Writing Lab Abbreviations Abbreviations Abbreviations are used regularly

Writing Lab Abbreviations

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.

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, q 2 h = every 2 hours, qhs= every night at bedtime, etc.

Common Scholarly Abbreviations • • • ed. – editor, edition, edited by (lower case) Ed. D – 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 cont. • Publishers’ Names • Cambridge UP – Cambridge University Press • Harper – Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. ; Harper. Collins 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 cont. 2 ◦ Titles of some works of literature 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 Abbreviations • • • ALABAMA ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS CALIFORNIA COLORADO CONNECTICUT DELAWARE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FLORIDA GEORGIA AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA

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

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

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

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

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