2.2: AP Style

The Associated Press Stylebook is the gold standard of American English usage for American newspapers, news magazines, online news sites, and public relations practitioners.  Although some publications, such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, have developed their own style guidelines, AP style is fundamental even for those publications. 

 

The content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together.  AP Style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage.  AP Style also seeks to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language. 

 

In this course, you will be expected to follow AP Style in your written assignments. 

 

Here’s a summary of some of the more important AP style guidelines: 

 

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Some widely known abbreviations are required in certain situations, while others are acceptable but not required in some contexts. For example, Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., the Rev. and Sen. are required before a person’s full name when they occur outside a direct quotation. Please note, medical and political titles only need to be used on first reference when they appear outside of a direct quote. For courtesy titles, use these on second reference or when specifically requested. Other acronyms and abbreviations are acceptable but not required (i.e. FBI, CIA, GOP). The context should govern such decisions.

As a general rule, though, you should avoid what the Associated Press Stylebook calls “alphabet soup.” Consult the Associated Press Stylebook for specific cases.

As a general rule, use only commonly recognized abbreviations. The most common, such as NASA, FBI and CIA, can be used on all references. Less well-known but still common ones such as OSHA and NATO can be used after you spell out the full name on first mention. The first time you use the name of an agency, put its abbreviation in parentheses immediately after: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In most cases, however, the stylebook suggests using a generic reference such as the agency or the alliance for all references after the first.

Don’t put unfamiliar abbreviations in parentheses after the first reference (for example, “The American Copy Editors Society (ACES) ...”) Instead either  repeat the full name on subsequent references or use a generic reference, such as the society.

 

Abbreviate junior or senior directly after a name, with no comma to set it off:
Justin Wilson Jr.
Spell out the names of all states when used alone and in body text.  

Be sure not to use the U.S. Postal Service abbreviations for states unless you are providing a full address including ZIP code: “Send contributions to Relief Fund, Box 185, Pasadena, CA 91030.”
Spell out the name of a month when it is used without a specific date:

“August is too hot for a visit to Florida.” Abbreviate months with six or more
letters if they are used with a specific date: Sept. 28. Always spell out those
with five or fewer letters: May 15.

Spell out titles used alone: “She was the first female senator from her state.”
Abbreviate and capitalize most titles when they are used directly before a
name: “Sen. Boxer posed hard questions for Rice.”

Spell out all generic parts of street names (avenue, north, road) when no
specific address is given: “The festival will be held on South Charles Street.”

When a number is used, abbreviate avenue (Ave.), boulevard (Blvd.), street

(St.) and directional parts of street names: “The suspect was identified as
Michael Shawn of 1512 N. Mission St.”

In writing news stories, never abbreviate:
• The days of the week
• Percent as %
• Cents as ¢
• And as & unless it is an official part of a name
• Christmas as Xmas

 

Ages

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.

Books, Periodicals, Reference Works, and Other Types of Compositions

Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.

Do not use quotations around the names of magazine, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials. Examples: The Washington Post first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.

Do not underline or italicize any of the above.

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week

For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 25. Prince George’s Community College first opened its doors in 1958. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ’90s.

If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.

Datelines

Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. See states and cities below. Examples:

• DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began...
• ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began...
• YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...

• Dimensions

  When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples: She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.

  Miles

  Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples: My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is three miles long.

  Names

  Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.

  Numerals

  Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.

  Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.

  For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location. Examples: second base, 10th in a row. Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples: 3rd District Court, 9th ward.

  For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example: The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.

  When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.

  Punctuation

  Use a single space after a period.

  Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example: In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete. However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example: Purdue University's English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.

  Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example: “I did nothing wrong,” he said. She said, “Let’s go to the Indiana game.”

  States and Cities

  When the name of a state name appears in the body of a text, spell it out. State abbreviations should also be avoided in headlines where possible. States should be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Examples: He was travelling to Nashville, Tenn. The peace accord was signed in Dayton, Ohio. The storm began in Indiana and moved west toward Peoria, Ill. Updated guidance to AP style notes that state names can also be abbreviated for the following purposes:

• Naming states in dateline text
• Naming states in photo captions
• Naming states in lists or tables
• Naming states in in editor's notes and credit lines

• Here is how each state is abbreviated in AP style (with the postal code abbreviations in parentheses):

  State Abbreviations
  Ala. (AL)	Neb. (NE)
  Ariz. (AZ)	Nev. (NV)
  Ark. (AR)	N.H. (NH)
  Calif. (CA)	N.J. (NJ)
  Colo. (CO)	N.M. (NM)
  Conn. (CT)	N.Y. (NY)
  Del. (DE)	N.C. (NC)
  Fla. (FL)	N.D. (ND)
  Ga. (GA)	Okla. (OK)
  Ill. (IL)	Ore. (OR)
  Ind. (IN)	Pa. (PA)
  Kan. (KS)	R.I. (RI)
  Ky. (KY)	S.C. (SC)
  La. (LA)	S.D. (SD)
  Md. (MD)	Tenn. (TN)
  Mass. (MA)	Vt. (VT)
  Mich. (MI)	Va. (VA)
  Minn. (MN)	Wash. (WA)
  Miss. (MS)	W.Va. (WV)
  Mo. (MO)	Wis. (WI)
  Mont. (MT)	Wyo. (WY)

  You will notice that eight states are missing from this list. That is because Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated.

  AP style does not require the name of a state to accompany the names of the following 30 cities:

  Cities Not Requiring State Names
  Atlanta	Phoenix
  Baltimore	Pittsburgh
  Boston	St. Louis
  Chicago	Salt Lake City
  Cincinnati	San Antonio
  Cleveland	San Diego
  Dallas	San Francisco
  Denver	Seattle
  Detroit	Washington
  Honolulu
  Houston
  Indianapolis
  Las Vegas
  Los Angeles
  Miami
  Milwaukee
  Minneapolis
  New Orleans
  New York
  Oklahoma City
  Philadelphia

  Times

  The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00. Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.

  Titles

  Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas. Also, lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title. If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with commas before the person’s name. Examples: President Biden; President-elect Trump; Sen. Harry Reid; Ben Cardin, a senator from Maryland; the senior senator from Maryland, Chris Von Hollen; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.

  Technological Terms

Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common technological terms:

• BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
• download
• eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins a sentence)
• e-book
• e-book reader
• e-reader
• email
• cellphone
• Facebook
• Google, Googling, Googled
• hashtag
• IM (IMed, IMing; for first reference, use instant messenger)
• internet
• iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod when the word begins a sentence)
• LinkedIn
• social media
• smartphone
• Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
• World Wide Web, website (see the AP's tweet about the change), Web page
• webmaster
• YouTube