What formal rules are there around place names in Words with Friends

I don't believe there is a way to check these stats. These games are supposed to be just for fun, but some people do like to know their stats. You could alternativley sign up for a site such as THIS if you're really serious about your stats.

Was ZAP the first word played in the game? If not it had to connect to another word, and you get points for that connecting word.

ZAP should be worth 14 points. 10 for Z, 1 for A, 3 for P. With Z on a triple letter tile, you are looking at 34 points.

The other 6 points almost certainly come from the words ZAP connected to. For instance, if OUR was on the board (3 points) and ZAP was played such that the Z was on a triple letter, and the P landed in front of OUR, you would get 34 points for ZAP, and 6 points for POUR, for a total of 40 points.

Like So:
Z
A
P O U R

The full rules for scoring in Words with friends can be found here but basically, you get points for any words you create, but special tiles only get used the first time they are covered up. If your friend puts PED after ZAP, she gets 20 points, not 40.