AP/La Voz cheat sheet

Academic Degrees

• Preferred: An associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate. Also: A.A., B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

• Lower case professor before a name. Do not abbreviate. Do not use D. or doctor to refer to people with Ph.D.s or Ed.D.s

Use apostrophes in bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, etc., but there is no possessive in bachelor of arts or master of science or associate degree.

Use abbreviation as B.A., M.A., LL.D., and Ph.D. only when need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome- use after full names (never just last).

An academic abbreviation is set off by commas.

EXAMPLE. John Snow, Ph.D., spoke.

Do not proceed a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference.

Abbreviations/acronyms

• Use only recognizable abbreviations and acronyms. E.g. CIA, DJ, FBI, ID, NAACP, TV. Do not place unfamiliar acronyms in parentheses. Abbreviate Gov., Sen. before names (not DASG senators).

• Do not follow the full name of an organization or company with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses or set off by dashes. If an abbreviation or acronym would not be clear on second reference without this arrangement, do not use it.

• Names not commonly before the public should not be reduced to acronyms solely to save a few words.

• Avoid in headlines.

• Generally, omit periods in acronyms unless the result would spell an unrelated word.

• Use periods in most two-letter abbreviations.

Ages

• Use figures, and know when to hyphenate.

• Use when deemed relevant to the situation
• Profiles, obituaries, significant career milestones and achievements unusual for their age
• Always use figures
• Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjective before a noun or as a substitute for a noun

Addresses

• Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. with numbered addresses. Otherwise, spell out street names.

• All similar words (alley, drive, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out.
• Capitalize when part of a normal name, lower case when used alone or with two or more names.
• Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names.

Among, amid, burned, learned

• Eschew British spellings. (Amongst, amidst, burnt, learnt).

Bold, all caps, italics - DON'T!

• Do not use bold, italics or all caps for emphasis or foreign phrases or composition titles. Use all caps for common acronyms such as FBI, CIA. Do not create acronyms.

Capitalization

• Avoid overuse of capitalization. College majors are lower case except languages. Titles placed after a name are lower case.

• Capitalize proper nouns, proper names, popular names, shortened versions of proper names (the Series- the World Series), family names, informal names when it substitutes a person’s name (What’s the diagnosis, Doctor?), derivatives, composition (principle words in names of books, movies, plays and abbreviations).

Colleges

• UCLA, UC-Berkeley, CSU-Stanislaus etc. on first reference. San Jose State University, San Francisco State University. SJSU, SFSU on second reference. Community colleges – full name on first reference.

• Capitalize when part of a proper name.

Composition Titles

• Put quotation marks around the titles of books, computer and video games, movies, operas, plays, poems, songs, albums, TV programs, lectures, speeches and works of art. Exception: Don’t use quotation marks for the Bible or almanacs, encyclopedias, directories or catalogs of reference material.

• Capitalize all words except articles; prepositions of three or fewer letters; conjunctions of three or fewer letters.
• Capitalize both parts of a phrasal verb .“Turn Off the Lights in Silence”
• Capitalize to in infinitives. “What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.”
• Put quotation marks around the name of all such works except the Bible and other holy books and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material (almanacs, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, gazetteers handbooks, etc.).
• Do not use quotations around software, apps, names of videos, online or analog version of games.
• Do not use quotations for sculptures.
• Translate foreign titles into English unless a work is generally known by its foreign name.
• Exception for reviews of musical performances

Dates

• Do not include the year if it’s the current year

• Months: When used with a specific date, abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. When used alone or with a year, spell out the name of the month.

• Dates: Figures only. Do not use st, nd, rd, th, etc.

Dollar amounts

• Use figures and the $ sign except in casual references. E.g. $33, $2.59. Use commas for thousands. For amounts over $1 million, use $ and numerals up to two decimal places.

Gender and sexual orientation

• Gay, lesbian or LGBT or LGBTQ are preferred to homosexual. Do not add letters or a plus sign. Do not refer to a homosexual lifestyle or agenda. Use transgender as an adjective.

