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.
CHARACTERISTICS - any property or mark which distinguishes and in document examination
commonly called to as the identifying details.
COLLATION - side by side comparison; collation as used in this text means the critical comparison
on side by side examination.
COMPARISON - 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 - 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.
DOWNSTROKE – The movement of the pen toward the writer.
FORM – The writer’s chosen writing style. The way the writing looks, whether it is copybook,
elaborated, simplified or printed.
GARLAND FORMS – A cup-like connected form that is open at the top and rounded on the bottom.
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.
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 handprinting.
LETTER SPACE – The amount of space left between letters.
LINE DIRECTION – Movement of the baseline. May slant up, down, or straight across the page.
LINE QUALITY - 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 actors including writing skill, speed rhythm,
freedom of movements, shading and pen position.
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 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.
1. 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.
1. 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 w/out any evidence of shading; the act intermittently
forcing the pen against the paper with increase pressure.
PEN HOLD – The place where the writer grasps the barrel of the pen and the angle at which he holds
it.
PEN POSITION - relationship between the pen point and the paper.
2. 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.
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.
20QUALITY. 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.
21RHYTHM – 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.
4SHADING - 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.
SIGNIFCANT WRITING HABIT – Any characteristic of handwriting that is sufficiently
uncommon and well fixed to serve as a fundamental point in the identification.
SIMPLIFICATION – Eliminating extra or superfluous strokes from the copybook model.
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.
SPEED (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 pre-
cisely from the finished handwriting but can be interpreted in broad terms of slow, moderate, or rapid.
SYSTEM (OF WRITING) - 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 from the
system, but generally retains some influence of the basic training.
[Link] – The degree of force exerted on the pen compared to the degree of relaxation.
THREADY FORM – An indefinite connective form that looks flat and wavy.
VARIABILITY – The degree to which the writing varies from the copybook model.
18VARIATION – The act or process of changing.
19WORD SPACE – 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 may be modified by the condition of the writer’s health, nervous state, or degree of
intoxication.
WRONG-HANDED WRITING. Any writing executed with the opposite hand that normally used;
a.k.a. as “with the awkward hand.” It is one means of disguise. Thus, 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-hand writing".
WRITING IMPULSE – The result of the pen touching down on the paper and moving across the
page, until it is raised from the paper.
MOVEMENT IN HANDWRITING
A. KINDS OF MOVEMENT
1. Finger Movement - the thumb, the first, second and slightly the third fingers are in actual motion.
Most usually employed by children and illiterates.
2. Hand Movement - produced by the movement or action of the whole hand with the wrist as the
center of attraction.
3. Forearm Movement - the movement of the shoulder, hand and arm with the support of the table.
4. Whole Forearm Movement - action of the entire arm without resting. i.e., blackboard writing.
B. QUALITY OF MOVEMENT
1. Clumsy, illiterate and halting
2. Hesitating and painful due to weakness and illness
3. Strong, heavy and forceful
4. Nervous and irregular
5. Smooth, flowing and rapid
C. SPEED - Slow and drawn; Deliberate; average; and rapid
D. DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS EMPLOYED AFFECT WRITING IN – Smoothness; Directness;
Uniformity; Continuity of strokes; and Connecting or curves between letters
MOTOR COORDINATION
It is the special way in which the various muscles used in writing work together to produced
written forms.
The Characteristics of Motor Coordination are:
1. Free, smelt rounded curves
2. Speed and gradual changes of directions
3. Pressure is always in a state of change, moving from light to heavy or from heavy to light.
4. The shading impulse is distributed over a considerable length of the line whereas in writing
produced with a slow motion as in the finger movement, the shading often has a "bunchy"
appearance, in which the maximum width of the shaded line is attained abruptly.
Faulty motor coordination’s are characterized by the following:
1. Wavering and very irregular line or strokes with uncertain and unsteady progress. There is no
freedom of movement along the strokes of the letter-forms. The writing is obviously very slow
and is typical of the writing of a young child or for any one who painstakingly draws a picture of
an unfamiliar form.
2. Angular Line - a very common fault of coordination. Curves, large and small are not smoothly
rounded and there is no gradual change of direction. On the contrary, and angle marks almost
every change are direction in the line. Investigation has disclosed that angles are accompanied by
a lessening of writing speed.
