Guest post by Jacqui MacKenzie
Writing a blog means you can (and, in many cases, should) take on a more casual, conversational tone than you might on a formal business website. However, blogging doesn’t mean that you get to break all the rules when it comes to proper grammar, punctuation and copywriting. All writers have a stylebook that they use to answer questions like, “Where do I put this comma?” or “Is there a hyphen in retweet?” Bloggers should be no different.
There are a number of writing stylebooks, each with its own minor differences. While book publishers use the Chicago Manual of Style and academics use APA (American Psychological Association), journalists, as well as most media writers and editors, stick to the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook.
I always have a copy of the AP Stylebook on my desk for quick reference; however, I often find myself logging into the online version for more updated guidelines and answers to specific questions. Here’s a closer look at what the AP Stylebook Online offers to help make your writing word-perfect.
Online Features
- Search function: Advanced and custom searches help you really narrow down what you’re looking for by choosing which part of the site you want to search and which phrases to include.
- New Entries: From mahjong to open-faced sandwich, modified tweet to Godspeed, the New Entries section keeps writers constantly up-to-date. New entries are also emailed to subscribers as soon as they are added.
- Online-only Entries: These didn’t make it to the hard copy for whatever reason, but they’re still important – for example, coleslaw, boo-boo and ASAP.
- Pronunciation Guide: Sure, you can spell it. But can you say it? Here, you can listen to how certain names, words and phrases are correctly pronounced.
In-depth Guidelines
- Social Media Guidelines: This section includes an intro that explains examples of social media, how journalists use social media, how to vet sources found through social media, and how to not use social media. Entries range from general technology terms, such as cloud and e-book, to terms specific to social networking sites, such as direct message and status.
- Food Style Guidelines: With the rising popularity of food writing, a section on correct recipe style, common culinary conversions and food terms only makes sense. Entries include a la king, Spam and foodie.
Customization Options
- Add Note/Example: For each entry, you can add a note or an example, such as a sentence using the term that will help you better understand and remember.
- My Stylebook: If your website or blog uses a certain style, with specialized terms and rules, you can add these to your own stylebook on the AP website. For example, if you write a website that provides golf tee times online, your stylebook would include a list of golf terms like birdie and albatross. Or a writer for a truck lifts blog would include terms like parallelogram lifts and mobile column lifts.
- Ask the Editor: This section includes FAQs, a complete archive of questions and the option to ask your own question. You can search through questions to find the answer to something that isn’t specifically addressed in the book or on the site.
Do you use the AP Stylebook Online? What do you like or dislike about it?
About the author:
Jacqui MacKenzie is a writer and editor for Straight North, one of the leading Chicago marketing companies specializing in Internet marketing, Web design and social media. Follow Straight North on Twitter and Facebook!
About Guest Author
This is great. will give it a try :)
Twitter: BloggersGeek
says:
This will prove itself very good for a blogger. We bloggers need to try this…
Perky Seraph recently posted..Top 17 Best WordPress Plugins for Business
AP Stylebook Online looks like something new and worth trying. Will give it a shot later today. Thanks for this informative article.
To tell you the truth I have never used such a book and I had no idea that such book exists at all. Thanks for the advice.
Made me think to give it a try. Thanks for the information. It’s nice to read new posts to gain more knowledge.
Thanks for the good advice. Never been in contact with the guidelines of this. Think it can be the difference of having a good blog and have a great blog.
Jake recently posted..Your Online Love Affair
Twitter: seoallrounder
says:
this is great , i love bbc and have their app on my iphone and ipad. Never heard of this AP stylebook before but defiantly I will try it out.
saad naeem recently posted..4 Tips On How to Get Advertisers for Your Blog
I haven’t used the AP Stylebook either but i may have a look. I try to proof read all my blogs and then get other people to do the same before uploading. If you have poor grammer or spelling on a post It can give a poor impression to others. Most of my blogs are about my industry, car valeting, if I give a poor impression I could potentially lose customers
Richard recently posted..(Car Detailing) Restoring Faded Headlights
I can’t say what I like or dislike at AP Stylebook Online because I haven’t used it yet. I’ll wait for other’s opinion in this matter, but so far it seems I should use the online version.
I love the BBC news
Twitter: ikenedu
says:
I also prefer BBC news.
I have never used the AP Stylebook online before but it seems like a good one to give a shot. I always want the work on my blog to be of high quality because I will never want to disappoint my readers due to minor errors that could be corrected by following such a guide.
Alex Mouran recently posted..Kim Kardashian is once again in the spotlight
Twitter: davelucas
says:
Hi Jacqui! I personally prefer the BBC news styleguide (which can be downloaded as a PDF) and the ABC Radio National Style Guide. Sometimes you have to “break rules” to either get a point across or get the reader to focus a bit more intensely – a blogging pal often deliberately mis-spells words or mxies thme up to make them look like keyboard errors – she swears once she began doing that, the blog went from 1 or 2 comments a week to 3 or 4 a day – and NOBODY mentioned or called her out on the errors!
Have a great weekend!
Blog On!
Dave Lucas recently posted..Blog Income Report December 2012
I can’t say what I like or dislike at AP Stylebook Online because I haven’t used it yet. I’ll wait for other’s opinion in this matter, but so far it seems I should use the online version.
Cristian Stan recently posted..Best Power Washers
Twitter: bbt0786
says:
online book can make the post effective and replace the grammatical mistake if we have.
apstylebook can be good solutions for all mistakes.I should give a try to this.
Bhushan recently posted..College Management Software