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