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Aaron Writes
Volume 36
Abbreviations in Formal Writing
March 1, 2008
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Welcome to our 36th issue of Aaron Writes!

In this issue, we will discuss abbreviations in formal writing in English. Before starting, however, we would like to comment on English words that are abbreviated by Japanese students of English in their writing. In general, Japanese writers who write in English have a tendency to abbreviate English words. We believe that this comes from Japanese being very receptive toward abbreviation. English is also receptive toward abbreviation, but not as receptive as Japanese. We see many English words that are incorporated into the Japanese language and abbreviated, but these same words are not abbreviated in English. We also see Japanese speakers of English using abbreviated English that is not normally abbreviated by native English speakers. Be careful when you abbreviate. If you are not sure, don’t abbreviate.

This issue of Aaron Writes may not be that relevant to you if you are not writing in academic style. Still, we hope it will be of interest to you as we show you some of the many restrictions and demands that English has for academic writers.

Historically, abbreviations in formal writing were limited, but abbreviation use has increased in all kinds of writing. Abbreviations are now preferred in tables, notes, bibliographies, illustrations, and lists. Specialty areas generally have their own accepted standards for abbreviation use and these guidelines are to be followed.

Writers who create new abbreviations for their papers need to define their abbreviations for their readers. Turabian, one of the references for academic writers, tells us that if we create new abbreviations, we need to provide a list at the beginning of the paper. (If you would like to learn more about Turabian, please look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turabian for more information.) The list should be in alphabetical order in accordance with the abbreviations.

Here’s an example of what several new abbreviations might look like in the specialty area of urban life.

GST  people who watch others throw trash and glare at them
PST  people who throw trash onto sidewalks and into gutters
ST  street trash (the small pieces of garbage on sidewalks and in gutters)

The abbreviation list enables readers who do not read the whole paper to look up the abbreviations. Readers who do read the whole paper do not need the list unless they forget what the abbreviations mean as each new abbreviation is always defined the first time it is used. Here’s an example of how an abbreviation is defined in a paper:

One category is people who watch others throw trash on sidewalks and into gutters and glare (GST) at those who throw the trash.

All abbreviations that some readers may not know should also be defined the first time they are used.

Abbreviations may seem quite simple but Turabian devotes approximately 11 pages to them. Below we have listed some of the information she provides:

Periods
The trend is now away from the use of periods.

Scholarly degrees and titles of respect
When scholarly degrees and titles of respect follow a name, they always require a comma before them. If text follows, there should be a second comma as in the following example:

Aaron Smith, Ph.D., attended the meeting and spoke about abbreviation trends in academic writing and translation.

Social titles
Social titles such as Mr. and Ms. are always abbreviated.
Dr. and doctor
Dr. Aaron saved the patient's life through her heroic 38 hour surgery. The doctor was at the patient's side the entire time.

Note that before the doctor's name the abbreviation is used, but that it is spelled out when she becomes the doctor.

Titles before family names and full names
Please look at the following examples:

1. Senator Clinton and General Powell were both discussed at different times as possible presidential candidates.

2. Sen. Hillary Clinton decided to run for president while Gen. Colin Powell did not.

You can see that an abbreviation is used in front of a full name while it is not in front of a last period. This rule is followed for civil, military, professional, and religious titles.

What is amazing is how such a topic, which may seem trivial to some people, could have so many rules and exceptions to the rules.

We hope this has been of interest to you and look forward to seeing you again for our next issue.

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