For complete style reference, use your Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. You might consult the Quick guide to AP style or the Band-Aid AP stylebook.

Abbreviate Titles Before a name: Gov. Mike Beebe State Police Cpl. Leroy Sitton the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Military, Police, Firefighters  See stylebook for individual titles. Junior or senior after a name, but do not use a comma to set it off: David Leroy Sitton Jr.  Addresses Avenue (Ave.), boulevard (Blvd.) and street (St.) when a complete address is given. Otherwise, spell out, e.g.: 1400 Laurel Ave. Apt. 2 Laurel Avenue 69 Sunset Blvd. John F. Kennedy Boulevard 450 42nd St. Ste. 3 Third Street 1505 Wewoka Drive 3054 W. Wolf Valley Road 6 Jennie Lane 29 Broken Arrow Circle Months with six or more letters if used with a specific date. Spell out those with five or fewer letters (March through July). Only use numerals for the days of the months. Use the day of the week instead of using today, tomorrow, yesterday. Sept. 11 July 7 Christmas comes in December.    Nations unless used as an adjective. We live in the United States. He served in the U.S. Air Force. Hunter drove down U.S. Route 66. We watched the U.N. General Assembly. Kofi Annan retired from the United Nations. Time punctuation Class starts at 11:10 a.m. and ends at 12:30 p.m. We ate lunch at noon and finished by 1 p.m. The party ended at midnight.

Don't Abbreviate Christmas, days of the week (except in tabular form), percent, cents or ampersands, unless part of an official title: Procter & Gamble It takes 60 cents for a soda. I made 85 percent on the exam. Names such as Robert (Robt.) or Charles (Chas.) Titles used before names used in direct quotations: Suzi said, "Governor Beebe is coming to town."  "Corporal Sitton told me to stop," he said. Use Professor, NEVER Prof.; save Dr. for physicians unless explaining degree: Dr. Mark Miller, a journalist, served as my adviser. Mark Miller, who has a doctorate in communications, spoke. The eight states spelled with six or fewer letters when used with a city name. NEVER use U.S. Postal Service abbreviations.  Monticello, Ark. New Concord, Ohio El Paso, Texas Knoxville, Tenn. Academic degrees, e.g. B.S. Instead: She obtained her Bachelor of Arts. He earned his master's.  Organizations on first reference. Acronyms should not appear in parentheses after the name, but may be used on second reference. The University of Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils tangle with the Southern Arkansas Mule Riders Nov. 3. UAM coach Gwaine Mathews expects a good game. With lesser known organizations, use methods similar to the following to refer to the organization rather than using an acronym:  The Committee Against Litter picketed campus Friday. The anti-litter group wants more trash cans around campus. NEVER abbreviate the day of the week. NEVER use today, yesterday or tomorrow.

Titles, capitalization Do not use courtesy titles: Mr., Mrs., Miss and Ms. Capitalize formal titles before a name; lowercase and set off with commas after a name. Place long titles behind the name. On first reference, use a person's full name, including the middle initial and title if important to the story. On second reference, use only the last name with no title. President Barack Obama gave the State of the Union address to Congress. The president said appearances can be deceiving. "We must be careful," Obama said. Don't capitalize job descriptions: coach lawyer welder mechanic Capitalize most technological advances: hi-fi Internet Web webcam webcast Web page Web site Wi-Fi access World Wide Web

Capitalize proper nouns and common nouns such as party, river and street when they become an integral part of a full name for place, person or thing. Green Party Arkansas River Within the same story, lower case these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references.  The party leaders met.  In all plural uses, lower case the common noun elements.  The Democratic and Republican parties.  Seasons Lowercase spring, summer, fall and winter unless the season is used in a formal name: Winter Olympics  I love fall. Capitalize specific geographic or geologic regions and popularized names for those regions, but not directions: Midwest the South I work in southeast Arkansas. the Appalachians the Permian Basin the Hill Country Capitalize the word room when used with the number of the room: Jeter Hall Room 101 108 Wells Hall

Miscellaneous AVOID redundant time elements: NOT: 10 a.m. this morning Don't use extra zeros with time or money: 6 p.m.  $16 Beware homonyms, which sound the same, but mean entirely different things. their, there, they're it's, its cents, sense emigrants, immigrants to, too, two Drop unnecessary words like that and on. She said we should go Friday. Not: She said that we should go on Friday.

AP Style incorporates some obscure punctuation rules. Generally:  Drop the comma before the punctuation in a simple series: Red, white and blue comprise the colors of the U.S. flag. Use a semicolon to set off a series within a series. In this  case, use the semicolon before the conjunction. Example: I lived in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Monticello, Ark.; Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn.; Telluride, Colo.; and New Concord, Ohio. When two or more adjectives express a single concept, use hyphens to link all the words in the compound: They funded a six-year study. The 10-member council voted. The 35-year-old woman held her 2-month-old baby.  Do not link the words with hyphens when the adverb very is part of the group.  Not: A very-good time.  Do not link the words with hyphens when you have adverbs ending in -ly as part of the phrase.  Not: An essentially-remembered rule.