AP Style Rules for Back-to-School, Football Season and More
We know journalists are busy, and it can be difficult to keep up with recent AP Stylebook changes. So we’ve done the work for you, rounding up a few of the recent significant — and just plain interesting — updates to the AP Stylebook.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Whether you’re covering students’ return to classrooms, football players’ return to the field, upcoming holidays or sensitive mental health topics, the AP Style rules and reminders below can help ensure you’re using the related terms accurately.
Test Your Back-to-School Knowledge
Students, teachers and parents are embarking on a new school year, making it the perfect time to brush up on your education-related terminology:
- Degrees:
- Avoid abbreviations when mentioning a person’s academic degrees. (Rachel has a doctorate in sports medicine.) If you need to include several people’s degrees and writing them out in full would be cumbersome, abbreviations like B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. are acceptable (but only after a full name).
- Include an apostrophe in bachelor’s and master’s, but not associate degree (it’s not possessive).
- Principal:
- Principal is a noun and adjective meaning someone or something first in rank, authority, importance or degree, like a school principal. Principle is a noun that means a fundamental truth, law, doctrine or motivating force.
- Grades:
- The correct format is pre-K and K-12.
- Generally, no hyphen is needed when referring to a grade level, like fifth grader or second grade.
- Miscellaneous:
- AP style uses syllabuses as the plural for syllabus, not syllabi, for outlines of what courses will cover.
- When writing about academic departments, use lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives: the communications department, the department of history, the department of English. Capitalize the official and formal name of a department, such as the University of Washington Department of Architecture.
Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Reminders
September is Suicide Prevention Month, which includes Suicide Prevention Day (Sept. 10). PR Newswire has been distributing a number of related press releases in recent weeks and is anticipating more ahead of World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10) and National Stress Awareness Day (Nov. 5).
So, we wanted to share a few terminology reminders for these topics:
- For U.S. stories mentioning suicide, suicide prevention experts recommend including the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 or chat at http://988Lifeline.org. A good rule of thumb is to include it high up in the story, within the first few paragraphs, in an editor’s note. Similar information can be included in stories from other countries.
- Avoid using the phrase committed suicide, which can imply a criminal act. Alternative phrases include killed himself, took her own life or died by suicide.
- Suicide stories should not go into detail on methods used, which are often not necessary. The same goes for the contents of notes or letters.
- Describe a person as having depression only if relevant to the story, and if a medical diagnosis has been made or the person uses the term. Be clear on the type of depression if relevant (bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, etc.).
- The terms depressing or depressed are acceptable in general if not intended as a slur, though alternatives like disheartening or discouraging are often preferred.
- Avoid descriptions that connote pity, such as afflicted with, suffers from, victim of, battling and demons.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, recognizes the “achievements and contributions of Hispanic American champions who have inspired others to achieve success.”
If you’re covering the Hispanic community, here are a few rules and reminders:
- Hispanic describes a person from — or whose ancestors were from — a Spanish-speaking land or culture. Latino, Latina or Latinx are sometimes preferred. Follow the person’s preference.
- According to the AP Stylebook guide on race-related coverage: “In all coverage — not just race-related coverage — strive to accurately represent the world, or a particular community, and its diversity through the people you quote and depict in all formats. Omissions and lack of inclusion can render people invisible.”
- When deciding whether to identify people by race, consider if it’s necessary for the story or if it’s an irrelevant factor.
- Do not include a hyphen in terms like Mexican American or Hispanic American.
Upcoming Holidays
Remember, it’s the holiday season, not the Holiday season.
- Indigenous Peoples Day: Do not include an apostrophe! It takes place on the second Monday of October (celebrated instead of Columbus Day in some locations). This year, it will be on Oct. 13.
- Halloween: Celebrated on Oct. 31 and known for trick-or-treating and displaying jack-o’-lanterns (note the hyphens).
- Thanksgiving: The fourth Thursday in November (Nov. 27 this year) is Thanksgiving Day (capitalized) in the U.S. In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. It is also sometimes referred to as Turkey Day.
- Friendsgiving is one word.
- GivingTuesday – when individuals are encouraged to make donations to nonprofits – is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is also written as one word.
Football Season
This year’s football season is off to an exciting start. Whether you’re covering the games or just want to sprinkle some football-related terms into your writing, here are a few reminders:
- These terms are one word:
- Playoff (n., adj.)
- Quarterback
- Handoff
- Kickoff (n., adj.)
- Touchdown
- Handoff
- Preseason and postseason
- These ones are multiple words:
- Out of bounds (adv.)
- End line
- Goal line
- End zone
- Play off (v.)
- Kick off (v.)
- These ones include dashes:
- Out-of-bounds (adj.)
- Fourth-and-1 (adj.)
- Use figures for yardage: The 5-yard line, a 10-yard gain, etc. Figures should also be used for scores (The game ended with a score of 28-14) and team records (3-6-2).
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Rocky Parker is the Manager of Audience and Journalist Engagement at Cision PR Newswire. She's been with the company since 2010 and has worked with journalists and bloggers as well as PR and comms professionals. Outside of work, she can be found trying a new recipe, binging a new show, or cuddling with her pitbull, Hudson.
