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Essential Guide to Abbreviations in Academic Writing

This guide covers the use of abbreviations in formal writing, including works cited and tables, with specific focus on medical, scholarly, and postal abbreviations. It highlights the importance of knowing when and how to use abbreviations correctly according to different style guides, such as APA and MLA. The document includes examples of common abbreviations, their meanings, and usage rules for clarity and precision in writing. This valuable resource helps writers ensure adherence to academic standards while maintaining clarity in their texts.

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Essential Guide to Abbreviations in Academic Writing

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  1. Writing Lab Abbreviations

  2. Abbreviations • 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 cont. • 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 cont. 2 • 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. State Postal Abbreviations Cont. • HAWAII HI • IDAHO ID • ILLINOIS IL • INDIANA IN • IOWA IA • KANSAS KS • KENTUCKY KY • LOUISIANA LA • MAINE ME • MARYLAND MD • MASSACHUSETTS MA

  10. State Postal Abbreviations Cont. 2 • MASSACHUSETTS MA • MICHIGAN MI • MINNESOTA MN • MISSISSIPPI MS • MISSOURI MO • MONTANA MT • NEBRASKA NE • NEVADA NV • NEW HAMPSHIRE NH • NEW JERSEY NJ • NEW MEXICO NM

  11. State Postal Abbreviations Cont. 3 • NEW YORK NY • NORTH CAROLINA NC • NORTH DAKOTA ND • OHIO OH • OKLAHOMA OK • OREGON OR • PENNSYLVANIA PA • RHODE ISLAND RI • SOUTH CAROLINA SC • SOUTH DAKOTA SD • TENNESSEE TN

  12. State Postal Abbreviations Cont. 4 • TEXAS TX • UTAH UT • VERMONT VT • VIRGINIA VA • WASHINGTON WA • WEST VIRGINIA WV • WISCONSIN WI • WYOMING WY

  13. 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

  14. APA cont. • 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.

  15. That’s all, folks! • This lesson is part of the UWF Writing Lab Grammar Mini-Lesson Series • Lessons adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon • To find out more, visit the Writing Lab’s website where you can take a self-scoring quiz corresponding to this lesson

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