Ledes: Watch For Fatals!

In this exercise, most of you scored pretty well. Many grades were in the 3-point range, which is very good for the first graded assignment.

Unfortunately, that success wasn't universal. We had a few fatals on this exercise.

In one case, we spelled Stephanie Courhesne's last name as Courhesene, with one too many e's. Unfortunately, that is a fact fatal. Names must be spelled correctly. Every letter. No exceptions, ever.

In a second case, we listed the state representative as P. Wei. In fact, her name was Constance P. Wei. Simply Constance Wei was acceptable, as in journalism a first and last name are only necessary, and usually not a middle initial. But a missing first name on first reference is never okay.

The good news is, EVERYBODY had at least decent lede structure and intent. If not for the fatals, EVERYONE would have scored in the 3's. Every single one of you.

And fatals are very, very common in the first few weeks of the semester, when you're just learning good fact-checking habits and integrating it into your daily routines. In previous semesters, pretty much everybody had at least a couple of fatals (if not more) in the first half of the semester, before things drastically trailed off in the second half, with maybe one more fatal for every other person.

So if you fataled, don't fret. Learn the lesson, and apply the lesson moving forward. That's how we learn in journalism: by doing, then making mistakes, then identifying solutions to those mistakes, and then applying those lessons.

In non-fatal news, I have a few reminders.

First, don't forget AP number rules. In general, if it's under 10, spell out the number like this: two, not 2. If it's 10 or over, use digits like this: 10, not ten.

If it's an age, always almost use digits: a 9-year-old. That is, unless it's at the start of a sentence. Try to avoid using a number to start a sentence with, but if you do, spell it out: Nine, not 9.

Second, don't forget to use grammatical articles in sentences, like a, and, and the. Make sure your sentences are complete sentences. If you're not sure, read your sentences out loud. If you sound like a robot -- police kill man in house -- then you probably need to add some articles like this -- police killed a man in a house.