AP Style
How does the abbreviation for “United States” change between a headline and texts?
You abbreviate “United States” with periods as “U.S.” in texts.
The headline version is “US” with no periods.
What is the acronym for the U.S. Digital Service?
The acronym is "USDS."
Where do we place the word “department” when writing an agency’s full name?
GovLoop always has “Department” capitalized as it comes after an agency’s defining characteristic.
Examples include “Interior Department,” “Homeland Security Department” or “Energy Department.”
What's the correct word in the following sentence?
“I love that restaurant. Its / It’s parking is at the end of the street.”
The correct answer is "Its."
Does “spear-phishing” require a hyphen?
AP favors a hyphen for “spear-phishing.”
What numbers are always spelled out for all content except headlines?
Zero through nine are written as words for all content except headlines.
For headlines, they become numerals (0-9) instead.
What does the acronym "CIO" stand for?
"CIO" stands for Chief Information Officer.
What is capitalized in the following example involving two agencies:
"The departments of justice, labor are both involved in the investigation."
GovLoop lowercases “departments” in plural forms and then capitalizes the proper name element describing the purpose of the individual agency.
For example, “departments of Justice, Labor.”
What is the correct word to use in the following sentence?
“He moved so quick / fast / quickly / fastly down the block that no one could catch him.”
The correct answer is "quickly."
What do we call the “Internet of Things” on second reference and beyond?
The Internet of Things is always called “IoT” and never “the IoT” after the first reference.
How do write out the numbers used for percentages?
Figures are always used over numerals for percent and percentages (Ex: 10 percent).
We also use decimals rather than fractions for all partial percentages (ex: 2.5 percent rather than 2 ½ percent).
Additionally, “percent” is always spelled out in headlines, so avoid %.
What's the acronym for application programming interface?
The acronym for application programming interface is "API."
How would we describe when an event took place within seven days of when it happened?
(The event, which took place..., was about IT management.)
GovLoop allows using days of the week (such as “Tuesday”) for describing events within a seven-day period from the writing of the story.
For any period longer than that, GovLoop uses the month and figure for dates (such as “January 2019.”).
What is the correct word in the following sentence?
“Her strategy in business was shrewd, and her message was tactile / tactful.”
The correct answer is "tactful."
What are two other phrases for that we use for "cloud computing?"
“Cloud computing," "cloud" or "the cloud" are all acceptable for describing this technology.
How many quote marks are used for quotations in headlines?
Use single quote marks for quotations in headlines (Ex: Trump calls shutdown story ‘fake news,’ rather than “fake news.”).
On first reference for a term that will later be referenced, how would we write the following sentence?
“Federal agencies, like GSA / General Services Administration (GSA) / General Services Administration, offered employees stipends to study technology.”
For first reference, state the full name of the agency ("General Services Administration") followed by its acronym in parentheses (GSA).
How do we capitalize a person’s title(s) when they refer to a specific person in GovLoop style?
We capitalize the titles referring to a specific person (such as “Staff Writer Mark Hensch.”)
We lowercase and spell out titles, however, that are not used with an individual’s name (“the president was quiet following the shutdown.”).
What word(s) are misused in the following sentence, and how would you fix it or them?
“The team was ready to warmup before tipoff.”
There's only one misspelled word in this sentence, and it's "warmup." The word should actually be "warm up."
Is “healthcare” one or two words when describing technology?
AP refers to “healthcare” as one word in all instances.
Which seven months are always abbreviated when used with a specific date?
January, February, August, September, October, November and December are all abbreviated when used with specific dates (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).
How would we reflect what the acronym USDA stands for if it appears on first reference during the following quote:
“I told him that USDA leadership and me was like peas in a pod,” said farmer Darren Constans, of no relation to Isaac Constans.
For first reference in a quote, add the full name of the agency in brackets like so: "[Agriculture Department]."
Where does a comma(s) go in the sentence below?
"Declan Megan and Nazli are great at trivia."
Commas in a series are included for clarity and to prevent ambiguities.
Because of this, they are unnecessary before the last item in a simple series (“Declan, Megan and Nazli are great at trivia.”)
However, we do include commas when they add clarity to a more complex series.
For example, “We must know whether the shutdown will end, whether it will alienate federal employees, and whether we can avoid future shutdowns.”
What's wrong with the following sentence?
“The five people in the room comprised the agency leadership, over whom acted the chief information officer.”
The word "comprised" is misused here. It should be "The chief information officer acted over the agency leadership, which was comprised of the five people in the room."
What are the four main cloud models, and how do we write out their full names AND acronyms?
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Collaboration-as-a-Service (CaaS).