Name: __________________ Per.

: ______

How Do I Revise A News Story?

 Can you identify the key information from this story? List the 5Ws and H.

 Does the lead need to be rewritten? It might need to include different information. It might need to be
more attention grabbing. Decide what needs to be different and make the change.
 Examine the story's organization. Does the order in which information is presented need to be
changed? Should quotations be moved around? Do paragraphs need to be restructured? Figure it out
and do it.
 Is the content sufficient? Is there too much content? Delete any extraneous and/or redundant
information, and add any information you might need. If you need to make up something because it's
not in the story, that's fine for the purposes of this assignment only.
 Is information presented clearly? If you need to rewrite for clarity or conciseness, please do.
 Make the story as interesting as possible. You may need to "make up" information to make this
story conform to AP/your paper's style. It's okay to make up first names for teachers, class
rankings for students, course titles, job descriptions and so forth for the purposes of this
assignment.

News Story Revision Rubric

Lead
 The lead grabs the reader's attention.
 The lead is concise.
 The lead is clear.
 The lead provides enough information to tell the reader what the story is going to be about
__________/5 points possible

Organization
 The story contains a lead which provides the story's key information.
 The story follows the inverted pyramid format
 The story flows smoothly.
__________/5 points possible

Content
 All facts and information are true and accurate.
 All needed information is given to the reader/all questions are answered.
 Any/all quotations used are meaningful.
 When needed, proper attribution is given (cite your sources).
__________/5 points possible

Style/Conventions
 Story contains no AP Style errors.
 Story contains no grammar/spelling/punctuation/usage errors.
__________/5 points possible
TOTAL POINTS: __________/20 POINTS POSSIBLE
AP Style Sheet (The Basics)
KEEP THIS FOREVER!!! (Or at least until you graduate)

 Proper nouns
o Capitalize nouns that constitute the unique identification for a specific person, place or
thing. Examples:
John, Mary, America, Boston, England
o Capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street and west when they are an integral
part of the full name for a person, place or thing. Examples:
Democratic Party, Mississippi River, Fleet Street, West Virginia
o BUT:
Lowercase those common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references:
the party, the river, the street

 Numbers
o Spell out whole numbers below 10, and use figures for 10 and above. Example:
I’ll bring six cans of soda and
12 paper plates to the picnic.
o With ages, always use figures for people and animals (but not inanimate objects).
Examples:
The 5-year-old boy.
The 10-year-old girl.
The boy, 5, has a sister, 10.
My parents are in their 70s.

 Time references
o Use figures except for noon and midnight. Only use a colon to separate hours from
minutes:
11 a.m. (not 11:00 a.m.)
But…
11:03 a.m.
o Avoid such redundancies as:
7 a.m. Thursday morning
(AP style is 7 am. Thursday)
o Do not abbreviate days of the week.
Use the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) rather than using today, tomorrow or
yesterday
o For a month with a specific date, abbreviate all but March, April, May, June, July.
Example: Dec. 25, 1999.
o For a month with a year, do not separate with commas: January 1972
o For a month, day and year, set off the year with commas: Jan. 2, 1972.
o When referring to a decade, show a plural by adding the letter s: the 1920s. (Note: no
apostrophe before the s)
But …
o Use an apostrophe to indicate numerals that are left out: the ’20s.
 Directions and regions
o In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, etc., for compass direction.
Example: The storm headed east.
But …
Capitalize when they designate regions.
Example: The storm hit the Midwest and headed for the East Coast.
o Lowercase compass points when they describe a section of a state or city (eastern Idaho,
northern Arizona)
But …
o Capitalize when part of a proper name (West Virginia, North Korea) or a widely known
area (Southern California).
o State names should be spelled out when they stand alone. (Montana)
But …
o Abbreviate them in conjunction with a city, county or town. (Missoula, Mont.)
(Note: Do not use two-letter Postal Service abbreviations unless full mailing address)
o Exception to the rule:
Eight states are not abbreviated in text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas
and Utah.
A tip for remembering the eight:
 Two are the states not part of contiguous U.S.
 The rest are states with five letters or fewer.

 Abbreviations/acronyms
o BEFORE a name: Abbreviate formal titles.
•Dr. Joyce Brothers
•Gov. Schwarzenegger
•Rep. Newt Gingrich
•the Rev. Al Sharpton
o AFTER a name: Abbreviate junior or senior. Abbreviate company, corporation,
incorporated and limited. Examples:
•Hank Williams Jr.
(Note: no comma before Jr.)
•PepsiCo Inc.
•Exxon Mobil Corp.
o Don’t follow an organization’s full name with an acronym in parentheses. (NOTE: If the
acronym wouldn’t be commonly known on second reference, don’t use it.)
National Rifle Association (NRA)
National Rifle Association
(use NRA on second reference in story).
o Other rules are found throughout the stylebook, under entries such as:
•Company names
•Courtesy titles
•Military titles
•Religious titles
•Academic titles / Academic degrees
•Organizations and institutions
•Judge / Court names