Common Associated Press style problems for beginning editors.

1. Style
By Bradley Wilson, Ph.D.

2. Why learn AP Style?
• It helps to ensure consistency.
• It is the de facto standard for journalists.
• Many companies supplement AP style with
local style.
• Credibility.

3. Titles
• Proper titles before a name are capitalized.
Lowercase after a name.
• President Jesse Rogers came to class.
• Jesse Rogers, the president of Midwestern State
University, fell.
• Capitalize titles only when used with an
individual’s name.
• He wanted to be a university president.
• Use courtesy titles (Mr., Mrs., etc.) only in direct
quotations or special situations.

4. Titles
• Abbreviate the following titles before a name:
• Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Rep., the Rev., Sen. and
some military titles.
• Separate long titles from the name, after the
name, with a comma.
• Mark Murray, the assistant to the assistant director for
technology systems for the Arlington Independent School
District, won the award.

5. Academic Titles
• Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as
chancellor, chairman, etc. when they precede
a name.
• Lowercase modifiers such as department
Chairperson Jane Doe.

6. Titles
• Use Dr. to refer for doctor of dental surgery,
doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, or
doctor of podiatric medicine.
• Preferred not to use an abbreviation for
academic degrees.
• Frank LoMonte, who had a doctorate in jurisprudence, …

7. Composition Titles
• Capitalize the principal words and the first
word. Lowercase words fewer than four
letters otherwise.
• “Gone With the Wind”
• Put quotation marks around composition
titles except the Bible and catalogs of
reference material.

8. Attribution
• Refer to both men and women by first and
last name on first reference.
• Use “said” as the verb.
• Period and commas always go inside
quotation marks.

9. Abbreviations
• Do not use abbreviations or acronyms which
the reader would not quickly recognize.
• Omit periods in an acronym unless the result
would spell an unrelated word.

10. Abbreviations
• Abbreviate company, corporation, incorporated
and limited after name of a corporate entity.
• Student Publications, Inc.
• Abbreviate months of more than five letters
when used with numbered dates
• Sept. 11, 2001; July 17, 1965,
• Organizations widely recognized
• CIA, FBI, GOP

11. Academic Degrees
• Bachelor of arts
• Bachelor of science
• Bachelor’s degree
• Master’s degree
• Ph.D.

12. City Names With States
• Only 30 cities do NOT require a state.
• Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, New York, Houston, Miami, San
Antonio, Washington, for example.
• City, State
• Spell out Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Idaho,
Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Abbreviate
others when used with city names.

13. Dimensions
• Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards,
etc. to indicate depth, height, length and
width.
• She is 5 feet 6 inches around.

14. Numbers
• Spell out one through nine in general use. Use
numbers for larger figures.
• Spell out casual expressions.
• It was a one in a million chance.
• Use figures for ages.
• The 10-year-old boy was missing.
• The sassy cat was 8 years old.

15. Addresses
• Use numbers as part of an address.
• Use Ave., Blvd. and St. only with numbered
addresses. Spell out all similar words.
• Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth
when used as street names.
• Abbreviate compass points.
• He lived at 1600 N. Pennsylvania Ave.

16. Dollars
• Use figures and the $ sign.
• Jaime sold her green eggs for $3 each.
• For figures more than $1 million, use the $
and numerals up to two decimal places.
• The budget was $4 million in the red.
• Spell out the word cents and lowercase.
• Gum used to cost 5 cents.

17. Temperature
• Fahrenheit
• 86 F or 86 degrees Fahrenheit
• Celsius (not centigrade)
• 32 C or 32 degrees Celsius

18. Measurements
• A liquid pint is equal to 16 ounces or two
cups.
• A liquid quart is equal to 32 ounces.
• A gallon is equal to 128 ounces. There are 3.8
liters in a gallon.
• A liter is 1,000 milliliters.
• milli (1/1,000), kilo (1/100), kilo (100)

19. Seasons
• Lowercase fall, winter, spring and summer in
general use

20. Trademarks
• Jell-O (flavored gelatin)
• Kleenex (facial tissue)
• Xerox (photocopy)
• Kitty Litter (cat box litter)
• Velcro (fabric fastener)
• Vaseline (petroleum jelly)

21. Internet
• e-mail
• http://www.thewichitan.com
• Internet
• Emoticon (also called smileys)
• :-)
• Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
• World Wide Web (or the Web)

22. Capitalization
• Capitalize nouns that are the unique identification
for specific things.
• The Apollo 11 astronauts returned to Earth.
• He was a down-to-earth guy.
• Capitalize common nouns when they are an
integral part of full name.
• Kansas River, Republication Party, East Germany
• Lowercase common noun elements in plural uses.

23. Capitalization
• Capitalize words derived from a proper noun
and still depend on it for their meaning
• Shakesperean, Marxism, English literature
• french fries, manhattan cocktail, herculean effort
• Capitalize principle words in names of books,
movies, plays, poems, etc.

24. Capital & Capitol
• Capitol
• capitalize when referring to building in Washington or
state capitols
• The Texas Capitol is in Austin
• Capital
• The city where a seat of government is located.
• Do not capitalize.

25. Time
• Use figures except noon and midnight.
• a.m.
• p.m.
• noon
• midnight
• Capitalize the full name of the time in force
within a particular zone.

26. Assignment
• Write FIVE sentences containing AP Style
errors, errors that we have NOT covered in
today. They may also contain errors we have
discussed today as well as spelling, grammar
and punctuation errors.

27. BY BRADLEY WILSON, PH.D.
BRADLEYWILSON08@GMAIL.COM
BRADLEYWILSONONLINE.NET
TWITTER: BRADLEYWILSON09
PHOTO BY KEVIN NIBUR