Abbreviations

1
Abbreviations
Mini Lesson 1

• From the
• UWF Writing Labs 101
• Grammar Mini-Lessons Series

2
Abbreviations are used regularly in the list of
works cited and in tables but rarely in the text
of a formal paper (except within parenthesis).
Some abbreviations are considered standard in any
piece of writing.

• Often, abbreviation rules are specific to the
  format and style of writing.

3

• Using medical abbreviations
• AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome (all
  capital letters)
• abd abdomen, abdominal (lower case letters)
• Bx biopsy (can be either upper case and lower
  case or all lower case)
• Cx cervix, complications, complaint (always
  upper and lower case)
• LD labor and delivery (upper case with the
  ampersand)
• q every (lower case) qd every day, qh every
  hour, q2h every 2 hours, qhs every night at
  bedtime, etc.

4

• Common Scholarly Abbreviations
• ed. editor, edition, edited by (lower case)
• EdD doctor of education
• e.g. for example (rarely capitalized)
• esp. especially
• et al. and others (lower case, period follows
  al.)
• Eng. English BUT eng. engieering
• fig. figure (lower case)
• ibid. ibidem, in the same place
• i.e. id est, that is

5

• MLA abbreviation
• Time Designations write words out in the text,
  but use abbreviations on the Works Cited pages
• Months Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug.
  Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
• Days of the week Sun. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs.
  Fri. Sat.
• a.m. and p.m. are not capitalized
• BCE before the common era / CE common era
• AD after the birth of Christ / BC before
  Christ

6

• MLA continued
• Publishers Names
• Cambridge UP Cambridge University Press
• Harper Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.
  HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
• Houghton Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Little Little, Brown and Company, Inc.
• MLA The Modern Language Association of America
• Norton W. W. Norton and Co., Inc.
• Random Random House, Inc.
• St. Martins St. Martins Press, Inc.

7

• MLA Continued
• Titles of some works of literature are
  abbreviated including
• parts of the Bible
• works by Shakespeare
• works by Chaucer
• Greek and Roman texts
• Beowulf (Beo.)
• Don Quixote (DQ)
• Gullivers Travels (GT)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK)
• works by Dante
• works by Milton

8

• State Postal Abbreviations
• ALABAMA AL
• ALASKA AK
• ARIZONA AZ
• ARKANSAS AR
• CALIFORNIA CA
• COLORADO CO
• CONNECTICUT CT
• DELAWARE DE
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DC
• FLORIDA FL
• GEORGIA GA

9

• HAWAII HI
• IDAHO ID
• ILLINOIS IL
• INDIANA IN
• IOWA IA
• KANSAS KS
• KENTUCKY KY
• LOUISIANA LA
• MAINE ME
• MARYLAND MD
• MASSACHUSETTS MA
• MICHIGAN MI
• MINNESOTA MN
• MISSISSIPPI MS
• MISSOURI MO

10

• MONTANA MT
• NEBRASKA NE
• NEVADA NV
• NEW HAMPSHIRE NH
• NEW JERSEY NJ
• NEW MEXICO NM
• NEW YORK NY
• NORTH CAROLINA NC
• NORTH DAKOTA ND
• OHIO OH
• OKLAHOMA OK
• OREGON OR
• PENNSYLVANIA PA

11

• RHODE ISLAND RI
• SOUTH CAROLINA SC
• SOUTH DAKOTA SD
• TENNESSEE TN
• TEXAS TX
• UTAH UT
• VERMONT VT
• VIRGINIA VA
• WASHINGTON WA
• WEST VIRGINIA WV
• WISCONSIN WI
• WYOMING WY

12

• APA abbreviations
• To maximize clarity, use abbreviations
  sparingly APA Manual page 106
• Do not abbreviate
• day, week, month, year
• Do abbreviate
• hour hr
• minute min
• millisecond ms
• nanosecond ns
• second s

13

• APA continued
• Never begin a sentence with a lower case
  abbreviation
• Follow APA guidelines for using statistical
  abbreviations and symbols
• Note that there is both an English character set
  of abbreviations and a Greek character set