Do not precede a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference. Apr 05, 2012 olympics or olympic games always capitalized. The office of communications uses the below writing style guide along with the associated press ap stylebook and websters dictionary as the standard for writing web content, employee communications, news releases, broadcast information, articles and other materials. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of a multiword term. Associated press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. Ba, bs, bachelor of arts, bachelor of science ma, ms, master of arts, master of science edd, phd, doctor of education, doctor of philosophy mba, master of business administration do not add the word degree after an abbreviation of the degree or after the full name of the degree. There are quite a few rules in the ap stylebook for state names and ap style state abbreviations. The choice between ebook and ebook could be considered a style choice, but ebook is simply wrong. You must register and have a current subscription to access ap stylebook online register now. Two guidelines for the use of metric measurements in a story.
However, about 20% of the ap style does not apply to technical writing. Ap itself along with gi and eu are exceptions to this rule. Here is the relevant entry in words into type measures, weights, and other units. One of the first things a student in a beginning journalism course learns about is associated press style or ap style for short. Ability to add local style ap lingofy check ap and websters ap lingofy share local style entries with multiple users ap lingofy searchable price. When following ap style, numbers zero through nine are typically written in word form, while numbers 10 and above are written as cardinal numbers. Put quotation marks around the names except the bible and catalogs of reference material. Aug 01, 2018 the associated press stylebook and briefing on media law official style guide of the associated press, a notforprofit news agency thats been around since 1846.
All you need to know about titles in ap style gatehouse. Oct 30, 2015 the rules below apply for the following works. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules. See also ap style millions, billions, trillions dollars. Colon capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence. Sabr style guide society for american baseball research. The associated press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. When searching for height in the ap stylebook, it refers readers to the dimensions entry. Ap style does use periods in most twoletter abbreviations. Ap style is simply a standardized way of writing everything from dates to street addresses to job titles. After each bullet, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each item. If this structure makes the connection between the entity and the abbreviation unclear, its best to just skip using the abbreviation. Jun 15, 2009 acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of a multiword term. The ap stylebook will help you master the ap s rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, word and numeral usage, and when to use more than instead of over.
Click a question below to jump straight to its answer. The associated press stylebook 2002, meanwhile, specifies spelling out both dimensions use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc. Jul 21, 2016 in ap style, you shouldnt follow the name of an organization with the abbreviation offset by parentheses or dashes. The ap style falls somewhere in between, aiming at a general audience with a tone that is neither too elite nor too common. Ap style indicates that metric terms should be included when relevant, although it provides no strict rules for what defines relevance. It wasnt about my prose, reporting, or lede, but that i neglected to abbreviate september.
Jul 06, 2017 when searching for height in the ap stylebook, it refers readers to the dimensions entry. More people write for the associated press than for any newspaper in the world, and writers have bought more copies of the ap stylebook than of any other journalism reference. Twelve common mistakes of ap style apr 19, 2011 admin. If you want to know all about the ap style state abbreviations, you have been a wise soul to click on this article. The associated press stylebook provides an az guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. Ap stylebook online takes everything you love about the stylebook az guide to usage, spelling and punctuation and makes it an even more convenient tool. This is, of course, purely a style issue, and i was somewhat surprised at how few style books directly address the ops question. Although it is sold as a guide for reporters, it has become the leading reference. The equivalent resource for the older apa 6 style can be found here.
You must register and have a current subscription to access ap stylebook online. Founded in 1846, ap today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. How to format numbers in associated press style pen and. Associated press ap style is most often used by news and journalism writers to present consistent and clear writing to the consumer. Ap stylebook rules for height, feet, inches gatehouse. The best ap style cheat sheet every writer needs free download. Jan 30, 2014 although its technically a style choice, most us style guides recommend putting periods after abbreviations for english units of measure such as feet, inches, and pounds. Ap style does not allow italics or underlines composition titles require quotation marks. The associated press stylebook 2019 a fully revised and updated edition of the bible of the newspaper industry the style of the associated press is the gold standard for news writing. Jul, 2019 one of the first things a student in a beginning journalism course learns about is associated press style or ap style for short. The ap stylebook will help you master the aps rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, word and numeral usage, and when to use more than instead of over. This page reflects the latest version of the apa publication manual i. You can find abbreviations discussed in the publication manual in section 4. This resource, updated to reflect the mla handbook 8 th ed.
Always use figures before the measurement 8 inches, 10 feet, 2 ounces, 200 pounds, etc. I remember when i filed one of my first bylines for a newspaper only to get my inbox slammed with emails from my editor in chief. Olympic gold medal, olympic organizers, olympic host city, olympic flame, etc. Although its technically a style choice, most us style guides recommend putting periods after abbreviations for english units of measure such as feet, inches, and pounds.
The department prefers bullets, but punctuate them per ap style. How to format numbers in associated press style pen and the pad. Ap stylebook rules for height, feet, inches gatehouse newsroom. A quick guide to ap style as you read the ap stylebook, pay extra attention to these entries.
The abbreviation ap stands for advanced placement a series of subject examinations administered by the college board in cooperation with high schools and colleges across the country. Although the exams are open to all students, most are high school juniors and seniors who are enrolled in special ap classes in their school. Ap style holds that a few universally recognized abbreviations are required in some instances and some other abbreviations are acceptable depending on the context, but in general, as a writer, you should avoid having your writing appear as if its alphabet soup. It is the indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice. To make navigating these specialty chapters even easier, the stylebook includes a comprehensive index. The associated press stylebook download free epub, pdf. With this essential guide in hand, any writer can learn to communicate with the clarity and professionalism for which the associated press is famous. Instead, simply use the abbreviation the second time that you refer to the organization. Olympic adjective without s and always capitalized. Select the sentence free of errors in ap style for abbreviations for print publications.
