FOREN 4 BASIC TERMS IN HANDWRITING

• ALIGNMENT - 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 or the relative alignment of letters.
• ANGULAR FORMS - Sharp, straight strokes that are made by stopping the pen and changing direction before continuing
• ARCADE FORMS - Forms that look like arches rounded on the top and open at the bottom
• COMPARISON - the act of setting two or more items side by side to weigh their identifying qualities, it refers not only visual but also the mental act in which the element of one item are related to the counterparts of the other.
• COLLATION - side by side comparison, collation as used in this text means the critical emphasis, tremors and the like. The manner in which the writing instrument is move that is by finger, hand, forearm or whole arm comparison on side by side examination
• CHARACTERISTICS - any property or mark which distinguishes and in document examination commonly called to as the identifying details
• FORM - The writer's chosen writing style. The way the writing looks, whether it is copybook, elaborated, simplified or printed.
• DOWNSTROKE - The movement of the pen toward the writer
• DISGUISED WRITING - A writer 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
• GESTALT - 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.
• GARLAND FORMS - A cup-like connected form that is open at the top and rounded on the bottom
• GRAPHOANALYSIS - the study of handwriting based on the two fundamental strokes, the curve and the straight strokes
• GRAPHOMETRY - analysis by comparison and measurement
• GRAPHOLOGY - 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. Any disconnected style of writing in which each letter is written separately, also called hand printing
• LETTER SPACE - The amount of space left between letters
• LINE QUALITY - the overall character of the ink lines from the beginning to the ending strokes.
• LINE DIRECTION - Movement of the baseline. May slant up, down, or straight across the page
• LINE SPACE - The amount of space left between lines
• MANUSCRIPT WRITING. - 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 - The amount of space left around the writing on all four sides
• MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION - Any study or examination which is made with 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, and rhythm.
• 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 - These are normal or usual deviations found between repeated specimens of any individual handwriting
• PEN EMPHASIS - 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 without any evidence of shading the act intermittently forcing the pen against the paper with increase pressure
• PEN PRESSURE - 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
• PEN POSITION - relationship between the pen point and the paper
• PEN HOLD - The place where the writer grasps the barrel of the pen and the angle at which he holds it.
• PRINTSCRIPT - A creative combination of printing and cursive writing.
• PROPORTION or RATIO - the relation between the tall and the short letter is referred as to the ratio of writing
• RHYTHM - The element of the writing movement which is marked by regular or periodic 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, alternation of movement
• SHADING - Is the widening of the ink strokes due to the added pressure on a flexible pen point or to the use of a stub pen.
• QUALITY. A distinct or peculiar character. Also, "quality" is used in describing handwriting to refer to any identifying factor that is related to the writing movement itself.
• SIMPLIFICATION - Eliminating extra or superfluous strokes from the copybook model
• SIGNIFICANT WRITING HABIT - Any characteristic of handwriting that is sufficiently uncommon and well-fixed to serve as a fundamental point in the identification.
• SIZE - May refer to the overall size of the writing or the proportions between zones.
• SKILL - In any set there are relative degrees or ability or skill and a specimen of handwriting usually contains evidence of the writer's proficiency, degree, ability, or skill of a write proficiency
• SLOPE/SLANT - 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 OF WRITING - The personal pace at which the writer's pen moves across the paper