AP Style Guide

• Associated Press style


  Guidelines for news writing used by many newspapers, magazines and public relations offices across the United States
• Purpose of Associated Press style

  • Provide consistent guidelines for grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage in publications with multiple writers and editors
  • Aim to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language
• Guiding principles behind AP style

  • Consistency
  • Clarity
  • Accuracy
  • Brevity
• Common AP style guidelines


  • Abbreviations and acronyms
  • Addresses
  • Ages
  • Books, periodicals, reference works, and other types of compositions
  • Dates, months, years, days of the week
  • Datelines
  • Dimensions
  • Miles
  • Names
  • Numerals
  • Punctuation
  • States and cities
  • Times
  • Titles
  • Technological terms
• The Associated Press Stylebook includes more than 5,000 entries
• For a complete guide to AP style, writers should consult the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook or visit the AP Stylebook website