Points out the importance of the first paragraph of a newspaper story and shows that leads may begin with such elements as the date; a person's name; a quotation; a prepositional, causal, or conditional phrase; or a descriptive sentence. (TJ)

Looks at the experiences of Richard Gilbert, reporter and assistant editor for "The Herald Telephone," a daily newspaper in Bloomington, Indiana, and discusses Gilbert's suggested guidelines for high school journalism advisers. (MS)

Provides copyreading guidelines for the reporter, the typist, the section editor, and the copy editor; includes a chart of copyreading symbols. (GT)

Notes that writing compelling news stories about abstract topics is always challenging, especially for student journalists. Suggests showing the impact of an abstract concept, giving the story a human face, providing an understandable scale, and "drawing a picture." (RS)

Interviews rookie reporter Rob Karwath, recent graduate of the University of Kansas journalism school, concerning his education, school newspaper experience, internships, and current job at the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. (SR)

Discusses topics for humorous feature stories dealing with significant questions that confront teenagers and can increase reader interest. (SRT)

Offers tips on the use of direct and indirect quotations in feature articles based on speeches and interviews. (RL)

Provides examples of lively, interesting yearbook copy and outlines 12 rules for writing effective copy. (GT)

Argues that the present form of news writing, the "pyramid style," has become obsolete, especially for school newspapers that are published less frequently than once a week. Indicates that readers are interested in the journalist's viewpoint and in a "journalistic conclusion" to stories. (TJ)

Outlines five steps involved in conducting and writing about an interview: selecting a topic, backgrounding, interviewing, writing the interview story, and writing a sidebar that complements the main article. Tells how a journalism student proceeded through these steps in writing an article for his school newspaper, and presents his article. (GT)

Maintains that good news reporting requires hard work, careful research, and even more careful verification. Notes that there is nothing old fashioned about news reporting, except that, like fine antiques, good news reporting in scholastic publications is hard to find. (RS)

Presents tips to make the interviewing process more effective and comfortable for the reporter and the interviewee. Reviews the "standard pointers" for interviews as well as pointers to make the interview more of a personal conversation. (RS)

Advocates setting up a "beat system" for high school newspapers to use to provide updates on established areas of coverage, such as administrators, department chairs, club and class sponsors, sports, the school board, the city council and even the custodians. Includes examples of ways to incorporate this information into brief updates in…

Suggests ideas for finding and writing good feature stories for the school newspaper. (HOD)

Journalism rules for writing lead lines to articles are reviewed. Examples of leads made effective by observing or breaking these rules are discussed. (HTH)