Putting Together Your Journalism Portfolio

If you are considering a career in journalism, a portfolio of your newspaper or other clips is a must. I put together my first portfolio this past fall semester upon completing my mass communications practicum. Then I put another together when I was interviewing for an internship, which I eventually landed. However, this will not be the last time I assemble a portfolio of clips.

For those of you applying for journalism jobs, here is a guide to putting together a portfolio that could win you a job:

First off, you will need a good quality binder and paper. A good size would be one or one and a half inches which can fit up to 175 pages. Make sure it is of a simple color, such as black, and is made of a nice looking material rather than something that looks cheap. Avoid bright colors and any designs.

For paper, it is acceptable to choose 8 ½ x 11 size. Good quality copy paper, like the type you use for your computer printer, should work. You might want to make sure the shade of white is brighter than what you normally use, as brighter paper shows a neater appearance and more professionalism. The paper you choose will be what you mount your articles on. Sheet protectors are also recommended to protect your work. If you put your mounted articles into one of these, it protects it from spills and the article getting wrinkled or torn up.

Once you have all your materials together, you will want to start selecting the articles you want to include. The best way to do this is to go through all of your clips you have available. Choose the ones that you feel showcase your writing style the best. You should consider picking any articles that were for key stories; those where you had to talk to important people or do a lot of research to put out a strong article. One of my clips that will eventually earn a place in my portfolio, for example, is a piece on campus construction where I had to get our school president's point of view.

You should also consider choosing articles that merited you praise of some kind. Whether the subject of an interview you did praised the way you captured their background, or a faculty advisor was impressed with your writing, these are always pieces worth including. Make sure you mention the positive reaction to your work and you could perhaps impress an editor or two as well. Most editors will request 5-7 clips of prospective applicants.

Tip: When selecting your clips, you can make as many photocopies of them as you need. Then, you will be able to show them to editors and save copies for future use.

Once you have your clips together, begin mounting them on paper. First, make sure they are cut out of the newspaper neatly. Next, use glue or scotch tape to attach the clips to the paper. No matter what method you use to mount, make sure your work holds firmly on the paper you are using. Also, one idea to use is to have an article on one side of your paper, then have a second article on the back.

When you are finished mounting, put the paper into your sheet protector and slide it into your binder. Repeat this process until your portfolio is complete. Now you can store it in a safe and dry place. You now have something that you will be able to take on job interviews and save for a long time to come.