RHYTHM IN HANDWRITING
Rhythm is a succession of connected, uniform strokes working in full coordination. This is
manifested by clear-cut accentuated strokes, which increase and decrease in which like perfect cones.
Pressure is always in a state of change moving from light to heavy or from heavy to light.
A. LACK OF RHYTHM - Characterized by a succession of awkward, independent, poorly directed
and disconnected motions.
B. IMPORTANCE OF RHYTHM - By studying the rhythm of the succession of strokes, one can
determine if the writer normally and spontaneously or write with hesitation as if he is attempting to
for another signature.
C. LETTER OF CONNECTIONS - Determine the essential expression of the writing pattern. It is a
mean indicator of the neuromuscular function. Words are formed by connection letters to one
another. Even letters are formed by the joining of the upward and downward strokes. These types of
connections are:
[Link] - a rounded stroke shaped like an arch. It is a slow mode of connection resulting from
controlled movements.
Garland - Links the downward stroke to the upstrokes with a flowing curve swinging from left
t right. It is an easy, effortless mode of connection, written with speed.
Angular connective form- When the downward strokes and upward strokes meet directly,
angular connection is formed. This type of connection imposes a check on the continuity of
movement which is characterized by an abrupt stop and start in each turning point.
The threadlike connective form - the joining of downward and upward strokes is slurred to a
threadlike tracing or where rounded turns used at both top and bottom produce a double curve.
These forms appear both in the shaping of letters within the word.
HANDWRITING STROKE
10STROKE is a series of lines or curves written in a single letter; one of the lines of an alphabet
or series of lines or curves within a single letter; the path traced by the pen on the paper.
1. ARC – a curved formed inside the top curve of loop as in small letters “h”, “m”, “n”, & “p”.
2. ARCH - any arcade form in the body of a letter found in small letters which contain arches.
3. ASCENDER - is the top portion of a letter or upper loop.
4. BASELINE - maybe actually on a ruled paper, it might be imaginary alignment of writing; is the
ruled or imaginary line upon which the writing rests.
5. BEADED - Preliminary embellished initial stroke which usually occurs in capital letters.
6. BEARD - is the rudimentary initial up stroke of a letter.
7. BLUNT - the beginning and ending stroke of a letter (without hesitation).
8. BODY - The main portion of the letter, minus the initial of strokes, terminal strokes and the
diacritic, of any. Ex: the oval of the letter "O" is the body, minus the downward stroke and the
loop.
9. BOWL - a fully rounded oval or circular form on a letter complete into "O".
10. BUCKLE/BUCKLEKNOT - A loop made as a flourished which is added to the letters, as in
small letter "k & b", or in capital letters "A", "K","P"; the horizontal end loop stroke that are often
used to complete a letter.
11. CACOGRAPHY - a bad writing.
12. CALLIGRAPHY - the art of beautiful writing.
13. DESCENDER - opposite of ascender, the lower portion of a letter.
14. DIACRITIC - "t" crossing and dots of the letter "i" and "j". The matters of the Indian script are
also known as diacritic signs; an element added to complete a certain letter, either a cross bar or a
dot.
15. ENDING/TERMINATE STROKE OF TOE - the end stroke of a letter.
16. 15EYE/EYELET/EYELOOP - a small loop or curved formed inside the letters. This may occur
inside the oval of the letters "a, d, o"; the small loop form by stroke that extend in divergent
direction as in small letters.
17. FOOT - lower part which rest on the base line. The small letter "m" has three feet, and the
small letter "n" has two feet.
18. 12HABITS - any repeated elements or details, which may serve to individualize writing.
19. 14HESITATION - the term applied to the irregular thickening of ink which is found when
writing slows down or stop while the pen take a stock of the position.
20. HIATUS/PEN JUMP - a gap occurring between a continuous stroke without lifting the pen.
16Such as occurrence usually occurs due to speed; may be regarded also as a special form of pen
lift distinguish in a ball gaps in that of perceptible gaps and appear in the writing.
21. 13HOOK - It is a minute curve or a ankle which often occurs at the end of the terminal strokes. It
also sometimes occurs at the beginning of an initial stroke. The terminal curves of the letters
"a", "d", "n", "m", "p", "u", is the hook. In small letter "w" the initial curve is the hook; the
minute involuntary talon like formation found at the commencement of an initial up stroke or the
end terminal stroke.
