One of the first things a student in a beginning journalism course learns about is Associated Press style, or AP style for short. AP style is simply a standardized way of writing everything from dates to street addresses to job titles.
AP style was developed and is maintained by The Associated Press, the world's oldest news service.
Learning AP style is certainly not the most exciting or glamorous aspect of a career in journalism, but getting a handle on it is absolutely necessary.
Why? Because AP style is the gold standard for print journalism. It's used by the vast majority of newspapers and news websites in the U.S. A reporter who never bothers to learn even the basics of AP style, who gets into the habit of submitting stories filled with AP style errors, is likely to find himself covering the sewage treatment board beat for a long, long time.
So get started here with the basics of AP Style, then test your knowledge with our AP Style quizzes.
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