APStylebook

If you're packing up the car for a three-day weekend, do it in style. No hyphen in the noun: We are taking a road trip in July. Hyphenate as a compound modifier: We are making our road-trip plans. Also hyphenate as a verb: We will go road-tripping to six states. Stylebook…

The term hacker is commonly used for someone who penetrates computer systems without authorization. The term originally referred to anyone with expertise in programming or hardware who tinkers with technology to understand its workings and explore new uses.…

The term hot spot can be used to describe an area where computers can connect wirelessly, a troubled global locale, or an area of intense heat in general. In all cases, it's two words with no hyphen.

A new Stylebook Online entry shows that we recommend the spellings dox, doxed and doxing, with one x, not the double x doxx/doxxed/doxxing. Our dictionary, @MerriamWebster, defines doxing as publicly identifying or publishing private information about someone, especially as a…

Are you a college instructor who uses the AP Stylebook as a textbook? Request your free desk copy now for this fall. We offer the spiral-bound print Stylebook, our web-based AP Stylebook Online or both to college faculty members who require the Stylebook: apstylebook.com/desk_requests

Our AP Stylebook Online Topical Guide about the Russia-Ukraine War includes: - Ukraine, not the Ukraine. - AP uses Ukrainian transliterations, meaning the iy or yy endings on names. For example, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Stylebook Online subscribers can check out the guide:…

A Stylebook Online subscriber posed the question in Ask the Editor whether "return to office" should be hyphenated as a compound modifier. Yes, we advised, so you would write return-to-office orders or return-to-office trends. apnews.com/article/starbu…

Join our four-part online course, Write Your Way to Success, to learn principles of journalism and writing that you can apply to your work in any field. We extended the early-bird discount to Friday so sign up now! The first session is Aug. 5. You can watch from anywhere, and…

Spell out the U.S. Cabinet department on first reference, such as Department of Education or State Department. Abbreviations such as USDA or HHS are acceptable on second reference.

AP style has different rules for headlines, because space is tight and you want to get across why the piece matters. Check our headlines entry for guidance including: — Use single quote marks, never double quote marks. — Use numerals; do not spell out numbers except in casual…

Stories about floods usually tell how high the water is and where it is expected to crest. Such a story should also, for comparison, list flood stage and how high the water is above, or below, flood stage. Wrong: The river is expected to crest at 39 feet. Right: The river is…

Our new and improved AP StyleGuard Pro tools proof the text you write and edit to help you follow the AP Stylebook and our primary dictionary, Merriam-Webster. Add in your own custom entries and it can check to make sure you're following those rules, too. store.stylebooks.com/apstyleguard-s…

Whether you're watching some of the world's best tennis players at Wimbledon or you're on the courts yourself this summer, we are serving up some key tennis terms in AP style. apnews.com/hub/wimbledon

Write Your Way to Success, AP's four-part online course, starts in less than a month. But don't delay registering: Today is the deadline to get the early-bird discount. Sign up now to get the best price we'll offer for this engaging class. store.stylebooks.com/write-your-way…

A flash flood is a sudden, violent flood. It typically occurs after a heavy rain or the melting of a heavy snow. A flash flood warning warns that flash flooding is imminent or in progress or is highly likely, while a flash flood watch alerts the public that conditions are…

We just opened registration for two all-new AP Stylebook Workshops, one focusing on mechanics and the other on the big-picture issues of refining your content. Sign up now for our limited-time offer: You can take both workshops for just $350. This price won't last so get your…

Lowercase the phrase the national anthem but the formal name of the United States’ national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," is capitalized and in quotation marks.

Fourth of July, July Fourth and Independence Day are all acceptable for the upcoming holiday. If you're already thinking about your long weekend plans for 2026 or 2027, the federal legal holiday is observed on Friday if July 4 falls on a Saturday, on Monday if it falls on a…

In AP style, health care is two words. Also, use figures with million, billion or trillion in all except casual uses: I'd like to make a billion dollars. But: The nation has 1 million citizens. I need $7 billion. The government ran a deficit of more than $1 trillion.…

We don't hyphenate email or esports, but we do use a hyphen with other e- terms: e-book, e-reader, e-commerce. So when you sign up for the AP Stylebook e-newsletter, that's with a hyphen. apstylebook.com/newsletter