Rebecca Hughes

BBC correspondent Allan Little visited the Centre for Journalism today for the second time.

Unfortunately this time, Little’s visit was declared ‘off the record’ by the gods of journalism at the CfJ. This therefore ruined my planned blog for the day. However, Little did advise never giving excuses for failing to get a story. So whilst I won’t report on the more topical issues discussed in a Q&A session, I will point out five of his top tips for student journalists as his talk was largely covered on the BBC College of Journalism website anyway:

1. Have something to say. He recollected a time at Edinburgh University when he wrote an essay without doing any background reading. He received it back with a note from his teacher saying “You have a pleasing turn of phrase, but nothing much to say.”
2. Read. He highlighted the need to read more than just newspapers and online. You need to read books, fiction and even poetry. Poetry can be a brilliant example of short words creating powerful meaning.
3. Add up the number of words in your work then divide that by the number of sentences. If the average is more than 15 words, then your sentences are probably too long.
4. Avoid using metaphors if you don’t understand exactly what they mean.
5. Always have a notepad on you because often things people say off the record are the most important. Jot things down; don’t leave it in your mind.

You can watch Allan Little give more advice on ‘good writing’ on the BBC College Journalism website.

You can also watch highlights from his first visit to the CfJ below: