Tracking Legislatures
Creating the Press File
Press files are a collection of the articles on piece of legislation for which a vote was selected, compiled into a single Google doc. The length of a press file varies depending on how much coverage a specific vote and/or legislation received, but it's preferable to reduce the length as much as possible. This should be done in the following ways:
- Clearing the formatting of pasted text.
- Locating printer friendly links.
- Deleting embedded images.
Clearing Formatting
After pasting the text of an article into the Google doc, highlight the text. Click the “Formatting” menu at the top of the screen and select “Clear formatting.” This will change the body of the text to Google's default setting. Take note of the formatting of the article title. It should take up the least space possible, but still be distinguishable as the beginning of a new article.
Locating Printer Friendly Links
Websites are filled with information that is beyond the scope of what you're looking for (i.e., advertisements, links, videos). These should not be included in the press file. One way to do this is to locate the printer-friendly link to the article. Many websites have links to printer-friendly address where you will find the same article minus most or all of the information that you don't want in the press file. Here are some examples:
Generally when you click a printer-friendly link a new tab will open. Sometimes it will automatically open the print menu assuming that you're ready to print the article. Do not print the document. Simply copy and paste the information needed for the press file.
Deleting Embedded Images
Images, links, and videos embedded in articles take up a lot of space and are unnecessary for our purposes. After pasting an article scroll through the document and delete any images, links, videos, or other extraneous information that was copied over with the text.
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