Associated Press Style
Quick Reference Guide
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Style
Rules
Examples
Academic
degrees
● Use an apostrophe and spell out academic degrees
● Use abbreviations for degrees only when you need to include a list
of credentials after a name; set them off with commas.
She has a bachelor’s degree.
Peter White, LL.D., Ph.D., was the keynote
speaker.
Acronyms
● Don’t use them
● Spell out on first mention. On subsequent mentions, use generic
terms such as the board, the division, etc.
● Don’t put acronyms in parentheses after the first reference (for
example, “The Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) …”).
The state Board of Health meets the third
Wednesday of each month. The board’s
agenda is available about a week before the
meeting.
Addresses
● Spell out all generic parts of street names (avenue, north, road)
when no specific address is given.
● When a number is used, abbreviate avenue (Ave.), boulevard
(Blvd.), street (St.) and directional parts of street names.
Our main campus is on Cherry Creek South
Drive.
The suspect was identified as Michael Shawn
of 1512 N. Mission St.
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Capitalization
● Do not capitalize federal, state, department, division, board,
program, section, unit, etc., unless the word is part of a formal
name.
● Capitalize common nouns such as party, river and street when they
are part of a proper name.
● Capitalize the word room when used with the number of the room
or when part of the name of a specially designated room
● Lowercase directional indicators except when they refer to specific
geographic regions or popularized names for those regions.
● Capitalize formal titles that come directly before a name.
● Lowercase formal titles that appear on their own or follow a name.
● Never capitalize job descriptions regardless of whether they are
before or after a name
The Water Quality Control Division
Sarah contacted the division.
the Libertarian Party, the Ohio River.
Room 315, the Carson Room.
Go south on University Boulevard; the
Northeast; the Midwest.
Gov. John Hickenlooper; Public Health
Programs Director Joni Reynolds
The governor said to wear orange; Joni
Reynolds is the director of Public Health
Programs.
shortstop, police officer, attorney
Dates, days
and times
● Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd or th.
● When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate Jan., Feb.,
Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.
● When a phrase lists only a month and year, spell out the month
and do not separate the month and the year with commas.
● When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year
with commas.
● Use figures except for noon and midnight
● Use a.m. or p.m. (with periods)
Fall Open House will be held on Oct. 8 (not
Oct. 8th).
The new website will launch in December
2024.
Jan. 15, 2008, was the first day of the
semester.
The meeting is at 4 p.m. Jan. 15.
Names
● Use a person’s first and last name the first time he or she is
mentioned. On second reference, use only last name with no title.
● Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless
they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate
between people who have the same last name.
Water Quality Control Division Director Steve
Gunderson led the panel. Gunderson said
clean water is very important.
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Numbers
● In general, spell out numbers one through nine, and use figures for
numbers 10 and higher. There are many exceptions that always
take figures. Common exceptions include:
○ Addresses
○ Ages, but not for inanimate objects
○ Cents
○ Dollars. Do not include a period and two zeroes when
referring to an even dollar figure.
○ Dates. Dates take cardinal numbers.
○ Dimensions
○ Highways
○ Millions, billions
○ Percentages. Percent is one word.
○ Speed
○ Temperatures
○ Times. Do not include a colon and two zeroes when
referring to an even hour.
● Spell out numbers used at the beginning of a sentence. Exception:
Never spell out years.
● Use commas to set off each group of three digits in numerals
higher than 999 (except for years and addresses)
● Use decimals (up to two places) for amounts in the millions and
billions that do not require a precise figure.
● Add an s but no apostrophe to a number to make it plural. The
same rule applies to decades. Use an apostrophe on a decade only
if cutting off the initial figures.
● Use hyphens for phone numbers
7 Park Pl.
the 4-year-old cat; the four-year-old car
8 cents
$3
March 4, not March 4th
5 foot 2 inches, 5-by-9 cell
Route 7
6 billion people
1 percent
8 mph
2 degrees or 2 F
4 p.m.
Ten thousand people marched on the capital.
1999 was a bad year for technology
companies.
12,650
$3.74 billion
She kept rolling 7s; the 1980s; the ‘80s
303-692-2000
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Punctuation,
quotation
Apostrophe
For plural nouns ending in s, add only an apostrophe.
For singular common nouns ending in s, add 's
For singular proper names ending in s, use only an apostrophe:
For singular proper names ending in s sounds such as x, ce, and z, use 's
For plurals of a single letter, add 's
Do not use 's for plurals of numbers or multiple letter combinations
Bullets
Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a
colon. The department prefers bullets, but punctuate them per AP style:
After each bullet, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of
each item.