• Gender-neutral pronouns: Respect source's choice of pronoun. If using a they/them pronoun, explain in the story as needed for clarity. Treat they/them as a plural, but be sure the wording does not imply more than one person. "Themself" is OK as a reflexive. See https://www.apstylebook.com/blog_posts/7

• Use LGBTQ instead of LGBT.

• Deadname a person very rarely and only if required to understand the news, pr if and only if required to understand the news, or if requested by the person.

• Avoid references to a transgender person being born a boy or girl , or phrasing like birth gender. Sex (or gender) assigned at birth is the accurate terminology. The shorthand trans is acceptable on second reference and in headlines..

• The shorthand trans is acceptable on second reference and in headlines.

• Do not use as a noun, such as referring to someone as a transgender, , or use the term transgendered.

• Do not use the outdated term transsexual unless a source specifically ask to be identified as such.

Heritage and race

• Use only when pertinent. Use derogatory words only in quotes or organizational names.

• AP prefers Black, Latino, Asian. No hyphen for terms that designate dual heritages: African American, Asian American, Mexican American. * La Voz style: White.

• Do not use the imprecise "Brown" to denote race, do not use the shorthand POC, BIPOC or BAME, unless it's in a quote. If you quote any of these terms, explain them.

• "Of color" is acceptable to mean non-White, but is usually overly broad. Try to be more specific.

• If a source has a preference, use that, e.g. Latinx, Filipinx.

• Do not use Back(s) or white(s) as either singular or plural noun.

• Use: Black teachers, white children

• Avoid generalizations and labels; race and ethnicity are one part of a person’s identity.

Identifiers

• Identify students by first and last name, age and major. Identify staff and faculty by first and last name and position. Identify community members by first and last name and place of residence.

Internet / Digital

• Correct spellings and capitalization: app, blog, cellphone, e-book, e-reader, e-textbook, email, Facebook, iPhone, iPod (upper case I when starting a sentence), internet, selfie, smartphone, Twitter, tweet, website, Wi-Fi, Zoom.

• URLS: Include http:// to begin URLS that are not well-known.

• Use the name of the website or service rather than the web address (Facebook not Facebook.com).

* La Voz Style

• De Anza College – Use full name on first reference. De Anza on subsequent references

• Foothill-De Anza – On first reference with District or Board of Trustees. Avoid referring to FHDA.

• La Voz – Two words.

• DASG – Acceptable on first reference. Spell it out on second: De Anza Student Government.

• White (race). Exception to AP style.

Names and Pronouns

• On first reference, use a person’s first and last name. Use only the last name on subsequent references. Do not use Mr., Mrs., Miss, etc. Use Dr. for a medical doctor only; include the specialty.

• Use he/she pronouns unless a source requests "they" pronouns. Pay extra attention to clarity if using "they." See https://www.apstylebook.com/blog_posts/7

• In general, do not use neopronouns such as xe or zim; they are rarely used and are unrecognizable as words to general audiences.

Numerals

• Spell out one through nine and numerals at the beginning of a sentence. Exceptions: Use numerals for percentages, ratios, sports scores, heights and weights. Exception: Use figures for a year at the beginning of a sentence.

• Use numerals for:
  • Acts (Act 1, Scene 2, but EXCEPTION: first act, second scene)
  • Academic course numbers
  • Addresses
  • Ages
  • Planes, ships, spacecraft
  • Centuries (21st century)
  • Highways

OK

• Not O.K. Not ok. Not okay!

Quotation marks

• Commas and periods go inside quotation marks. Do not use quotation marks around material that is not direct quotation. Intersperse paraphrases and direct quotes. Attribute. See Transition/quote format

States

• Spell out U.S. state names. Do not include “California” with nearby or readily-identifiable California cities.

Times

• Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes. Do not use 00 after a colon. Use a.m. and p.m. For midnight, be clear which night.

Years

• For dates in the current year, do not include the year. When giving a month and year, do not use a comma.