AP Style Journalism Guidelines

AP STYLE JOURNALISM GUIDELINES Consistency is a key factor to good yearbook writing. Your staff can achieve consistency in the book’s copy by following an established style. The AP Stylebook , produced by The Associated Press, provides guidelines on spelling, usage, grammar and punctuation, and is widely used for journalistic publications. This quick reference shares AP guidelines for some of the common style consistency issues that impact high school yearbook staffs.

Capitalization Do Capitalize Athletic team names: Hawks, Jaguars. Geographic regions: Storms hit the Midwest. Official course titles: Biology I, Algebra II. Specific event titles: the State Basketball Tournament, the Homecoming Dance, Twin Cities Regional Science Fair. • • • •

Don’t Capitalize Class names: freshman, sophomore. Seasons: summer, winter. Names of school subjects: math, science. The abbreviations a.m. and p.m., c.o.d. and mph. Compass directions: Turn north at the light. • • • • •

Abbreviations Do Abbreviate College names previously mentioned in a story. After first mention, abbreviate in all caps with no periods: UCLA, MSU. Well-known abbreviations, such as PTA and NFL. Abbreviate in all caps with no periods. States when preceded by a city name, except Alaska, Hawaii and states with five or fewer letters. Abbreviations found in the AP Stylebook  should  should be used as opposed to U.S. Postal Service abbreviations. United States, when used as an adjective (for example, U.S. exports). Spell out when used as a noun. •

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Don’t Abbreviate State names that stand alone. Organizations that are not commonly known. Days of the week. The words percent (except in a list) and cents. Spell out “and” unless “&” is part of a name. • • • • •

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On first mention of a person in a story, use his/her first and last name and appropriate identification: sophomore Shari Perkins. After first mention, refer to students by their last names in all stories. Short titles should precede the name and be capitalized: Principal Joe Jones. Long titles should be placed behind the name, set off by a comma and should not be capitalized: Mary Smith, director of student involvement.

AP STYLE JOURNALISM GUIDELINES, CONT. Numbers Use Numerals When referring to numbers 10 and above. When referring to age, weight, size, dimensions, prices and degrees. In addresses. In dates. Do not use ordinals: July 4, not July 4th. In scores. Use a hyphen: The Cardinals edged the Hawks, 25-22. • • • • •

Spell Out Numbers one through nine are generally written out. Grades: ninth, tenth. Percents and hours of the day. Spell out a number when it starts a sentence unless the number is a specific year. • • • •

Other Number Rules For money and time, eliminate unnecessary zeros: $10, 7 p.m. Use noon and midnight instead of 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. When writing out a date span, use a hyphen instead of the word to: April 11-30. • • •

Punctuation Apostrophe For plural nouns that do not end in s and all singular nouns, use an apostrophe followed by s to indicate possession: boy’s shorts, Cherie’s book, Francis’s telephone, group’s agenda. For plural nouns ending in s, indicate possession by using an apostrophe without an s: cheerleaders’ routine, classes’ responses. Use an apostrophe to indicate omitted letters or numbers: ’06-’07 school year. Single letters must be followed by an apostrophe s. Multiple letters require the s but no apostrophe: M’s, ABCs. In team names, an apostrophe is not needed behind boys and girls: boys soccer, girls basketball. •

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General Punctuation Guidelines In a simple series, don’t use commas before “and”: Red, white and blue. Avoid exclamation points. Use a period instead. Use a hyphen to link two or more words that modify a single word: Full-color printing. • • •