This document provides an overview of Associated Press (AP) style guidelines for journalism. It discusses that AP style provides consistency in writing across media and aims for clarity, accuracy, and brevity. The document traces the origins of the AP to 1846 and notes it currently publishes 2,000 stories daily. Key guidelines covered include spelling, punctuation, capitalization, numbers, titles, and quoting formats. The document also lists class-specific style rules for identifying sources and structuring quotes in stories.

1. JRN 260 – AP Style
• Associated Press Style
provides language and
usage guidelines for
journalists, including digital,
newspaper and broadcast
when posting textual
content online.
• It presents stories as
cohesive, coherent and
consistent across the full
spectrum of
coverage.

2. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• AP Style values the
following
characteristics of news
writing:
- Consistency
- Clarity
- Accuracy
- Brevity

3. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• The history of the
Associated Press
begins in 1846, when
five New York
newspapers funded a
pony express route to
carry news accounts
from the battlefield
because the Post
Office wasn’t fast
enough.

4. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• In its roughly 175
years, the AP has
advanced the writing,
reporting and
distribution of news
amid massive
technological and
linguistic evolutions.

5. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• Today, the AP and its
members publish
2,000 stories a day
and take one million
photographs a year.
• That’s why it is the gold
standard of journalism.

6. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• The writing of 2,000
stories a day is guided
by the principles and
practices embodied in
the AP Stylebook,
whether on paper or
online.

7. JRN 260 – AP Style
• Importantly, the AP Stylebook is adaptive to changes in usage and
definitions.
• The organization understands that language is fluid and that usage
guidance is critical to accurate reporting.
• For example, in summer 2020 as protests and a virus raged, the AP
published guidance on usage of key words.

8. JRN 260 – AP Style

9. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• The following is a
summary of key AP
Style guidelines.
• Always check your AP
Stylebook when writing
stories.

10. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Some specific elements of AP Style control are:
- Spelling
- Punctuation
- Capitalization
- Addresses
- Numbers
- Titles

11. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key AP Style points:
- Spell percent. Don’t use the symbol. (No, that’s the way it used to
be. Today, AP Style requires use of the % symbol. That shows how
the usage guidance is fluid).
- Use $, don’t spell dollar.
- No italics in AP stories for newspapers, websites or magazines.
- Spell full name of a state.
- Major cities don’t require the state name but towns and cities do.
- Quinnipiac requires use of its as a pronoun.
- The Bobcats requires use of their as a pronoun.

12. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key AP Style points (continued):
- Months: when a month is used with a specific date,
abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.
-Spell out each month when using alone, or with a year
alone.
•

13. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key AP Style points (continued):
- In general, spell out one through nine: The Yankees finished
second. He had nine months to go.
- Use figures for 10 or above and whenever preceding a unit
of measure or referring to ages of people, animals, events or
things.
- See the entry for numerals as this usage is complicated.

14. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key AP Style points (continued):
- Use Dr. in first reference as a formal title only before the
name of an individual who holds a doctor of dental surgery,
doctor of medicine, doctor of optometry, doctor of osteopathic
medicine, doctor of podiatric medicine, or doctor of veterinary
medicine.
Do not use Dr. for a professor. Instead, when necessary or
appropriate, use this form: Cassandra Karoub, who has a
doctorate in mathematics, was lead researcher.

15. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key AP Style points (continued):
- Please note: the AP Stylebook is comprehensive but
includes specialty chapters that make for efficient finding
aids.
- For example, students who are pursuing sports
journalism should study the chapter on sports guidelines.

16. JRN 260 – AP
Style
• Here are some specific
structural instructions
that are AP-Style
adjacent for use in this
class.

17. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key Style Rules For The Class:
● Identify students as follows:
- Spelling of first name and last name
- Hometown and spelling
- Home state
- Class year (i.e., first-year, sophomore, etc.)
- Age
- Major

18. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key Style Rules For The Class (continued):
• In stories, the attribution must include all of the information on the
previous slide:
- “…,” said Rochelle Rochelle, 20, a sophomore journalism
major from New Haven, Connecticut.
• Use surname only on second and subsequent references for all
people in the story.

19. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key Style Rules For The Class (continued):
● Residents
- Spelling of first name and last name
- Address, including street, town and state composed per AP
Style
- Age
- Title (if applicable)
-”…,” said Rochelle Rochelle, 40, of 380 Whitney Ave. in New
Haven, Connecticut.

20. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key Style Rules For The Class (continued):
• People acting in official capacity(i.e., police officer)
- Spelling of first name and last name
- Name of department or agency
- Title (i.e., police officer. See AP Stylebook for specific usage
as titles used after names do not use initial caps)
- “The parking lots will be plowed soon,” said Shannon Grasso,
Quinnipiac’s parking director. “We will work to get it done.”

21. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key Style Rules For The Class (continued):
● Quote Format
- Always use said. Do not use says. Other words may be used
only if the context requires it.
- Do not open a quote with the person’s name. Use it after the
first sentence of the quote. If the person’s full name appears in a
transition to the quote, use only surname.

22. JRN 260 – AP Style
● Key Style Rules For The Class (continued):
● Quote Format (continued)
- Install complete quotes in fresh paragraphs, with the person
identified after the first sentence.
- Patrick Cockburn, a 20-year-old sophomore nursing major
from Valley Stream, New York, said he is shocked by the cold after
months of warm days and nights.
“The winter is crazy now,” said Cockburn. “I need the sun.”

23. JRN 260 – AP Style
• One way to learn AP Style
is to read AP stories and
internalize some of the
basic guidelines.
• Also, follow @APStylebook
on Twitter.