If you ask any public relations or marketing professional what skill is valued most in their profession, many will tell you without hesitation that it’s writing. From creating press releases and blog posts to developing tweets and website content, almost every part of our job requires a strong knowledge of spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. This means from the beginning of our careers, having a working knowledge of AP style basics is essential to producing the best written content possible for our clients.
Whether you work at an agency or work on the client side in marketing for a mission-driven organization, clean and stylistically correct writing can go a long way for your brand.
Need a quick refresher course on AP style basics? Below are some common style guidelines to keep in mind when you’re tasked with a writing project.
Books, Movies, Art, etc.
When referencing the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art, always use quotation marks. Titles of magazines, newspapers, reference books and the Bible don’t require quotation marks. None of these titles should be italicized.
Examples: Harper Lee spent two and a half years writing “To Kill A Mockingbird.” USA Today was the first outlet to cover the story.
Dates
It’s not necessary to use commons if a date only includes the year and month. But, if the day, month and year are included, commas should be used. When writing decades or centuries, use the letter s without an apostrophe afterwards. Although, an apostrophe is needed if you’re expressing a decade without the numerals.
Examples: Katie’s birthday is on July 9. Margret-Ann is getting married on April 18, 2015. The American Jazz age took place during the 1920s. The Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships during the ‘90s.
Names
The first time a person is mentioned in a story, use their first and last name. Just their last name is necessary the second time they’re referenced.
Example: Michael Jordan played for the University of North Carolina for three years in college. Jordan then joined the Chicago Bulls in 1984, leading his team to six NBA championships during his professional career.
Writing in AP style can be a tough habit to form, but it’s worth investing time into learning the ins and outs. And if you are ever in doubt, grab or your AP Stylebook or do a quick internet search to find the answer. Your clients will thank you.
Photo Credit: Beeldredacteur
