When reading The Globe and content from other media outlets, does it seem like they use specific spellings for every word? Or refuse to use certain words? Or maybe you’ve noticed that numbers are sometimes spelled out and sometimes aren’t?
We want to do something a little different in Globe’s Point this week and provide a brief overview on the way newspapers write their articles and why they write that way.
As a college student, you have likely been asked to write your papers in different styles depending on the class, such as MLA, APA or Chicago styles. In journalism there is also a style that we use and adhere to known as “AP Style.”
AP style, abbreviated from “Associated Press,” was introduced in 1951. This came after they released their first guide for news writing: “The Writing Handbook.” Since then, 56 other issues were released bi-yearly to add new words and rules accordingly.
The Associated Press is a newswire service that media outlets can rely on for reporting outside of their local area. Let’s say you’re reading the online version of a story on WPXI and it doesn’t relate to Pittsburgh at all – chances are, it was written by AP journalists and then sent to WPXI.
Most news outlets can trust content from the AP because its staff is composed of some of the best journalists in the world. If the AP is the bastion of good journalism, then of course The Globe and other credible student newspapers should listen to the recommendations listed in the AP stylebook.
One example of the use of AP style in writing is the lack of oxford commas. The oxford comma is usually the last comma in a list. The reason this isn’t used in AP style is to avoid confusion among the readers. Plus, it usually just looks bad if an oxford comma is in a news story.
What about with titles? Whenever a person’s title is used, there are a couple different ways to write it. If the title comes before their name, then all the words in the title are capitalized. However, if the title of the name comes afterward, the words are not capitalized unless there is a proper noun in the title.
When writing, journalists often have to make the choice between whether a person’s title should be before their name or after. The choice often lies on how long the title is or if there is enough justification to have it after their name. Usually, we put titles before a person’s name.
“What about state names?” you might ask. “Those look pretty weird.”
Yes, states have their own format in AP style – the section for states in the stylebook is larger than most entries, as other entries are usually just one sentence. What may seem confusing to both casual readers and newer journalists is that state abbreviations are not the same as postal code abbreviations. For example, the abbreviations for Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are not “PA” or “MA,” we use Pa. and Mass.
Numbers are also written differently in AP style. For instance, numbers one through nine are always written in full, while numbers 10 and above are written in numeral form. This is why you don’t normally see eight typed out like “8” or a high number like 20,845 spelled out like “twenty thousand eight-hundred forty-five.”
But of course, there are few exceptions to this rule.
For example, a person’s age is always written in numerals even if the person is younger than 11. Percentages and dates are also written in numerical form.
Dates can also be written a few different ways in this style. When a month is alone in a sentence or combined with a year, you write the full month name. When there is a day attached, you write the AP abbreviation for the date and the day’s number.
For example, “January 22nd” would be written as “Jan. 22,” while January 2025 is an acceptable form.
If you notice any other phrases or words that are consistent in newspapers but maybe not so much in literature and casual texting, then chances are that it’s yet another AP style rule. We don’t recommend reading the AP style book cover to cover and only using terms in it, especially if you’re not a journalist. That would be weirdly restrictive.
