While watching Professor Knabe’s lecture online, I felt as
if I was taken back to my middle school English classes. I was getting all of
the questions wrong and wondering how in the world I could not get these
(seemingly) simple questions right! It seems that I was not the only one in the
dark.
I asked my mother what she knew about AP style writing. Her
response was, “All I know is it is the accurate way for journalists to write.
The style can get very picky.” Well, there is a reason for being picky. In Debbie
Hilts article, “AP Never goes out of Style,” she shares why exactly AP writing
is so crucial. Punctuation, grammar, and accuracy all contributes to the
credibility of an article. Believe it or not small things such as these can
determine whether an article gets published or not. This idea is also conveyed
in Nancy E. Hanson’s article “AP Style Tips for PR Writers.” The more accurate
the original copy, the less work has to be done on the publishing end of
things. This makes the article more appealing to publishers. If given an AP quiz during an interview, however, it would be highly nerve-racking for me. I do not believe that I am informed enough about the subject to fully ace an interview quiz. At the end of this class I intend to be able to do fantastic if presented with that sort of situation!
While these small, tedious details may come off intimidating
at first, practice makes perfect. the more knowledge you gain in the beginning
of your journalism career, the more prone you are to make AP style a habit
rather than an editing tool. This is my goal by the end of the class. I plan to
veer my writing toward AP style and away from casual writing techniques.