Colon
● Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or
the start of a complete sentence.
● Colons go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the
quoted material.
Comma
● Don’t use a comma before a conjunction in a simple series.
● Use a comma for a series that included elements containing and or
or
Hyphen
● Use hyphens to link all the words in a compound adjective.
● Do not use a hyphen if the construction includes very or an adverb
ending in –ly
Parentheses
● Avoid using parentheses when possible. If parentheses are
required the rules are: If the parenthetical is a complete,
independent sentence, place the period inside the parentheses; if
not, the period goes outside.
the students' grades, states' rights
the hostess's invitation, the witness's answer
Brandeis’ mission
Marx's theories
She received all A's this semester.
the 1960s
There were three issues with the project:
expense, time and feasibility.
The dinner choices were chicken, cod or beef.
The menu offered a choice of bacon and eggs,
pancakes, or waffles.
“The five-volume report called for cleaning up
the area over a 10-year period.”
a very big project, barely legal procedures
“The governor said he will ‘leave no stone
unturned’ in the matter,” the director said.
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Period
● Use only one space after the end of a sentence. Period. Here’s
why.
Quotation marks
● Single quotation marks should be used only for a quote within a
quote. Do not use quotation marks for word emphasis.
● The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.
● The dash, semicolon, question mark and exclamation point go
within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter
only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.
Semicolon
● Use a semicolon to clarify a series that includes a number of
commas. Include a semicolon before the conjunction.
Spacing
● Use only one space between sentences. Here's why.
“Did you wish to file a complaint?” he asked.
Who said, "Fame means when your computer
modem is broken, the repair guy comes out
to your house a little faster"?
Parts for the carrier are made in Tampa, Fla.;
Austin, Texas; and Baton Rouge, La.
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East St. Louis, Ill., or West Palm Beach, Fla.
the west end, northern Los Angeles. South
Side (Chicago), Lower East Side (New York).
State abbreviations Cities not requiring state names
Ala.
Md.
N.D.
Atlanta
Milwaukee
Ariz.
Mass.
Okla.
Baltimore
Minneapolis
Ark.
Mich.
Ore.
Boston
New Orleans
Calif.
Minn.
Pa.
Chicago
New York
Colo.
Miss.
R.I.
Cincinnati
Oklahoma
City
Conn.
Mo.
S.C.
Cleveland
Philadelphia
Del.
Mont.
S.D.
Dallas
Phoenix
Fla.
Neb.
Tenn.
Denver
Pittsburgh
Ga.
Nev.
Va.
Detroit
St. Louis
Ill.
N.H.
Vt.
Honolulu
Salt Lake
City
Ind.
N.J.
Wash.
Houston
San Antonio
Kan.
N.M.
W. Va.
Indianapolis
San Diego
Ky.
N.Y.
Wis.
Las Vegas
San
Francisco
La.
N.C.
Wyo.
Los Angeles
Seattle
Miami
Washington
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Titles
● These formal titles are capitalized and abbreviated as shown when
used before a name both inside and outside quotations: Dr.,Gov.,
Lt. Gov., Rep., Sen. On second reference, use the last name only.
● Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a
person’s name
● Lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s
name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by
commas.
● Lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title.
● If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with
commas before the person’s name.
● Abbreviate and capitalize most titles when they are used directly
before a name
● Spell out titles with names used in direct quotes with the exception
of Dr., Mr. and Mrs.
● Lowercase formal titles that appear on their own or follow a name
● Never capitalize job descriptions -- shortstop, police officer,
attorney and so on.
● Titles of books, movies, recordings, television shows and similar
works are set off in quotation marks, with all principal words
capitalized
● Titles of magazines, newspapers and reference works get no special
treatment
President Bush; President-elect Obama; Sen.
Harry Reid
Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior
senator from Indiana Dick Lugar
former President George H.W. Bush
Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of
Homeland Security,
Sen. Boxer posed hard questions for Rice.
“Governor Hickenlooper is obviously no
Peyton Manning,” she said.
Will Allison, director of the Air Pollution
Control Division
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,”
“Letters from Iwo Jima,” “Memory Almost
Full,” “Grey’s Anatomy”
The New York Times, Today’s Broadcast
Technological
terms
Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common
technological terms.
BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
download
eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins
a sentence)
e-book
e-book reader
e-reader
email
cellphone
Facebook
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Technological
terms
Google, Googling, Googled
hashtag
IM (IMed, IMing; for first reference, use
instant messenger)
Internet (after first reference, the Net)
iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod
when the word begins a sentence)
LinkedIn
social media
smartphone
the Net
Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
World Wide Web
website
Web page
webmaster
YouTube
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