More and more professional reporters are creating their own websites or blogs to showcase their work. But even if you're a student or citizen journalist, you can use Gmail and Blogger, a free service from Google, to quickly set up an online portfolio of your clips.

Getting Started

To sign up for a Blogger account, hit the "Create a Blog" button and fill in the blanks. If you already use Google e-mail, you can use your Gmail username and password to log into your account.

Creating Hyperlinks To Your Articles

If you want to create hyperlinks to stories you've had published online, do the following:

1. Click on the "New Post" button.

2. Copy and paste the headline of your story into the "Title" field.

3. Copy and paste the headline into the text field.

4. Drag your mouse across the headline in the text field to define it.

5. Click the hyperlink button just above the text field (it will either say "Link" or look like a link from a chain.)

6. In the "web address" field, enter the url of your article.

7. Click the "Publish Post" button.

Saving Articles As Images

If your article was published online as a PDF file, you'll need to first save it as an image file. Do the following:

1. Open up the pdf, and scroll to your article. Zoom in enough for the text to be legible.

2. Hit the Shift and Print Screen (Prt Scr) buttons simultaneously to take a screenshot, then copy and paste the screenshot into Paint or another graphic editing program. If the article is large or appeared on several pages you'll need to take several screenshots.

3. Use your graphics program to crop and resize the image so that's legible. If you're using two or more screenshots, use the graphics program to stitch them together.

4. Save the image of your article as a jpeg file.

Scanning Articles That Appeared in Print

If your article was published in a newspaper, you can scan the article and save the scanned image as a jpeg file. Use the directions above to crop and resize the image so that it's legible.

Uploading Images in Blogger

Once you've saved your article as a jpeg file and want to upload it to blogger, do the following:

1. Click the "New Post" button.

2. Type the headline of your article in the "Title" field.

2. Click the "insert image" button just above the text field (It looks like a framed picture.)

3. When the "Add an image" box appears, hit the browse button to find the image you want to upload.

4. Click the image you want to use, click "open" and then "OK."

5. The image should appear in the text field. Once it does, you can adjust its size and position on the page by clicking on the image and then choosing among the various options listed below.

6. Once everything looks good, hit "Publish Post."

Inputting Articles As Text

For a clip portfolio, it's always best to use published samples of your work. But if you have an unpublished magnum opus on your home computer that you want to share with the world, you can simply copy and paste it from your word processing document into the text field, or type it in directly.

If you want to make an unpublished article look a little more professional, you can publish it as a Google document. Do the following:

1. Sign in to your Gmail account and click "Documents" at the top of the page.

2. Click the "Create New" button at the top and click "document."

3. Input your article or copy and paste it from the word processing document.

4. When the article is ready, save it and click the "Share" button at the top.

5. Choose "Publish as Web Page," then click "Publish Document." You will be given the url of your article. You can then post a link to that address on your portfolio, using the directions above.

Other Tips

Photos and Graphics

A portfolio that's nothing but a collection of hyperlinks will look boring. Be sure to include plenty of photos and graphics to create visual interest. You can use the pictures that originally appeared with your article, ones you take yourself, or even royalty-free images from services like FreeImages.com, as long as you observe all applicable copyright laws.

For instance, if you've written an article about the Facebook craze, you might use a stock photo of a person typing at a computer to illustrate it.

Fonts, Colors and Themes

Blogger offers users the choice of a variety of different themes, fonts and colors (you can learn how to use these by clicking the "Layout" and "Fonts and Colors" buttons.)

But for a portfolio that will be shown to potential employers, keep the look simple, conservative and professional. Use standard fonts like Times New Roman or Arial, and choose muted, understated colors. In other words, no sci-fi fonts or purple polka dots. The emphasis should be on a clean, easy-to-read look.

Here are some examples of online portfolios created by journalism students using Blogger:

Adam's portfolio

Amylynn's portfolio

Sarah's portfolio

Special thanks to Adam for his help with this article.