AP Style Tip Sheet Your stylebook is your friend, and its your bible for this class.

Start learning appropriate style immediately. Youll need this throughout your journalism career. More to the point, youll need a command of AP style to pass this class. States Abbreviate state names when listed after a city. For example: Allentown, Pa. See the stylebook for specific abbreviations. These are not the same as the ones used by the post office. Dont abbreviate if there isnt a city name before the state. For example: Theyre from Kansas. States with five or fewer letters arent abbreviated. Titles In general, confine capitalization to formal titles used directly before an individuals name. Example: President Clinton; the president. The following titles are among those abbreviated when used in a name outside a quotation: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., Sen., Gen., The Rev. All but Dr. should be spelled out if used in a direct quotation. Dont use courtesy titles such as Mr., Ms., Miss or Mrs. Use last names. Addresses Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address. Example: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.; Pennsylvania Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used with more than one street name. Example: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues. Always use figures for an address number. Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names. Example: Third Avenue. Use figures with two letters for 10 and above. Example: 22nd Street. Abbreviate compass points to indicate directional ends of a street if its numbered. Spell them out if theres no number. Example: 222 E. 42nd St.; West 43 rd Street. Spell out Interstate on first reference, such as Interstate 81. On second reference 1-81 is acceptable. Numerals Spell out the numbers zero through nine, and use numerals for 10 and larger. There are exceptions, such as when referring to a basketball player as wearing No. 2 or a team being ranked No. 1. Always use figures for ages. Example: The 5-year-old; she is 2; the woman is in her 30s. If you begin a sentence with a number, spell it out. The exception to this rule is for calendar years such as 1999. Spell out fractions less than one, such as two-thirds. Use figures for precise amounts larger than one, converting to decimals when possible.

Times Use figures except for noon and midnight Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but only if youre not talking about the top of the hour. Don't put 00 if you're talking about the top of an hour. Example: 1 p.m.; 11 a.m.; 2:30 p.m. Avoid redundancies, such as 9 a.m. this morning. Composition titles Titles of books, movies, operas, plays, poems, songs, television programs, lectures, speeches and works of art are placed in quotes. The exceptions to the above rule are the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material. Capitalize the first word and all principal words of a composition title. Titles of magazines and newspapers are capitalized. Dont place these titles in quotes. Titles are never underlined or placed in italics. Dates Use today, this morning, etc., as appropriate. Generally, do not use yesterday. Use Monday, Tuesday, etc., for days of the week within seven days before or after the current date. Use the month and a figure for dates beyond this range. See stylebook for month abbreviations. Party Affiliation Standard way of expressing party affiliation: Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. Also acceptable: Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said ... Never place party affiliation in parentheses. United States The abbreviation U.S. (with periods) is acceptable as a noun or adjective for United States. This is a somewhat recent change in AP style. Use your judgment on whether to spell out United States as a noun on first reference. Academics Dont abbreviate academic degrees. Use bachelors degree instead of B.A. and masters degree instead of M.A. Note the use of apostrophes. Capitalize and spell out formal titles, such as chancellor or dean, when they directly precede a name. In cases where the title isnt directly followed by the persons name, use lowercase. Lowercase modifiers such as history professor John Smith. In the case of academic department names, lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives. For example, English department versus math department.

Abbreviations Youll almost always spell out an organizations name on first reference. However, exceptions to this rule exist. The abbreviations of a few well-known organizations, AFL-CIO and FBI come to mind, are acceptable on all references. Consult your stylebook for specifics. The general idea is to avoid alphabet soup. Refer to North American Recycled and Prefabricated Steel Inc. as the company on second reference rather than as NARPS.

NEW 605 Summer 2009