Your Bible and Mine

I've used an AP Stylebook as a pillow more than once, at least partially in hopes of getting just a few more minutia down through osmosis. Most editors live and breath AP style, as it should be.

But, an AP style guide isn't enough to keep your paper consistent -- which is the goal of AP style. You need to make your own additions.

What all should be in your personal style guide?

• Names of important people on campus (i.e. officials, student government leaders, athletes) with double checked spelling, as well as their correct titles.
  
• Correct names for campus buildings, along with acceptable nicknames. If your student union is known across campus as the "U", make sure you establish a style for it that students will recognize.
• Any deviations from AP style that you regularly use. For instance, if you capitalize "the" in the name of your university, you should note it to make sure you are consistent.
• Organization-specific terminology that some writers may find unfamiliar, such as terms dealing with Greek organizations (fraternities and sororities).

It can be expensive to replace style guides every time the Associated Press issues a new one, so a lot of student newsrooms use older style guides. You may want to include notes about updates in any local style guide that you develop. It's perfectly alright to continue using older manuals as is, however: as long as your newspaper's style is consistent, your readership isn't going to care one bit.

Fact sheets can also be useful to have around. Lists of information about certain facets of school life, such as student body statistics, can speed up your fact checking process.