<p>that’s a pretty neat trick. and yes that’s why i corrected myself. i re-read what the OP wrote and noticed he had written Hilary not Hillary. A quick google search brings up Hillary Clinton and Hilary Duff if you just search ‘hilary’.</p>
<p>That’s crazy as hell.</p>
<p>The F doesn’t seem harsh at all. Have you heard of the Medill F?</p>
<p>[Medill</a> School of Journalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medill_School_of_Journalism]Medill”>Medill School of Journalism - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>If Ms. Clinton hadn’t been a public figure for so many years, I might understand the misspelling. But her name has been in the public spotlight for at least 15 years. It’s surprising to me that you didn’t simply visually see that it was incorrect. Journalists need to be attuned to seemingly minor details and have a passion for detecting the out-of-order!</p>
<p>It’s important to doublecheck the spelling of all proper names. Even “John Smith” could be spelled “Jon Smythe.”</p>
<p>The same is true of the names of schools and other buildings. For instance, “Belleview apartments” could be spelled “Belle Vue.”</p>
<p>As an editor, I agree with Northstarmom. And, ahem, Hillary isn’t exactly an obscure figure, so there’s no excuse.</p>
<p>When I was a copyeditor for a weekly magazine during the Watergate era, my colleague and I once caught hell for not spelling Haldeman and Ehrlichman correctly, even before they became household names (I think we put two Ns on the end of one of the names). Back then there was no Internet and no spell check, so the only way to verify the names would have been to call the White House. We should have done that.</p>
<p>I see incredible sloppiness among writers who should know better. What your journalism professor is trying to tell you is: If you’re careless on the surface, that simply casts doubt on your credibility as a writer.</p>
<p>I don’t have journalism experience, so I’m actually going to speak a bit more generally here…</p>
<p>(1) You knew about this policy in advance of writing your paper.</p>
<p>(2) This would have been extremely easy for you to check and fix.</p>
<p>If both of these are true of any policy, I have a tough time really critiquing it. I’ve had math teachers who refused assignments written in pen, an English teacher who refused anything not written in blue or black ink, and another English teacher who required that we double-space handwritten in-class essays. I’ve known graduate TA’s who give zero credit for sloppy assignments, and math professors who won’t give any credit for correct answers unless sufficient work is shown. In every case, students knew the rules before needing to use them, and the rules–however seemingly arbitrary or silly–were easy to follow. The only excuses for failing to adhere were laziness, unpreparedness, or inattention.</p>
<p>The policy you’re talking about has the added benefit of being directly useful and relevant. If you knew that a single misspelled name could get you an “F”, and you really didn’t want to fail, then you had absolutely no excuse for not triple-checking every single name in your assignment.</p>
<p>It is harsh…I agree with you there. But it’s also reasonable, particularly given the circumstances. Sorry you had to learn the tough way, but better luck in the future. My guess is that most of your classmates will go through a similar experience at some point or other.</p>
<p>ETA: I’ve only known one Hilary very well, and she was a single “l” girl. I have a terrible time remembering to double-up for Sen. Clinton :p</p>
<p>Looking at how famous Hillary Clinton is these days, its hard to believe that a journalism major misspelled her name.</p>