AP Style

The Associated Press Stylebook is an invaluable text for journalists. Its a good habit to flip through the pages regularly. I keep my copy next to the toilet paper roll. If you own a copy; mark, highlight or dog-ear pages.

Blog posts should encourage reader comments. Keep in mind however that you don't want readers commenting on your posts because they've found errors. After searching the book, I've come up with my list of 10 commonly used rules followed by their page numbers.

Addresses: Abbreviate Ave., Blvd, and St. only with a numbered address. Spell out and capitalize addresses without numbers. Always use figures for addresses and spell out first through ninth. Use figures for 10th and above. (6)

Age: Use figures for people or animals but spell out ages for inanimate objects. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives, before a noun or as a substitute for a noun. (9)

Directions: Lowercase north, south, east and west as directions. Capitalize as regions. (73)

It's, Its: It's is a contraction for it is or it has.
Its is the possessive form of the neuter pronoun. (127)

Months: Capitalize months of the year in all uses. When used with a date, only abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. (159)

Numerals: Spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence, with the exception of calendar years. Spell out numerals one through nine and use figures for 10-999. (172-173)

Obscenities: Do not use in stories unless part of a direct quote, with a compelling reason. If a full quote that contains obscenities cannot be dropped, but there is no compelling reason for the obscenity, replace all letters except the first with hyphens. (174)

Quotations in news: Never alter quotations even to correct a minor grammatical error or word usage. Do not use substandard spellings such as gonna or wanna unless the quote is for a feature. (203)

Route numbers: Do not abbreviate route. Use figures and capitalize route when used with a figure. (215)

States: Eight states are never abbreviated. Spell out Hawaii and Alaska because they are not part of the contiguous United States. Spell out states with five letters or fewer: Iowa, Idaho, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

If you still need help double checking your style, Tim Harrower of Inside Reporting has created a list of free online quizzes to test your knowledge of the AP Stylebook.