Did you Forget About the AP Stylebook?

March 28, 2025

I was raised by an English teacher and a photojournalist. Our bookshelves housed a few encyclopedias, a well-worn Merriam-Webster dictionary, and assorted language and grammar guides. My favorite was the thesaurus. By the time I was taking journalism classes in highschool, I was well-acquainted with the Associated Press Stylebook.

Having some basic rules, or standards, is really helpful for those of us writing articles, motion graphics, and graphic design.

Is this word appropriate in this context?

Is it hyphenated?

What’s the acronym for that organization?

Sure, you can “Google it” … but this impulse doesn’t always pay off as we hope. I suspect a lot of people fall into one of these patterns:

Accept the first result.
Side-quest!!!

For group #1: You probably have an 80% chance of being correct, and a 5% chance of successfully retracing your steps if the source is called into question later.

For group #2: Thirty minutes have passed. You are deep into some esoteric forum you found on Page Three of the search results. You’re skimming a heated debate about the Oxford Comma, rooting for the underdog on the forum. You don’t know what region, era, or context their opinion is relevant to. You don’t know their credentials. But man, they sound right….

The smart folks from either group will take some time to fact-check or cross-reference, which just means more research. Some of us will collapse from decision-fatigue. Lately, I just feel like it takes longer to find and verify straightforward information online.

Sometimes you need a “single source of authority.” A book is often the most convenient, immutable, reliable source you can get.

I have an old* copy of the AP Stylebook near my desk, where it’s close enough to grab the book instead of my keyboard.

For those unfamiliar: The AP Stylebook is a reference resource published by The Associated Press. Among other things, my copy contains a list of common words and phrases along with guidelines for how to use them in print. These entries are organized like a dictionary, but instead of definitions, they focus on things like context, rules for capitalization, and abbreviations. The book offers clarity, and it’s remarkably concise.

Photo of the 1998 “AP Stylebook and Libel Manual”

Last week I was typing up some graphics with organizations like “Something Something Association.” I wasn’t sure of the right way to shorten “Association” (I know one way not to do it) so I flipped open my book. Here’s what my copy of the AP Stylebook says:

Photo of AP Stylebook entry for “Association” reads “Do not abbreviate.”

“Do not abbreviate.” DONE. That’s good enough for me.

There’s something really refreshing about getting the answer you actually wanted. No pictures. No opinions. No ads. No woefully-inaccurate AI regurgitation of all the above.

Maybe it’s strange to describe a print resource as an exciting offline adventure, but I often get stuck in patterns and have to be reminded of alternative paths.

Unfortunately, I belong to Group #2 described above. I burned another ten minutes reading adjacent Stylebook entries FOR FUN …

… distractions were not invented by the internet.

A final note: There are numerous sources to choose from, what matters is consistency and meeting the expectations for your field, the medium, and the audience. I’m more accustomed to APA and MLA style when writing articles, for example. Debating best practices is not as productive as doing the work; find what works for you, and get back to creating.

*When I say “old”: I have the 1998 edition! My Dad is retired from journalism, and I got his old copy. It’s a cool heirloom, but I am due for an upgrade. Depending on your goals or requirements, you may need the latest edition. For most of us, we can go back a few editions and adopt a used copy from the local bookstore or get a new copy at Bookshop.org.

Did you Forget About the AP Stylebook?

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