The key issue! It is a vicious circle that to be accepted as a journalist you need to already have some practical journalism skills and experience - usually be writing for the student newspaper, but community or free newspapers and magazines are equally acceptable. Occasionally graduates have got into journalism by arguing brilliantly why they have never participated in journalism before but this is rare!

Gather a portfolio of articles you have written. This may be no more than 6 to 8 articles you have had published. They shouldn't all be film reviews - you need to have some real news items too. One or two can date back to school, but it's important to have recent material - best of all commercial publications - they don't need to be front page stories.

"The Writers and Artists Yearbook" lists publications that will pay for copy and also tells you how to lay it out for submission. For Radio or TV, tapes of university or hospital radio broadcasts can help, but keep them short.