The Great Debate: the Oxford Comma

The oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is one of those pieces of grammar that no one is ever sure if they should use or not.  For several years the oxford comma was the norm, but lately it has fallen to disuse and even gets edited out of writing.

A main reason that the oxford comma is getting used less and less is because it's just an extra, unnecessary character.  In a tweet-able world where every character is sacred, it makes sense for people to drop the extras.  This is also the logic behind only having one space after a period, instead of two.

I am a big supporter of the oxford comma (and two spaces after a period), but that's just me. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the oxford comma is a comma used before the word "and" at the end of a list.

Check out this humorous example:

Of course the PR bible (aka the AP style book) vetoes the use of the serial comma.  It says that a comma should not go before the conjunction in a simple series.  AP style shows that a comma should only be put before a conjunction with a sentence like this: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast.

Where do you stand in the oxford comma debate? Should it stay or should it go? Let us know!

Are You Familiar With The AP Stylebook?

The Associated Press Stylebook is an essential device for every journalist, editor and writer. If you have not yet  acquainted yourself with this book, you definitely should. As aspiring professionals in the communications field it's important we use this Stylebook as a reference when writing.

I am currently taking a news writing and media relations class and this book truly acts as my bible in this course. After using this book, I became more aware of the silly mistakes I made when writing articles and press releases. Now, having this book as a resource it eliminates trivial errors in my writing.

Below, are some minor pointers the AP Stylebook brought to my attention while writing a better press release:

Addresses: When writing an address, we only abbreviate street, avenue and boulevard in a numbered address.

Numbers: Be sure to spell out numbers one through nine and use figures 10 and above unless, its a measurement,math, money or starts a sentence.

Times:  When writing the time use figures except for noon and midnight.

Months:  Be sure to abbreviate months that are longer than five letters.

Formal Titles: Tittles are lowercase unless it is a formal title, it is right in front of a name and it is not set off with a comma. For e.g President Barack Obama spoke at a conference in Dubai. The aforementioned example demonstrates the title being uppercase. An example to show the title lowercase is: The president, Barack Obama spoke at a conference in Dubai.

Whether you are wondering if a specific word should be capitalized or if a title should be abbreviated or not, the AP Stylebook will answer such. Remember, the less errors in your writing generates a clearer message to your audience. 

Gift Guide 101: What To Get The PR Student

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Trees are up and decorated, the fireplace is burning, gingerbread houses are being made and your Christmas list is complete - well, almost. Struggling to find the perfect gift for the PR student in your life? Or are you a PR student looking to get yourself something fabulous and functional for the New Year? Well, look no further!

Here are five essential gifts that would be perfect for almost any public relations student:

1. AP Stylebook: The newest edition of course! Every student looking to land a career in the field of communication needs to stay up to date with AP Style. Costing anywhere from $13 to $20 ($25 for an online subscription), this book is an inexpensive must have for a PR student.

2. iPad or iPad mini: Does this even need an explanation?

3. Annual Subscriptions: PR Week and PR Daily rank among the best PR resources. Surprise the PR student in your life with an online subscription to one of these and they will love you forever.

4. PRSSA Membership: Becoming a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America opens many doors for a student looking to become a PR professional. PRSSA offers a key opportunity in the PR world - the opportunity to network with other PR students as well as professionals. PRSSA offers holuday discounts too!

5. Hector Serrano Digital Downtime Watch: For the social media obsessed PR student (hint, hint we all are), make sure to pick up this stylish and functional watch. This watch helps with time management by divvying up time spent on Facebook, Twitter and Gmail each day. Confused? This video explains how it works: http://www.hectorserrano.com/index.php?id=41&m=lab&grupo=downtimewatch#

Is there anything else on your list? Let us know!

AP Stylebook: Rules For The Holiday Season

As we enter the holiday season, I thought it would be a great time to brush up on holiday style – AP style, that is. Below are terms that stood out to me as ones I would be likely to slip up on when writing. For instance, it’s general knowledge that seasons are not capitalized, but “winter” does not officially begin until Dec. 21 and therefore should not be used to describe dates before this.  It’s also a common AP style rule to only spell out numbers 1-10, but when writing about the Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” the numeral should always be spelled out.