22. HUMP - Upper portion of its letter "m","n","h" ,"k" - the rounded outside of the top of the bend
stroke or curve in small letter.
23. KNOB -the extra deposit of ink in the initial and terminal stroke due to the slow withdrawal of
the pen from the paper (usually applicable to fountain pen).
24. LIGATURE/CONNECTION - The stroke which connects two stroke of letter; characterized by
connected stroke between letters.
25. LONG LETTER - those letters with both upper and lower loops.
26. LOOP - A oblong curve such as found on the small letter "f", "g", "l" and letters stroke "f" has
17two. A loop may be blind or open. A blind loop is usually the result of the ink having filled
the open space.
27. MAJUSCULE - a capital letter.
28. MINUSCULE - a small letter.
29. MOVEMENT IMPULSES - this refer to the continuity of stroke, forged writing is usually
produced by disconnected and broken movements and more motion or movement impulses
than in genuine writing.
30. PATCHING - retouching or going back over a defective portion of a written stroke. Careful
patching is common defect on forgeries.
Take Note:
1. AIRSTROKE – The movement of the pen as it is raised from the paper and continues in the same
direction in the air.
2. COVERING STROKE – A stroke that unnecessarily covers another stroke in a concealing action.
3. FINAL – The ending stroke on a letter when it is at the end of a word.
4. UPSTROKE – Movement of the pen away from the writer.
5. SEQUENCE OF STROKES - The order in which writing strokes are placed on the paper is
referred to as their sequence.
6. SUPPORTED STROKES – Upstrokes partially covering the previous down strokes. Originally
taught in European schools.
7. TRAIT STROKE – a school o handwriting analysis that assigns personality trait manners to
individual writing strokes.
QUALITIES OF THE STROKES
1. Expansion - whether the movement is extended or limited in its range with respect to both
vertical and horizontal dimension.
2. Co-ordination - whether the flow of movement is controlled or uncertain, smooth or jerky,
continuous or interrupted.
3. Speed - whether the movement has been rapid or slow and whether the pace has been steady or
variable.
4. Pressure- whether the pressure exerted in the movement and its upward and downward reach.
5. Direction- Left ward and right ward trend of they movement and its upward and downward
reach.
6. Rhythm - in the sequence of movements that weave the total pattern, certain similar phases recur
at more or less regular intervals.
HANDWRITING PROBLEMS
1. A signature/handwriting contested by its author which in reality is genuine and corresponds
perfectly to the ordinary, and habitual signatures of that person.
2. A signature/handwriting contested by its author which in reality was written by him but in a
way which was different from the ordinary manner and which is more or less different from the
common genuine signatures of that person.
3. A signature/handwriting contested by its author which in reality was written by a third person and
which is a forgery written in an attempted imitation of a model.
4. A spurious signature/handwriting written by somebody who did not attempt to imitate the
signature of a person and who uses a fictitious name and this to give his work the appearance of a
signature.
5. An uncontested signature/handwriting, in fact, genuine but written by an unknown person whose
name must be deciphered by the document examiner.
GENERAL CLASSES OF QUESTIONED WRITING
1. Forged or simulated writings in which the attempt is made to discard one’s own writing and
assume the exact writing personality of another person.
2. Those writings that are disguised and in which the writer seeks to hide his own personality
without adapting that of another.
HANDWRITING CHARACTERISTICS AND OTHER IDENTIFYING FEATURES
Writing Habits - Writing by all its thousand of peculiarities in combination is the most personal
and individuals thing that a man does that leaves a record which can be seen and studies. This is what
constitutes individuality in handwriting.
A. 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.
B. INDIVIDUAL 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. They are found in Writing movement, Form and design of letters, Motor
Coordination, Shading, Skill, Alignment, Pen pressure, Connection, Pen hold, Rhythm,
Disconnections or pen lifts between letters, Speed, Slant as a writing habit, Proportion of letters as
an individual characteristic or habit, Quality of stroke or line quality, Variation and Muscular
control or motor control -
a. Loose writing - this is characterized by too much freedom of movement and lack of
regulation. This is noticed especially in tall letters forms.
b. 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.
