How to Assemble a Successful News Clip File

**Note: the following advice, tips and suggestions come from the writer's personal experience as a senior broadcast journalism major at the University of South Alabama. The following article is no way reflective of said university. For many college and university level journalism students, keeping up with local, national and international news is imperative. As one broadcast journalism professor so eloquently put it: "You cannot be a successful journalism student if you don't follow the news every day." And to encourage, if not compel, students to keep up with the news, many professors are now requiring their students to keep a daily news clip file throughout the semester. Students are typically expected to collect and assemble news clips that adhere to several different categories. These categories could range from editorials, opinions pieces, movie reviews, politics, local weather, traffic accidents, sports, and natural disasters to economic news, science, religion, environment, taxes and government spending, etc. The file will likely be turned in for a grade at the end of the course.

This requires that the student read, on a daily basis, a local city newspaper and/or campus newspaper, Internet news and that he or she watch at least one local and national television news broadcast every day. While this may sound like a great deal of work, it will ultimately train students to become "news junkies." After all, how can you cover the news unless you know what's going on in your town, city and around the world?

Here are a few tips gleaned from personal experience for assembling your news clip file:

1. Keep your News Sources Diverse

Although this may not be a requirement by your professor, you should still strive to collect your news from multiple sources rather than one narrow vein. Your professor will not be impressed if all 50 of your clippings come from CNN.com or your campus newspaper. Instead, seek to read and watch the news from various sources, even and particularly those you may not normally adhere to.

2. Use Black Construction Paper or Portfolio-Style Sleeves for Newspaper Clippings

Because most newspaper clippings will be oddly shaped when you cut them out of the paper, they typically cannot be hole-punched for easy insert into a notebook. They will also be very thin and prone to easy tearing. You should therefore keep them as protected and intact as possible. One easy way to accomplish is with black construction paper, which you will first hole-punch and insert into your notebook. Tape or glue your newspaper clip to the construction paper, making sure it is completely secure.

If this sounds like too much work for your tastes, you can always visit your local office supply store and purchase a bundle of individual, pre-hole-punched portfolio sleeves. These will fit right into any 1" or larger notebook and will hold most newspaper clippings, depending on the size of the clip. Either way, your professor needs to be able to flip effortlessly through your notebook without having to stop because a newspaper clipping tore or became detached.

As far as Internet news printouts are concerned, these can be hole-punched and inserted directly into the binder within their respective categories.

3. Utilize a Numbered "Table of Contents" Divider Set

The more organized your news clip file can be, the better. Your professor will likely require that your news clips and news broadcast summary paragraphs fall within a lengthy list of categories such as politics, weather, sports, opinion columns, religion, science, etc., etc. The amount of categories will be at his or her discretion. You may be required to collect two examples of news within each category throughout the semester. Type up your own Table of Contents page for the front of your notebook and assign each category of news a number. This way, when your professor flips to that numbered section, he will know what type of news he will find there. Remember that organization and diversity are key elements of your news clip file. Keep your file clean, easy to use, easy to understand and easy to access. Not only will this help prepare you for life in the journalism world, but it just may result in a better grade on your news clip file assignment. And what student wouldn't enjoy that?