The AP Stylebook is the No. 1 most beneficial resource when writing journalistically. A new version is released each year, but larger changes come every few years. Learning how to navigate the AP book is an important step in increasing your AP Style knowledge. Here are some tips to keep in mind when looking through the book:
- The book is how writers find out how certain words are spelled, punctuated or abbreviated in AP Style stories. Familiarizing yourself with the AP Stylebook is essential to achieving overall fluidity in your writing.
- Entries are alphabetized. Think of it like a dictionary. Many individual words or phrases can be found through a simple alphabetical search. Others are categorized under sections, such as “numerals,” “government titles,” “datelines” and “state names”
- The book also includes a punctuation, data journalism, social media, sports writing and a media law/ethics section.
Example: If you were searching for whether to use numerals (1,2,3,4,5, etc.) or spell out ages, you turn to the “numerals” entry in the stylebook, under “N,” of course. The 2019 stylebook’s numeral entry breaks down when to use numerals. It says:
AGES: a 6-year-old girl; an 8-year-old law; the 7-year-old house. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun. (entry continues on page 204)
Sometimes when looking for an entry in the stylebook, readers will come across entries that lead you to the right place or direct to other entries providing more details. An example of this would be if you were looking for whether to abbreviate a state name and searched for the name of the state. The entry for Michigan says:
Abbreviate Mich. in datelines only; spell out in stories. Postal code: MI. See state names.
Visiting the “state names” entry provides more detailed information on including state names in stories.
The next section of the AP Style resources is AP Style Specifics.