AbbreviationAbbreviationss

AbbreviationAbbreviationss

From theUWF Writing Lab’s 101 Grammar Mini-Lessons

Series

Mini Lesson #1

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

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

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)◦L&D – 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.

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

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

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. Martin’s – St. Martin’s Press, Inc.

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) Gulliver’s Travels (GT) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) works by Dante works by Milton

State Postal AbbreviationsALABAMA ALALASKA AKARIZONA AZARKANSAS ARCALIFORNIA CACOLORADO COCONNECTICUT CTDELAWARE DEDISTRICT OF COLUMBIADCFLORIDA FLGEORGIA GA

HAWAII HI IDAHO ID ILLINOIS IL INDIANA IN IOWA IAKANSAS KSKENTUCKY KYLOUISIANA LAMAINE MEMARYLAND MDMASSACHUSETTS MAMICHIGAN MIMINNESOTA MNMISSISSIPPI MSMISSOURI MO

MONTANA MTNEBRASKA NENEVADA NVNEW HAMPSHIRE NHNEW JERSEY NJNEW MEXICO NMNEW YORK NYNORTH CAROLINA NCNORTH DAKOTA NDOHIO OHOKLAHOMA OKOREGON ORPENNSYLVANIA PA

RHODE ISLAND RISOUTH CAROLINASCSOUTH DAKOTA SDTENNESSEE TNTEXAS TXUTAH UTVERMONT VTVIRGINIA VAWASHINGTON WAWEST VIRGINIA WVWISCONSIN WIWYOMING WY

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

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