Commonly Used Associated Press (AP) Style Buy the AP Stylebook
Capitalize only when using an official, complete department name
or when a proper noun or adjective is used. Prepositions should
be lowercase in all instances. For example: Jane Smith is in the
Department of English or The English department has productive
scholars. Avoid unnecessary capitalization. Capitalize proper
nouns. Common nouns such as “university” and “president” should
be capitalized only when used as part of a full name for a
person, place or thing: The University at Buffalo is a research
institution. The university is among the nation’s top research
institutions. President John B. Simpson served as an
administrator in California before coming to Buffalo. The
president is a native of California and completed his bachelor’s
degree there. Not cell phone. Similarly, smartphone. dates and
months When a month is included as part of a specific date, use
Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct.,
Nov., Dec. For example: Joh