AP Stylebook versus MLA Handbook
Jun 25th, 2008 by Patricia
Warning: I’m feeling a bit grumpy today, so the following post will contain a certain amount of ranting.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in writing for the informify web site is having to learn a whole new style of writing with a whole new set of more-or-less- incomprehensible rules. Now, instead of referring to the MLA Handbook–which was my bible while I was in graduate school–I am supposed to be a True Follower of the AP Stylebook. It’s a whole new world, let me tell you.
It took me years to learn to write convoluted sentences that only college professors can decipher and list my sources the way the MLA Powers That Be wanted them. (See, I can still do convoluted.) Now it’s all “simplify, active voice, simplify” and a completely different way of crediting source material.
Frankly, I don’t think there’s much to choose between the two manuals. They both were apparently written by obsessive-compulsive Huns. Seriously. Who other than an obsessive-compulsive Hun cares if there’s a period or a comma after book titles in a bibliography (MLA), or insists that you spell out “degrees” instead of using the little circle thingy (AP)?
The other thing I am finding tough about being a journalist is that I start the day chewing on a sometimes pretty un-palatable chunk of the daily news. It’s fun to learn about something new; I enjoyed writing about the “big breakfast diet,” for example. But, sometimes it can be pretty grim. I now know way more than I ever wanted to about the 800 people who drowned in a capsized ferry in the Philippines. There are a zillion stories in the world; I wish I could only write about the good ones. But, that’s not the way it works in the journalism world.
Right now, I’m done with my daily news article and am getting ready to do some children’s writing, which is yet another variation on the theme. I’m used to doing more than one kind of writing at a time, though, so it’s not too difficult to change gears. (So I say now–we’ll see what my various and sundry editors think.)
All ranting aside, no matter what I’m writing, the book I refer to the most is good old Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. It’s the only reference book I always keep on my desk. And, considering that both the AP Stylebook and MLA Handbook defer to its wisdom, it’s really the only one I need. (Please don’t tell the Huns I said that.)
This may interest you and your readers.
http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_062608a.html
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06/26/2008
Print edition of 2008 AP Stylebook now on sale
NEW YORK — The 2008 print edition of The Associated Press Stylebook features one of the most comprehensive updates in its history, with more than 200 new entries, ranging from anti-virus to iPhone to WMD.
Updates and additions in the Stylebook, the standard reference tool in newsrooms and many professional offices across the country, reflect changes in word usage and in society.
Other new entries include anti-spyware, high-definition, outsourcing, podcast, text messaging, social networking, snail mail and Wikipedia and such sports terms as minicamp and wild card.
Among the outdated words gone from the new spiral-bound Stylebook are barmaid, blue blood, malarkey, milquetoast, Photostat, riffraff and WAC, which is no longer used by the U.S. military but may describe a woman who served in what had been the Women’s Army Corps.
Other changes in the A to Z update include the entry for “African-American,” which previously indicated that the “preferred term is black.” Now, the African-American entry states: “Acceptable for an American black person of African descent. Black is also acceptable. The terms are not necessarily interchangeable.”
In another significant revision, “mentally retarded” is no longer the preferred term, replaced by “mentally disabled.”
The entry for “Sept. 11,” previously the preferred term in describing the terrorist attacks in 2001, now notes, “Also acceptable is 9/11.”
“Company names” has grown to 3 1/2 pages, listing the formal names of the top 100 U.S. companies and 50 major non-U.S. firms. The new “cable networks” and “movie studios” entries list the leading entities in those media — from A&E to the Weather Channel and from Columbia TriStar to The Weinstein Co. — as well as their owners.
The revised Business Guidelines section contains new primers on covering bankruptcy and mergers and acquisitions, and interpreting proxy statements.
AP also offers a subscription-based Stylebook Online, which provides searchable access and the means to create a personal stylebook. Subscribers to the AP Stylebook Online get changes throughout the year as AP editors make them, as well as periodic e-mail notifications about changes.
A new feature of the Stylebook Online is AP’s food and recipe style guide. The food guide is an extensive menu of terms put together by AP Food Editor J.M. Hirsch, ranging from a la carte to Crock-Pot (a brand name) to Reuben sandwich to zip-close bag (not Ziploc, a brand name).
Online or in print, the AP Stylebook is the essential tool for all writers, editors, students and public relations specialists. It inspires such a following that the social networking site Facebook includes two separate groups called “The AP Stylebook is my Bible.”
For newsrooms or other groups of writers who work together, site licenses to the AP Stylebook Online allow sharing of local style notes among users. If the organization differs from AP on a style point or has additional items that need definition, an administrator can add those local items to the site license.
AP Editor at Large Darrell Christian, Deputy Managing Editor Sally Jacobsen and Manager for News Administration David Minthorn coordinated the global team of AP staffers who collaborated on the update.
The Stylebook was first produced in 1953 as a stapled collection of rules totaling 62 pages, compared with more than 300 pages today. The book’s creation was prompted in part by a technical change in the way the AP transmitted news as well as a need for consistency among a worldwide editorial staff that churned out stories for newspapers with a variety of style preferences. There have been major periodic revisions in the standardized guidelines over the past few decades, and the print edition is now updated annually.
The new print edition and online subscriptions can be ordered by credit card online at a secure site at http://www.apbookstore.com. The order form also allows customers to create an invoice to pay by check or money order, and member news organizations can request direct assessment.
The new edition costs $11.75 for member news organizations, $11.75 for college bookstores and $18.95 retail.
About The Associated Press
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from AP.
Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720.