Abbreviations and acronyms

Abbreviations are shortened versions of words (e.g. pp. for ‘pages’, fig. for figure, Mr for ‘Mister’).

Acronyms are abbreviations that form a word and are made up or the initial letters (or the first part) of each word (e.g. NATO, NGO, UNESCO).

Choosing whether or not to use an abbreviation can be a delicate matter. If you write for colleagues, spelling out VET or NQF makes no sense. If, on the other hand, you write for employers in tourism, abbreviating ‘vocational education and training’ or ‘national qualifications framework’ makes no sense.

New expressions, such as NEET and Entrecomp, take time to be adopted. Think twice before you assume that your readers know what every abbreviation means.

The days are over when you could get away with spelling out an abbreviation only the first time you introduce it. Remember what we wrote about non-linear readers earlier? Or did you skip that chapter?

Guidelines for use of abbreviations and acronyms:

• Avoid unnecessary abbreviations and acronyms.
• If an abbreviation occurs only once or twice, don’t abbreviate at all.
• Spell out abbreviations that may be unfamiliar to your readers at their first occurrence in every new section.
• Add a list of frequently used abbreviations, unless you are only writing a shorter article or a briefing note.

You can find in this chapter:

• Acronyms
• Abbreviations

Acronyms

In principle, acronyms are put into upper case letters and there is no need to put full stops between the letters. It is common in EU publications to put acronyms of over five letters into lower case (first letter only in capitals), as the examples below illustrate:

• Short acronyms (five letters or less): AIDS, CAP, CARDS, ECU, EFTA, EMU, MEDA, UCLAF, VAT.
• Long acronyms (more than five letters): Benelux, Cedefop, Erasmus, Esprit, Euratom, Europol, Eurostat, Interreg, Mercosur, Unicef.

At first mention, and where appropriate, use the full name of the organisation with initials in parentheses. At subsequent mentions, use only the acronym.

There are always exceptions, such as UNESCO.

With acronyms and abbreviations do not use an apostrophe in the plural. It is NGOs and not NGO’s. It is SMEs and not SME’s.

The base rule is, again, to think about your reader when using acronyms in your text. Too many acronyms will make your text very difficult to read.

Abbreviations

Some abbreviations are determined by international agreement (most notably units of measure), others by usage (names, courtesy titles, compass points, awards and distinctions etc.)

Common examples of abbreviations include: km (kilometre), cm (centimetre), mm (millimetre), g (gram), km/h (kilometres per hour), e.g. (for example), i.e. (that is to say), Vol. (Volume), PS (post scriptum), NB (nota bene).

Keep abbreviations to an absolute minimum in the body of your text. They are more appropriate in notes, source lines, tables, etc.

Do not invent abbreviations!