Journalism Center

A Newspaper Classroom Assignment – For Students


Newspaper Homework Assignment

Okay, your teacher has assigned you to create a newspaper. To help you with your assignment, we not only have hundreds of templates you can use, but this little tutorial is designed to assist you in your homework assignment.

To begin, it is important to understand the various elements of a newspaper so that you’ll have a good idea what you need to gather together by way of content. A newspaper is primarily about the written articles, so ultimately, you will design and layout your newspaper around your articles. Here is what you will need to gather together minimally—your teacher may have more requirements:

  1. 2 to 3 articles per page. On a tabloid sized newspaper, you will be able to have 2 articles of around 750 words plus images or 3 articles of around 500 words. This article is a little over 500 words long.
  2. At least 1 corresponding photo per article. 2 images would be great. Remember, it is always easier to resize images than it is to resize articles (this is why a newspaper is often built around the articles, not the images).
  3. Graphic Design Software. Your teacher might have suggestions, but if you are at a loss, you can use MakeMyNewspaper’s Cloud Designer and templates. Just be sure to mark the project as “homework” when you save it to get a 90% discount on the PDF ($1.99).

Once you have the articles and images together, insert the articles into the newspaper software first. Adjust the column lengths so that all your words are in the textbox.

Layout and Design Tips

  1. Insert all your articles first and get them situated well.
  2. Using 11pt or 12pt serif fonts (such as Times New Roman) for the body or copy text.
  3. Using 14pt or 16pt font size for article titles (except for the feature story, then choose a size somewhere between 16pt and the main newspaper title font size…this should be the largest text outside of the newspaper name itself).
  4. Use 3 or 4 columns for tabloid sized newspapers.
  5. Keep at least an 1/8th of an inch between each column. Whatever you choose, it is important to make it consistent between all columns.
  6. Leave the same amount of space between textboxes and images as you have between columns.
  7. Don’t use too many fonts. 2 or 3 at the most, and make sure that all fonts are consistent. In other words, don’t change fonts for the titles of article A and B. Keep all titles the same fonts and all copy text the same font.
  8. Align everything up well.
  9. Crop pictures to fit the space you have. Generally, if you must stretch or shrink an image you want to always keep them proportional. Otherwise, they will look too fat or too skinny. So to get an image to fit, crop it.
  10. Don’t get your newspaper too crowded. Having extra white space between articles, titles or columns is not a bad thing.

Free Cloud Designer Templates

Our templates are 100% customizable, super user-friendly, and designed specifically to help you create outstanding school newspapers with our free Cloud Designer. Below are a few of the 100s of templates available to you.