Indications of speed (speedy) writing
a. Smooth, unbroken strokes and rounded forms.
b. Frequent signs or tendencies to the right.
c. Marked uncertainty as to the location of the dots of small letters "I", "j" & crosses of small
letter "t".
d. Increased spontaneity of words or small letter "t" connected with the following words.
e. Letters curtailed or degenerated almost to illegibility towards the end of words.
f. Wide writing - width of letters is greater than the connecting spaces adjoining it.
g. Great difference in emphasis between upstrokes and down strokes.
h. Marked simplification of letters especially capital letters.
i. Rising line.
j. Increased pen pressure.
k. Increase in the margin to left at the beginning of the line.
Indications of slow writing
a. Wavering forms and broken strokes.
b. Frequent signs or tendencies to the left.
c. Conspicuous certainly as to the location of the dots of small letters "I","j","or "t" crosses with
scarcely perceptible deviation from the intended direction.
d. Frequent pauses by meaningless blobs, angles, divided letters and retouches.
e. Careful execution of detail of letters, toward the end or names.
f. Narrow writing.
g. No difference in emphasis in upstroke and down stroke
h. Ornamental or flourishing connections.
i. Sinking lines
C. EXAMPLES OF COMMON CHARACTERISTICS
1. Ordinary copy-book form
2. Usual systematic slant
3. Ordinary scale of proportion or ratio
4. Conventional spacing
D. CLASSIFICATION OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
1. Permanent characteristics - found always in his handwriting.
2. Common or usual - found in a group of writers who studied the same system of writing.
3. Occasional - found occasionally in his handwriting.
4. Rare - special to the writer and perhaps found only in one or two persons in a group of one hun-
dred individuals.
E. HOW INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE ACQUIRED
1. Outgrowth of definite teaching
2. Result of imitation
3. Accidental condition or circumstances
4. Expression of certain mental and physical traits of the writer as affected by education,
by environment and by occupation.
F. EXAMPLES OF SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
1. Hook to the right and hook to the left
2. Shape, position, size and angle of "i" dots "t" crossing
3. Idiosyncrasies
4. Bulbs and distinctive initial and final pen pressure
5. Embellishment, added strokes and free movement endings
6. Abbreviation of letters
7. Simple and compound curves and graceful endings
8. Labored movement producing ragged lines
9. Terminal shadings and forceful endings
10. Presence and influence of foreign writing, with the introduction of Greek "e"
PRINCIPLE IN HANDWRITING IDENTIFICATION
1. When any two specimens of handwritings contain a combination of corresponding or similar and
specifically oriented characteristics of such number and significance as to preclude the
possibility of their occurrence by mere coincidence, and there are no unaccounted for difference,
it may be concluded that they are similar in writing characteristics and therefore written by one
and the same person.
2. Handwritings are fixed habits.
3. These writing habits like habits of speech become so automatic and unconscious that even by the
most strenuous effort, it is almost impossible to change them. It is one of the most permanent of
human habits.
4. No duplication of handwriting by two individuals.
CORRECT CONCLUSION
1. To reach the conclusion that two writings are written by the same hand, characteristics or "dents"
and scratches" should be in sufficient quantity to exclude the theory of accidental coincidence; to
reach the conclusion that writings are by different hands, we may find numerous likeliness in
class characteristics but divergences in individual characteristics or we may find divergences in
both but the divergence must be something more than mere superficial differences.
2. If the conclusion of identifying is reached, there must not remain significant differences that
cannot reasonably be explained. This ignoring of the differences or the failure properly to
account for them is the cause of the errors in handwriting identification.
3. Although there is no specific approach, the document examiner always observed: Analysis;
Comparison; and Evaluation.
POINTS TO CONSIDER IN EXAMINING EXTENDED WRITING (Anonymous, threat, poison
letters)
1. Uniformity- Does the questioned writing have smooth, rhythmic and free-flowing appearance?
2. Irregularities - Does the questioned writing appear awkward, ill-formed slowly drawn
3. Size & Proportion- Determine the height of the over-all writing as well as the height of
the individual strokes in proportion to each other.
4. Alignment - Are they horizontally aligned, or curving, uphill or downhill.
5. Spacing - Determine the general spacing between letters, spacing between words. Width of the
left and right margins, paragraph indentations.
6. Degree of Slant- Are they uniform or not.
7. Formation and Design of the letters, "t" (-) bars, "i" dots, loops, circle formation.