The good news is, we're having fewer fatals. The bad news is, we're still having some fatals. Here's samples of the latest:
PROBLEM: We identified Lansing Community College as East Lansing Community College.
SOLUTION: This will sound familiar: We need to be precise with names. Be sure to double-check the spellings of ALL names-- whether of people or businesses or pets or towns or whatever -- both before and after writing.
***
PROBLEM: We identified the campus as Michigan State University, when in fact it was Lansing Community College.
SOLUTION: Same as above. Don't assume; make sure you understand all the facts as they are before we start writing.
***
PROBLEM: When we meant to say furry critters (as in, small animals), we said furry fritters (small cakes made of batter). That misspelling creates a change in meaning, and a change in meaning is a fatal.
SOLUTION: Check your work word-by-word with your own eyes after we finish writing to make sure what we wrote is correct and what you intended to write. And don't simply rely on spell check; spell check wouldn't have helped here because our misspelling of exclaimed created a correctly-spelled explained, which was an unintended word. Spell check is a supplement to, but not a substitute for, checking our stories line-by-line, item-by-item, quote-by-quote and word-by-word.
***
Overall, I see you are starting to build in good fact-checking habits, and that's what we want. But do be warned: accuracy is not a matter of talent, but of vigilance. We have to keep doing all the right things, the right way, every time. Otherwise, we fall right back to where they are.
It's like staying in physical shape. As long as you run your five miles a day and do your 200 sit-ups, you stay in shape. But as soon as you start cutting corners -- maybe you just do 50 sit-ups, or skip a day of running here and there -- the flab comes right back.
You can be a great athlete, but if you're out of shape, you won't be great., Rigorously fact-checking and proof-reading our work is how we stay in journalistic shape. So don't let up.
I am sorry to say, however, we did have a couple of people who didn't turn in the assignment at all. Don't let this turn into a habit. Each practice story is only a small part of your final grade, but they can add up quickly. Especially when combined with the two or three or four fatals that most people historically get over the course of a semester in this class.
And make sure you don't fatal in ANY way -- whether it's a fact fatal or a time fatal -- on the out-of-class stories. Those are such a big part of your final grade that a fatal could really cripple your final grade, or send you into a frenzy of extra-credit work to dig out of that hole.
So, you are warned. But the good news is, many of you are showing me that you're up for the challenge.
PROBLEM: We identified Lansing Community College as East Lansing Community College.
SOLUTION: This will sound familiar: We need to be precise with names. Be sure to double-check the spellings of ALL names-- whether of people or businesses or pets or towns or whatever -- both before and after writing.
***
PROBLEM: We identified the campus as Michigan State University, when in fact it was Lansing Community College.
SOLUTION: Same as above. Don't assume; make sure you understand all the facts as they are before we start writing.
***
PROBLEM: When we meant to say furry critters (as in, small animals), we said furry fritters (small cakes made of batter). That misspelling creates a change in meaning, and a change in meaning is a fatal.
SOLUTION: Check your work word-by-word with your own eyes after we finish writing to make sure what we wrote is correct and what you intended to write. And don't simply rely on spell check; spell check wouldn't have helped here because our misspelling of exclaimed created a correctly-spelled explained, which was an unintended word. Spell check is a supplement to, but not a substitute for, checking our stories line-by-line, item-by-item, quote-by-quote and word-by-word.
***
Overall, I see you are starting to build in good fact-checking habits, and that's what we want. But do be warned: accuracy is not a matter of talent, but of vigilance. We have to keep doing all the right things, the right way, every time. Otherwise, we fall right back to where they are.
It's like staying in physical shape. As long as you run your five miles a day and do your 200 sit-ups, you stay in shape. But as soon as you start cutting corners -- maybe you just do 50 sit-ups, or skip a day of running here and there -- the flab comes right back.
You can be a great athlete, but if you're out of shape, you won't be great., Rigorously fact-checking and proof-reading our work is how we stay in journalistic shape. So don't let up.
I am sorry to say, however, we did have a couple of people who didn't turn in the assignment at all. Don't let this turn into a habit. Each practice story is only a small part of your final grade, but they can add up quickly. Especially when combined with the two or three or four fatals that most people historically get over the course of a semester in this class.
And make sure you don't fatal in ANY way -- whether it's a fact fatal or a time fatal -- on the out-of-class stories. Those are such a big part of your final grade that a fatal could really cripple your final grade, or send you into a frenzy of extra-credit work to dig out of that hole.
So, you are warned. But the good news is, many of you are showing me that you're up for the challenge.
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