Mar, 2015 e books currently make up two percent of my book sales. Jan 15, 2020 the associated press stylebook app offers current style guidance as you write or edit in word. Founded in 1846, ap today is the most trusted source of independent. The ap stylebook, the buzzfeed style guide, the economist style guide, and the chicago manual of style all recommend hyphenating ebook, as well as most other e words such as ereader and ecommerce its conceivable that over time, ebook may lose its hyphen.
The best ap style cheat sheet every writer needs free. While acronyms are highly efficient, care needs to be taken when using them. On wednesday, professor james currier, who has a doctorate in biology and a masters in economics, will argue that improving automobile fuel efficiency from an average of 17 to 22 miles per gallon would save billions of dollars and protect endangered. This is intended as a quick rundown or cheat sheet. The reason was to compare like with like, but in practice, it sometimes led to odd results. These can be names of organizations nato, nations usa, and phrases faq. In apa, abbreviations should be limited to instances when a the abbreviation is standard and will not interfere with the readers understanding and b if space and repetition can be greatly avoided through abbreviation. Sometimes its difficult to remember which rules are ap and which rules are remnants from years of college courses. Books and magazines often italicize newspaper names as well as book titles and magazine names as part of their inhouse style. In this post, we will summarize all of the ap stylebook state abbreviations rules. Both the ap stylebook and the buzzfeed style guide already recommend spelling email without the. The 2019 edition of the associated press stylebook and briefing on media law includes more than 200 new or revised entries, with chapters covering data journalism, business, fashion, food, religion and sports terms, as well as media law, news values, punctuation, social media, polls and surveys and a new chapter on health and science. Ap stylebook cannot be made available in any printed form to any other person, third party or affiliate, or used for cdrom publishing, fax on demand, audiotext, email, or any other electronic delivery service or forany other purpose than the posting of the ap stylebook on your internal computer system, without ap s prior written approval.
Mla modern language association style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. Ap style is the style guide codified in the associated press stylebook and briefing on media law. Spiralbound book, updated each spring 2019 ap stylebook. Always spell out measurements inches, feet, yards gallons, ounces, pounds etc. The best and only direct coverage of the question occurs in words into type, third edition 1974, still a major reference book in u. Ap style is primarily used by journalists and others in the news industry when writing and reporting news stories. See also ap style times, ap style time sequences, and is noon am or pm. Use an apostrophe in bachelors degree, a masters, etc.
However, italicized type could not be sent over associated press teletypes and isnt supported by the computer programs in use today. Although you wont find an explanation of the logic of ap style in the stylebook, it has been my experience that ap likes information presented so that it is. This can be particularly tricky with the titles of major works, so heres a few. Ap stylebook, also known by its full name the associated press stylebook and briefing on media law, is an english grammar style and usage guide created by american journalists working for or connected with the associated press to standardize mass communication. With the ap stylebook in hand, you can learn how to write and edit with the clarity and professionalism for which their writers and editors are famous. Use a hyphen for the adjectival forms before nouns.
Units of measure grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Before we begin to enlist the abbreviations, it is mandatory for one to learn and garner information about what ap is, with a brief, supplementary note on the history of the same. Register to view your products, order status, shipment trackings and manage your account settings. Also note no hyphen linking numerals and the word million, billion, or trillion. If a states name is standing alone or in conjunction with a city or town in your text, spell out the entire states name. Remember back in college when you had to keep track of all the different ap rules for your student newspaper on top of the chicago manual of style for your academic classes.
Its often used by news organizations, magazines, and web publications, but brands often use it to form the basis of their own style guides, too. Founded in 1846, ap today is the most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the worlds population sees news from ap. Add apostrophe s if singular, and add an apostrophe if plural. There are summer olympics and winter olympics, or summer games and winter games. Let me start by noting one change between the 5th and 6th editions of the publication manual. Distributed by satellite and the internet to more than 120 nations, ap services daily reach more than one billion people. Generally ap style omits periods in acronyms, unless doing so would spell an unrelated word. Although it is sold as a guide for reporters, it has become the leading reference for most forms of publicfacing. The 2019 edition of the associated press stylebook and briefing on media law includes more than 200 new or revised entries, with chapters covering data journalism, business, fashion, food, religion and sports terms, as well as media law, news values, punctuation, social media, polls and surveys and a new. Following is the breakdown between ap style and chicago style. The two style guides most people tend to be familiar with if they are familiar with any at all are the chicago manual of style and the ap stylebook.
The chicago manual of style online is the venerable, timetested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. Brand names, such as ipad, sometimes use camel case an internal capital letter, but in standard english such style is unacceptable for anything other than names. Neither means that the usual headlinestyle or titlestyle caps still apply, but the titlename is naked as far as quotes and italics are concerned. Ap stylebook cannot be made available in any printed form to any other person, third party or affiliate, or used for cdrom publishing, fax on demand, audiotext, email, or any other electronic delivery service or forany other purpose than the posting of the ap stylebook on your internal computer system, without aps prior written approval. Ap style was developed and is maintained by the associated press, the worlds oldest news service.
However, this very specific professional writing style may be adhered to by other types of freelance and. In apa, abbreviations should be limited to instances when a the abbreviation is standard and will not interfere with the readers understanding and b if space and repetition. The associated press stylebook app offers current style guidance as you write or edit in word. Ap stylebook online is a searchable, customizable resource for writers and editors. Ap style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language. Mastering the ap style rules for abbreviations bka content.