Notes that the keys to "beat" reports are accountability and personal contact. Discusses ways to tie students' generation of story ideas from their beat to their final grade and to make personal contact with the news sources on their beat. Includes a beat report form and a student survey form. (RS)

Offers ideas on ways to increase readership of the editorial pages in college newspapers, including the masthead, using a variety of design elements, and making it truly a students' newspaper by running plenty of letters to the editor. (SR)

Discusses how to use sidebar stories to cut down very long stories. Presents several examples of effective sidebars from school newspapers. (RS)

Describes a five-step process for using research techniques of the nation's best newspapers to transform high school students into a professional sales staff. (RS)

Presents a list of 23 questions for high school newspaper advisors concerning publication policies, editorials, source anonymity, page design, and other issues relating to overall credibility. (RS)

Exchanging papers with other high schools and keeping a file of such newspapers create a resource of prospective advertisers and advertising designs. (RL)

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)

Discusses three ways to improve and strengthen a school newspaper's image through effective public relations designed to (1) encourage readers to react; (2) solicit comments from parents, news sources, community leaders, and politicians; and (3) encourage the school board to respond. (RS)

Suggests that scholastic publications can use the main components of approach, design, and attitude being used in the professional ranks as models when incorporating civic journalism into their programs. Discusses criticisms of civic journalism. Describes the author's experiences with civic journalism at a high school newspaper. Appends a…

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

Points to numerous values of elementary school newspapers and presents ideas to aid in publishing one. (GT)

Discusses different ideas of what people would like to see in the area of articles about music in student newspapers. Describes one band director's description of music as people working together with the same agenda toward the same goals. (SC)

Offers brief comments from 8 high school journalism advisers concerning why they put out a paper the first day of school. Notes that these first-day issues were all well received by students. Includes front pages of several of the first-day issues. (RS)

Describes a high-school journalism adviser's experiences in shifting production to a broadsheet format. Addresses: rethinking content, redesigning support materials, developing a public relations strategy to help readers make the transition, and anticipating complications. (RS)

Designed for use by both beginning and experienced school newspaper advisers, this handbook offers information in all phases of newspaper production. Topics discussed in the handbook's 15 chapters include: (1) purposes of the student newspaper; (2) authority and adviser/administrator relations; (3) organizing the staff and working with it; (4)…