The Associated Press Style

What is AP Style?

Before I became a communication major this semester I had no idea what Associated Press style was. I’ve grown up with American Psychological Association style and Modern Language Association style my whole high school and college career. When told that I needed to get to know this new style I though “Why? What’s so different?” Turns out there’s a whole lot.

There’s a reason why there is a handbook that you can pick up when you have a question; there are a TON of rules. I’ll start by saying that AP style is the writing style of journalists and of media law. It is a way to make sure that anyone involved in media and writing writes the same way. If you want to get into journalism or public relations, you are going to have to know how to do this to avoid looking like you haven’t educated yourself on the subject.

What’s in the book?

Almost anything and everything you need to know about media writing is in this book. How to write numbers, addresses, TV show titles, and what the difference between a burglary and a robbery is, are all things covered in the book. It certainly seems like a lot, but when you’re on a tight deadline and you hand a story over to your editor, you need to both be on the same page to get it edited and printed quickly.

Difficulties

I find that the book is extremely helpful when you need to look something up. There are a lot of rules in it that I think are pretty commonsense and easy to remember. But there are also a lot that are not.

Should I get into a position where I am writing press releases and editing papers I may need to be able to recall that information without looking at the book every time. That seems to be the hardest thing for me. The constant rule changes are also something that I think I will struggle with. I do follow AP Stylebook on Twitter so I get updates, but It can be hard to keep up with.

Hey, I’m new to the game and it will take some getting used to, but everything important takes a little time.