AP tips Spring 2013

AP tips

• Spell out an organization's name the first time you use it: University of Massachusetts on first mention; UMass after that
• Time: 9:25 a.m. and 9 a.m., midnight and noon. When describing when an event will occur, say the time before the date. For instance: The event begins at 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 10. (NOT 10th)

• Names of most websites and apps are capitalized without quotes, like Facebook or Instagram. Use quotation marks for "Farmville" and other computer game apps.    
• While titles are capitalized and abbreviated when placed before a person's name, titles that follow a person's name are generally spelled out and not capitalized. An exception is President. Example: Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts was in attendance at the school's basketball game yesterday. (vs. Gov. Deval Patrick)

• Round off numbers greater than a million: 2.77 million (vs 2, 752,123) About $2.35 million (vs. $2,349,999)
• Capitalize days of the week. Do not abbreviate except when in a graphic or headline
• In football, use numerics for yards not downs Fourth-and 4, Run for 20, Punted from their own 3
• Street, Avenue and Boulevard are abbreviated when they are part of a numbered address. Court, Drive, Lane and Way are not abbreviated. For example: He lives on 123 Hilly Ave. Hilly Avenue is in South Amherst. She lives at 45 Pond Drive.
• Lowercase for seasons. For example: Her favorite season is spring.
• Use figures for all temperatures except zero and spell out degrees. Wednesday will be in the 70s (no apostrophe).
• More than vs over. Use more than when referring to numbers. For example, he had to run more than 20 miles in the marathon. NOT He had to run over 20 miles.