Jambasics in Writing
Name the specifications The Jambar follows for format including font, font size and spacing.
Times New Roman, font size 12, 1.15 spacing
Name which numbers are spelled out and which numbers remain numerals in AP Style.
One-nine are spelled out, 10 and up are numerals
Youngstown State University, then YSU
Name the piece of punctuation that The Jambar, AP, and the copy editors advise to avoid.
Oxford or serial comma
Name the person with the best hair on The Jambar.
All hail the boss, Matt
Name the minimum number of sources each story for The Jambar should have.
Three or more sources.
Name the seven months that are abbreviated with a date in AP Style.
Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.
Name how to introduce a person on first reference and second reference in a story. Then, name how to attribute their quote.
(You can John Smith as the person. No relation to Emily.)
John Smith on first reference and Smith on subsequent references (unless there is another person with the same last name in the story).
"...," Smith said.
Name the piece of punctuation used to indicated a person's change in thought or self-interruption.
Em dash
Name the building(s) on campus where new copies of The Jambar were being thrown away.
DeBartolo Hall (and maybe another?)
Name the hard deadline for all stories submitted to The Jambar this semester.
Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
True or false: AP Style adds spaces around both sides of an ellipse.
True.
Name the three articles in English that can't be used in headlines. (Note: An article is word that appears before a noun to make it general or specific.)
A, an, the
Name one of the proper uses for a hyphen.
For rangers, joiners or modifying a noun
Who is Josh's ultimate frenemy/secret lover? (His words, not mine).
Ben
True or false: After submitting a story to The Jambar, reporters should not open the Google Doc again.
False. Writers need to go back into their stories and make the edits to learn.
Name how to format a song, album or book title in AP Style.
Use quotes
True or false: When writing a location in Ohio, such as Youngstown, Boardman or Niles, always refer to it in a story as [Name of place], Ohio.
False. Do not add Ohio to the location. It is assumed that since the publication is in Ohio, an unspecified location is in the state. Specify for other states.
Name two of the ways to properly use commas.
- End a quote before an attribution
- Separate independent clauses or multiple adjectives
- Offset nonessential information in a sentence
- Distinguishes ages, dates and addresses
Name the two journalists for The Jambar who won awards at Ohio News Media and Collegiate Fellowship Day in Columbus this year.
Scout and Alex
Reporters, at the end of the story under Cutlines: and two sentences
Spell the prefered versions of these four words related to cancel in AP Style.
Cancel, canceled, canceling and cancellation
Name the two grammatical sentence structures for voice. Then, name the one The Jambar prefers and why.
Active and passive voice. The Jambar prefers active voice, like most of journalism, to clearly convey the writing.
Name the four pieces of punctuation allowed in a headline for The Jambar.
Single quotes (''), dollar signs ($), apostrophes (') and commas (,)
Name the first year the term "Jamily" was used in print at The Jambar.
(100 bonus points to whoever can guess the exact month and day with the year.)