20.3: Associated Press (AP) Style Guidance for Official Biographies
- Page ID
- 180467
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- Acronyms: Spell out acronyms on first use; minimize the use of military jargon.
- Adjectives: For brevity, minimize the use of adjectives (e.g., "successfully led...").
- Months and Dates:
- Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. are abbreviated when used with a day (e.g.Jan.1, 2015), and spelled out when used only with year (e.g. January 2015)
- March, April, May, June, and July are always spelled out.
- Use commas to separate the day from the year in the "Month Day, Year" format (March 3, 2014) but not when the day is omitted (March 2014).
- If frocked, say only "Frocked" and do not include a date of promotion.
- Rank: Follows Air Force journalistic style.
- Spelled out fully in the identification line using all capital letters.
- Abbreviated rank is used in the narrative with the name of the member.
- Generic rank (e.g., "the colonel" or "the general") is used when the name is omitted.
- State names
- All states are spelled out completely when they stand alone without a city.
- Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah are always spelled out.
- Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Neb., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., N.D., Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., and Wyo. may be abbreviated when used with a city.