Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations in Science Writing Which is ...

Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms, Celia M. Elliott

10/30/2014

Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations in Science Writing

Celia M. Elliott Department of Physics

University of Illinois [email protected]

“In this class, we use a lot of three‐letter acronyms, or TLAs.” —Dale Van Harlingen Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Which is which? Abbreviation—shortened form of word average = av const = constant usually written lower case and without a terminal period (.)

Acronym—pronounced as a word NASA, MOSFET, LIGO

Initialism—pronounced letter‐by‐letter STM, QCD, CMB

Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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10/30/2014

Define acronyms and initialisms (A&Is) at their first use Spell out the words first, followed by the acronym in parentheses ( ) quantum chromodynamics (QCD) local standard of rest (LSR) NaxCa2−xCuO2Cl2 (NCCOC)

The AIP lists common physics acronyms that need not be defined BCS, emf, NMR, dc, ir, DNA

Tip: When in doubt, write it out!

When defining, capitalize only words that are proper nouns scanning tunneling microscope (STM) density functional theory (DFT) angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) Blonder–Tinkham– Klapwijk (BTK) theory cosmic microwave background (CMB) Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC)


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10/30/2014

A sentence may NOT begin with an acronym, even if it has been previously defined To image the surface of thin films of a superconducting crystal, the group uses a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that they built at Illinois. STM topographic images are correlated with X-ray crystallographic data.

Three ways to fix the problem: To image the surface of thin films of a superconducting crystal, the group uses a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that they built at Illinois. STM topographic images are correlated with X-ray crystallographic data. 1. You could write out “scanning tunneling microscope” again, but that sounds wordy and redundant.


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10/30/2014

Three ways to fix the problem: To image the surface of thin films of a superconducting crystal, the group uses a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that they built at Illinois. STM topographic images are correlated with X-ray crystallographic data. 2. You could add an article; thus “The STM topographic images...”

Three ways to fix the problem: To image the surface of thin films of a superconducting crystal, the group uses a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that they built at Illinois. STM topographic images are correlated with X-ray crystallographic data. 3. You could rearrange the sentence so it doesn’t start with an acronym; thus “Topographic images obtained by STM are correlated with X‐ray crystallographic data.”


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10/30/2014

Capitalize most A&Is Some common A&Is are not capitalized (see AIP) rpm ac rf dc ir uv

The use of periods (.) in abbreviations is evolving U.S. usage is to put periods after one‐ word abbreviations (Dr., Ms.) but not after multi‐word abbreviations (APS, NASA, LIGO) British usage is just the opposite Dr, Ms, I.U.P.A.P., N.I.H. As always, there are exceptions: Fig., Figs., Eq., Eqs. H.c., i.d.


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10/30/2014

Plurals don’t require apostrophes Do not use an apostrophe to make an acronym plural AFMs CD-ROMs PMTs

While I’m on the subject, don’t use an apostrophe to make numbers greater than 9 plural, either expressed in 100s Boeing 767s

Select an article (a or an) by the sound of the acronym it precedes Begins with a vowel sound  an an STM

Begins with a consonant sound  a a SQUID a USDA-approved pesticide

What about Si (???)

a Si substrate an SiO2 substrate


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10/30/2014

To recap: Acronyms must be defined at first use Write out the words first (WOTWF) Capitalize only proper nouns in the written words Don’t use periods in acronyms or abbreviations (usually) Be aware that not all acronyms and abbreviations are capitalized Don’t begin a sentence or title with an acronym (or a number or a symbol) When in doubt, write it out or look it up


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