing found among so large a group
of writes that have only slight identification value.
 Individual or Personal Characteristics –
characteristics which is highly personal or peculiar
and it is unlikely to occur in other instances.
Kinds of Characteristics
 Individual or Personal Characteristics – They are
characteristics which are the result of the
writer's muscular control, coordination, age,
health, and nervous temperament, frequency
of writing, personality and character.
Individual Characteristics
 Writing movement
 Form and design of letters
 Muscular control or motor control
 Loose Writing - this is characterized by too much freedom of
movement and lack of regulation. This is noticed especially in
tall letters forms.
 Restrained Writing - there is lack of freedom and inhibited
movements. It gives you the impression that every stroke was
made with great difficulty. This writing is small. There is
distortion of letter forms which may lead to illegibility.
Individual Characteristics
 Motor Coordination
 Shading
 Skill
 Alignment
 Pen Pressure
 Connection
 Slant as a writing habit
 Proportion of letters
 Quality of stroke or line quality
COLLATION
 Thisis also known as side by side
comparison; collation as used in this text
means the critical comparison on side by
side examination.
COMPARISON
 This is the act of setting two or more items
side by side to weigh their identifying
qualities; it refers not only a visual but also
the mental act in which the element of
one item are related to the counterparts
of the other.
DISGUISED WRITING
 In this writing, a person may deliberately
try to alter his usual writing habits in hopes
of hiding his identity. The results, regardless
of their effectiveness are termed disguised
writing.
DOWNSTROKE
 Thisis the movement of the pen toward
the writer.
FORM
 Thisis the writer’s chosen writing style. The
way the writing looks, whether it is
copybook, elaborated, simplified or
printed.
GESTALT
 This
is the German word that means
“complete” or “whole”. A good gestalt
needs nothing added or taken away to
make it “look right”. Also a school of
handwriting analysis that looks at
handwriting as a whole picture.
GRAPHOANALYSIS
 Thisis the study of handwriting based on
the two fundamental strokes, the curved
and the straight strokes.
GRAPHOMETRY
 This
is the analysis by comparison and
measurement.
GRAPHOLOGY
 Thisis the art of determining character
disposition and amplitude of a person
from the study of handwriting. It also
means the scientific study and analysis of
handwriting, especially with reference to
forgeries and questioned documents.
HANDLETTERING
 These are any disconnected style of
writing in which each letter is written
separately; also called hand printing.
LETTER SPACE
 This is the amount of space left between
letters.
LINE DIRECTION
 Thisis the movement of the baseline, may
slant up, down, or straight across the
page.
LINE QUALITY
 This is the overall character of the ink lines from the
beginning to the ending strokes. There are two
classes: Good Line quality and Poor Line quality.
The visible records in the written stroke of the basic
movements and manner of holding the writing
instrument is characterized by the term “line
quality”. It is derived from a combination of factors
including writing skill, speed rhythm, freedom of
movements, shading and pen position.
LINE SPACE
 This is the amount of space left between
lines.
MANUSCRIPT WRITING
 This
is a disconnected form of script or
semi-script writing. This type of writing is
taught in young children in elementary
schools as the first step in learning to write.
MARGINS
 Thisis the amount of space left around
the writing on all four sides.
MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION
 Thisis any study or examination which is
made with the microscope in other to
discover minute details.
MOVEMENT
 It is an important element in handwriting. It
embraces all the factors which are related to
the motion of the writing instrument skill,
speed freedom, hesitation, rhythm emphasis,
tremors and the like. The manner in which the
writing instrument is move that is by finger,
hand, forearm or whole arm.
NATURAL WRITING
 Any specimen of writing executed
normally without any attempt to control
or alter its identifying habits and its usual
quality or execution.
NATURAL VARIATION
 Theseare normal or usual deviations
found between repeated specimens of
any individual handwriting.
PEN EMPHASIS
 This is the act of intermittently forcing the pen
against the paper surfaces. When the pen-
point has flexibility, this emphasis produces
shading, but with more rigid writing points
heavy point emphasis can occur in writing
w/out any evidence of shading; the act
intermittently forcing the pen against the
paper with increase pressure.
PEN HOLD
 Thisis the place where the writer grasps
the barrel of the pen and the angle at
which he holds it.
PEN POSITION
 Thisis the relationship between the pen
point and the paper.
PEN PRESSURE
 This is the average force with which the
pen contacts the paper. Pen pressure as
opposed to pen emphasis deals with the
usual of average force involved in the
writing rather than the period increases.
PRINTSCRIPTS
 This
is the creative combination of printing
and cursive writing.
PROPORTION or RATIO
 Thisis the relation between the tall and
the short letter is referred to as to the ratio
of writing.
QUALITY
 This is a distinct or peculiar character. This
is used in describing handwriting to refer
to any identifying factor that is related to
the writing movement itself.
RHYTHM
 Thisis the element of the writing
movement which is marked by regular or
recurrences. It may be classed as smooth,
intermittent, or jerky in its quality; the
flourishing succession of motion which are
recorded in a written record. Periodicity,
alteration of movement.
SHADING
 Thisis the widening of the ink strokes due
to the added pressure on a flexible pen
point or to the used of a stub pen.
SIGNIFICANT WRITING HABIT
 These are any characteristic of
handwriting that is sufficiently uncommon
and well fixed to serve as a fundamental
point in the identification.
SIMPLIFICATION
 Thisis eliminating extra or superfluous
strokes from the copybook model.
SIZE
 This may refer to the overall size of the
writing or the proportions between zones.
ZONES IN WRITING
 Top Line
 Middle Line
 Baseline
SKILL
 In any set there are relative degrees or
ability or skill and a specimen or a
handwriting usually contains evidence of
the writer’s proficiency; degree, ability, or
skill of a write proficiency.
SLOPE/SLANT
 Thisis the angle or inclination of the axis of
the letters relative to the baseline. There
are three classes:
 Slant to the left;
 Slant to the right; and
 Vertical slant.
SPEED WRITING
 Thisis the personal pace at which the
writer’s pen moves across the paper.
SPEEDY WRITING
 Not everyone writes at the same rate so
that consideration of the speed of writing
may be a significant identifying element.
Writing speed cannot be measured
precisely from the finished handwriting but
can be interpreted in broad terms of slow,
moderate, or rapid.
SYSTEM OF WRITING
 This is the combination of the basic design
of letters and the writing movement as
taught in school make up the writing
system. Writing through use diverges form
the system, but generally retains some
influence of the basic training.
TENSION
 Thisis the degree of force exerted on the
pen compared to the degree of
relaxation.
VARIATION
 This is the act or process of changing.
WORD SPACE
 This
is the amount of space left between
words.
WRITING CONDITION
 Both the circumstances under which the
writing was prepared and the factors
influencing the writer’s ability to write at the
time of execution. It includes the writer’s
position (sitting, standing, abed, etc.), the
paper support and backing, and the writing
instrument; writing ability maybe modified by
the condition of the writer’s health, nervous
state, or degree of intoxication.
WRONG-HANDED WRITING
 These are any writing executed with the
opposite hand that normally used; a.k.a. as
“with the awkward hand“. it is one means of
disguise. This, the writing of a right-handed
person which has been executed with his left
hand accounts for the common terminology
for this class of disguise as “left-handed
writing”.
WRITING IMPULSE
 Thisis the result of the pen touching down
on the paper and moving across the
page, until it is raised from the paper.