Sonia Jaffe Robbins, Editing Workshop, G54.1123

The Editing Workshop uses the AP Stylebook as its basic style manual. However, note the following exceptions:

1. Addresses: For addresses in Manhattan, numbered streets are numerals, and numbered avenues are spelled out. Addresses in all other localities follow AP.

29 W. 4th St.
300 Twelfth Ave.
31-18 31st Avenue, Astoria

2. Ages: Use figures for single-digit ages only when they are used as appositives.

Sarah, 3, is the third victim this month of landlords' failure to install window guards.

In all other contexts, the rule for ages follows that of numbers (spell out single-digit numbers; use figures for all others).

The seven-year-old boy has a 10-year-old sister.
The five-year-old girl; the girl is five years old.

Spell out references to someone's age in general terms.

People in their forties or older can no longer be discriminated against on the basis of age in their search for work.

3. Comma in a series: Use a comma to separate all elements of a series of three or more items:

The flag was red, white, and blue.

4. Day of the week AP always uses the day of the week, since it has no idea when news organizations will use its material.

Most newspapers nowadays are morning papers, meaning the copy desk works at night on a paper coming out the next morning. Events in news stories have usually occurred on the day the copy editor is working ("today"), but will be read the next morning. From the perspective of the reader, these events happened "yesterday." If you are editing an AP story that says "today," always change it to "yesterday." If a story gives a day of the week that is equivalent to "today," change it to "yesterday." If a story you are editing will be read in a week, or some indefinite future, change any time references so that they are meaningful from the perspective of the reader.

AP copy: The defense rested today in the murder trial of Jane Weiss.
Edited for a morning paper: The defense rested yesterday in the murder trial of Jane Weiss.

5. Man, mankind: Do not use as an equivalent of men and women. Use humanity, human beings, or consult Roget's International Thesaurus.

6. New York City neighborhoods: To check the correct spelling of any neighborhood in New York, check the Department of City Planning's map of community districts. Click on the neighborhood list to verify spelling. It's a good idea to click on "view the neighborhood" to see where it is in relation to other neighborhoods.

7. Titles of works: The following kinds of titles should be italic:

books; comic books; magazines; movies; plays; television programs; operas; music CDs; musical works that are not purely descriptive (Dvorak's New World symphony); works of art (paintings, sculpture, photographs); Web zines

The following kinds of titles should be "roman in quotes":

chapters; magazine articles; television episodes; short poems; songs; parts of a longer work; comic strip titles; lecture titles

The following kinds of titles should be roman only:

musical works that are purely descriptive (Symphony in D minor); software; computer and board games; Web sites and Web publications (Salon.com)

Last revision: January 16, 2005