The moment you get a story assignment, be sure to immediately contact your sources. You are on their schedule, not the other way around.
When you are finished writing a story, read it out loud to yourself or to someone else so you’ll hear the mistakes.
The editing process goes by a lot faster when small grammatical errors are caught before the adviser reads it. If you need help, ask. The senior student staff will be happy to look over it for you. And always run spell check.
Everyone story should have a suggested headline.
Most hard news stories will range from 400-700 words depending on the subject. No stories will be taken that are under 350 words from anyone unless otherwise instructed. Three sources should give you more than enough material to work with.
Most feature stories are 800-1500 words depending on subject matter. Remember the story is as long as it is interesting.