This guidebook provides a systematic approach to evaluating student newspapers in five major areas: coverage and content, writing and editing, editorial leadership and opinion features, physical appearance and visual communication, and photography, art, and use of graphics. Each of the major areas is divided into numerous sub-categories; for each sub-category, the guidebook lists elements that are desirable in a student newspaper. The publication provides an explanation of the way the guidelines are used by judges from the National Scholastic Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press in scoring individual newspapers, and it includes a bibliography of publications of interest to student newspaper advisers and staffs. (GW)