1. Associated Press Style Manual 2007

2. A  abbreviations: Typically, spell out words. However, titles such as Dr., Gov., Mr., Mrs., Rep., Rev., Sen., and certain military designations may be abbreviated.  academic departments: Use lowercase (department of history…in his history class) except for words that are proper nouns, such as English (Jeff’s English class).  adviser (not advisor)  air bag (two words)  airmail (one word)  a lot (two words)  American Medical Association (AMA on second reference)  April Fools’ Day  ax (not axe)

3. B  Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science (general reference: bachelor’s degree)  barbecue (not barbeque or bar-b-q).  Bible. Capitalize, no quotation marks, no italics. Lowercase as nonreligious term: “My dictionary is my bible.”  Britain. Capitalize. Acceptable in all references to Great Britain, which consists of England, Scotland, and Wales.  burglary, larceny, robbery, theft (all are important legal terms). Burglary involves entering a building, not necessarily illegally, and remaining there unlawfully with the intention of committing a crime. Always follow police reports when dealing with these terms.

4. C  capitalization: Avoid unnecessary capitals. Use capitals only if they identify a proper noun/name (Lake Erie, John Smith, December). In contrast, the word “month” would not be capitalized.  CD, CD-ROM (compact disc [optical], not disk [magnetic]) CD-ROM disc is redundant; use CD-ROM.  Central Intelligence Agency. CIA is acceptable in all references.  Coca-Cola, Coke. Trademarks for the brand.  convicted. Convicted of murder (not for).

5. D  datelines should include city name, entirely in capitals, followed by the state: ALLENTOWN, PA  daylight saving time (not savings).  district attorney (do not abbreviate).  dollars, always lowercase. Use figures and dollar sign: “McDonald’s earned $234 last month.  domain names: the address used to locate a particular website.  drunk: He was drunk.  drunken: He was convicted of drunken driving.

6. E  e-mail, email is increasingly acceptable  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA is acceptable on second reference)  espresso, not expresso  except: to take out or leave out, exception; Accept, to embrace, to allow  Exxon Mobil Corp.  eyewitness (one word)

7. F  FBI, acceptable in all references to Federal Bureau of Investigation  female, preferred (not woman)  forbear/forebear, To forbear is to avoid. A forebear is someone’s ancestor.  forward, not forwards  full time, full-time, hyphenate when used as a compound modifier: “He works full time. She holds a full-time job.”

8. Other Spell out whole numbers below 10:  One, Two, Three, Four, Five… Libel: Libel is a written statement, which is false, which holds a person up to ridicule, scorn, or hatred. Defamation is called "libel" if it is printed and "slander" if it is oral. Truth is an absolute defense to defamation.