Abbreviations

1. Abbreviations Mini Lesson #1 From the UWF Writing Lab’s 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) • 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.

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. Martin’s – St. Martin’s 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) • Gulliver’s 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