Abbreviations

A term that will be used several times in your document can be abbreviated the first time it is introduced immediately after the term in parentheses [e.g., American Psychological Association (APA)].  Once the term has been abbreviated, use throughout the document.  To introduce an abbreviation and at the same time do a citation the following format will illustrate:  (American Psychological Association [APA], 2010).  “Abbreviations introduced on the first mention of the term and used fewer than three times thereafter, particularly in a long paper, may be difficult for a reader to remember, and you probably serve the reader best if you write them out each time” (p. 107).  Do not use acronyms in a table or figure.  Use U.S. (no internal space after the period) when used as an adjective (APA, p.88).  For example: U.S. Senate or U.S. Department of Education; whereas use this format when referring to residents of the United States.  Most often United States is the correct format. 

Do not use abbreviations for journal names in the reference list.

Avoid abbreviations (acronyms) except for long, familiar terms (MMPI).

Explain what an abbreviation means the first time it occurs: American Psychological Association (APA).

If an abbreviation is commonly used as a word, it does not require explanation (IQ, LSD, REM, ESP).

Do not use the old abbreviations for subject, experimenter, and observer (S, E, O).

The following abbreviations should NOT be used outside parenthetical comments:

cf. [use compare]

e.g. [use for example]

etc. [use and so forth]

i.e. [use that is]

viz. [use namely]

vs. [use versus]

Use periods when making an abbreviation within a reference (Vol. 3, p. 6, 2nd ed.)

Do not use periods within degree titles and organization titles (PhD, APA).

Do not use periods within measurements (lb, ft, s) except inches (in.).

Use s for second, m for meter.

To form plurals of abbreviations, add s alone, without apostrophe (PhDs, IQs, vols., Eds).

In using standard abbreviations for measurements, like m for meter, do not add an s to make it plural (100 seconds is 100 s); when referring to several pages in a reference or citation, use the abbreviation pp. (with a period after it and a space after the period).

Do not use the abbreviation "pp." for magazine or journal citations; just give the numbers themselves. Do use "pp." for citations of encyclopedia entries, multi-page newspaper articles, chapters or articles in edited books.

Use two-letter postal codes for U.S. state names (GA).