• Kriss Kringle: Not Kris. Derived from the German word, Christkindl, or baby Jesus.
• yule: Old English name for Christmas season; yuletide is also lowercase.
• Christmastime - One word.
• Xmas - Don’t use this abbreviation for Christmas.
• “The Twelve Days of Christmas” - Spell the numeral in the Christmas carol.
• Black Friday - Capitalize both words and don't use quotes.
• Cyber Monday - Same as above. And just in case there's any confusion about this day, it's the Monday after Thanksgiving.
• gift card - Two words, not one.
• autumn, fall, winter, etc. - Seasons are not capitalized. And winter does not officially begin until Dec. 21.
• Pilgrims – Capitalized. 
• turkey day - Not capitalized.
• Don't capitalize happy in "happy Thanksgiving" or "happy holidays."

Are there any other AP style rules for the holidays that you’d like to share? Let us know!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kyra Mazurek. 

AP StyleGuard: The Magic Solution for Writing in AP Style?

Last week the Associated Press released new “StyleGuard” software, which acts as a system to check for AP style mistakes in Microsoft Word documents. When I heard this, I was in shock, as well as many PR students probably are, that the idea had not been thought of before! This application could be the perfect way to avoid constantly checking your stylebook when initially learning how to write in AP style.

When I further investigated the product, I found out it is probably not the magical solution to writing in AP style that I originally thought it seemed to be. Subscriptions start at $60 for an individual user, which puts the product out of price range for most college students, considering that the AP Stylebook is only about $12. Also, it has only been developed for PCs, so Mac users will not be able to use the product at all. Last week, @APStylebook even tweeted “StyleGuard is a useful tool but it's not a substitute for the skills you develop as a knowledgeable writer.”

The software is a great idea that can be developed further and eventually become widely used to help prevent PR students and professionals from making minor AP style mistakes. For now, it looks like it would be best for us to pay attention in our news writing classes and aspire to be our own StyleGuard!

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kyra Mazurek.

@APStylebook says e-mail is now email!

If you don't follow @APStylebook on Twitter yet, you should. The handle is the official Twitter of the AP Stylebook, aka - the PR and journalism bible.

I was devastated about a year ago when AP style changed "Web site" to "website." It was one of those words that I had always thought was strange, but after two years of taking public relations classes "Web site" had finally felt comfortable.

Almost one year later, that painful feeling of having to relearn the spelling of vocabulary has returned. @APStylebook announced that as of today (Friday, March 18) "e-mail" is now "email" with no hyphen.

I have already written about ten e-mails (sorry, "emails") in the last few hours with "e-mail" referenced somewhere in the body, and edited a colleague's document at work to correct his use of "email." Looks like it's me that needs to be corrected now!

Although changes like this can be frustrating to keep up with, we are trained as PR people to constantly adapt to new situations and keep going. Even though it will take some time to get used to, there really was no modern reason for website to be two words or email to have a hyphen. People who don't follow AP style have already been using "website" and "email" for years, now we have to catch up!

What are your thoughts about the change?

New AP Social Media Guidelines

The recently released 2010 edition of the AP Stylebook acknowledges the growing importance of social media with the addition of a Social Media Guidelines section. AP announced last week:

"The new Social Media Guidelines section includes information and policies on using tools like Facebook and Twitter, how journalists can apply them to their work and how to verify sources found through them."

The section also includes 42 new entries relating to social media. Some of the new entries include: app, blogs, click-throughs, friend and unfriend, metadata, RSS, search engine optimization, smart phone, trending, widget and wiki. A list of acronyms commonly used in text messaging and instant messaging is also included.

With the widespread use of social media as a profession tool, it seems necessary to have some guidelines for using it correctly. The new guidelines may also be helpful to those who have not yet mastered the use of social media.

Will you be picking up a copy of the 2010 edition to get up to speed on the new social media guidelines?