AP style

1. AP style Geographic names, directions and regions

2. Basic guidelines • Do not use postal abbreviations for states names. See state names entry in the stylebook. • Abbreviate Saint as St. (But abbreviate Sault Sainte Marie as Sault Ste. Marie.) • Spell out Mount when used as name of communities or mountains. • Foreign names – check dictionary or www.nationalgeographic.com

3. Capitalize • Capitalize common nouns when they are an integral part of a proper name. • Lowercase common nouns when they stand alone. • For example: Pennsylvania Avenue. The avenue. • Also: The Phillippine Islands. The islands. The Mississippi River. The river.

4. Lowercase and datelines • Lowercase common nouns that are not part of a specific name: the Pacific islands, the Swiss mountains, Zhejiang province. • Datelines – placed at the start of a story to indicate where the city where the story originated. • For any questions on whether city names can stand alone, without the state name, refer to the datelines entry of the stylebook.

5. Directions and regions • In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc. when they indicate compass direction. • Capitalize North, South, Northeast, Northern, when they designate regions. • “General” example: He drove west. The cold front is moving east. • “Region” example: Snow is expected to pound the Midwest. The storm should carry to the East Coast and deliver rain throughout the Northeast.

6. Other examples • Settlers in the East went to the West in search of new lives. • He has a Southern accent. • Drive south about four miles to get to the fair. • The northeast corner of the county is slated for major drain improvements. • The storm started in the South Pacific.

7. With names of nations • Lowercase unless they are part of a proper name or are used to indicate a politically divided nation. • northern France; eastern Canada; the western United States; Northern Ireland; South Korea; North Korea.

8. With states and cities • Lowercase compass points when they describe a section of a state or city. • western Texas, southern Atlanta • Capitalize when part of a proper name. • North Dakota, West Virginia • Capitalize when denoting widely known sections. • Southern California, the South Side of Chicago, the Lower East Side of New York. • If in doubt, lowercase.

9. In forming proper names • Capitalize when combining with another common noun to form the name for a region or location. • the North Woods, the South Pole, the Far East, the Middle East, the Western Hemisphere.

10. Coast • Lowercase when referring to the physical shoreline – Atlantic coast, Pacific coast, east coast. • Capitalize when referring to regions of the United States lying along the coastlines. Atlantic Coast states; a Gulf Coast city; the West Coast. • Do not capitalize when referring to smaller regions: the Virginia coast. • Capitalize “the Coast” when standing alone only if the reference is to the West Coast.

11. In general • Capitalize when referring to specific regions organized under a governmental or social unit. • Lowercase references to general regions and everything else. • As always, check the stylebook and dictionary.

12. Questions?