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Abbreviations and Acronyms
The one-or-two-use rule
Do not give an abbreviation or acronym for a term that
is only used once unless the acronym is better known than the full
spelling (e.g., FAA).
Our field is laden with acronyms, so it's not unusual
to find a short article strewn with "alphabet soup." To avoid
the soup as much as possible, consider whether your article will contain
more than two mentions of the noun your acronym represents. If it's
two and only two, consider using the full spellout for those two occasions.
But if you'll be making at least three mentions, read on. [02/2008]
The same-paragraph rule
If an abbreviation or acronym is used very soon after the use of the
full term (e.g., in the same paragraph), it is not necessary to give
the acronym in parentheses. For example: "John Doe, a visitor to NCAR
from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, reports that
during the next five years NASA will spend $1.2 million on the program." Likewise,
if the acronym is used first and the spellout follows soon after, it
is not necessary to repeat the acronym in parentheses.
Exception to the same-paragraph rule: If the spellout
itself is predominantly lower case (e.g., advanced fiber-optic Echelle
spectrograph), then do include the acronym in parens immediately
following first use (assuming the one-or-two-use rules have been met):
The advanced fiber-optic Echelle spectrograph (AFOE), was deployed
. . . . [02/2008]
Now you're ready for the acronym
When the above-listed conditions have been satisfied, at the first
appearance in text of a term that is commonly abbreviated or that you
wish to abbreviate, write it out and give the abbreviation in parentheses
immediately thereafter. Use the abbreviation throughout the rest of
the text, except in very long documents, in which you should give the
full spelling several times (for example, once per chapter).
It is acceptable to give the abbreviation or acronym first (with
the whole name in parentheses) if the acronym is much more familiar
than the whole name or the structure of the sentence works better that
way. Also, if the acronym first arises in a quote (and the speaker
uses the acronym rather than the full name), keep the speaker's terminology
intact and put the full spelling immediately after the abbreviation,
in brackets.
Use of periods: yes for abbreviations of two letters;
no for three letters or more: U.S., U.N., but UNEP.
Units of measure: Do not abbreviate any units on
first use in nontechnical writing; treat them as regular abbreviations.
In technical contexts, follow SI usage (see list in Chicago, 14th
ed., p. 478, section 14.41). Units are spelled out when not used with
numerals (e.g., hundreds of kilometers). Do not abbreviate day, month,
or year.
See also "metric units."
"NCAR" and "UCAR" are almost never spelled out.
The same for "NASA," which itself has stopped using the spellout
in most cases. Staff Notes and the Quarterly have additional
exceptions (e.g., NOAA, NWS, NSF), but all other acronyms must be spelled
out. If you're not sure what one stands for, look it up in the Acronym
List.
The EPA, but not The NCAR
Labs and Divisions: We follow common NCAR usage
concerning articles before acronyms: Do not use "the" before the acronym
for any NCAR division or section. Do not use "the" before NSF, NOAA
(and its subunits), NASA, NWS, acronyms of most experiments and research
programs, WMO, NAS, NMC, ML, FL.
Do use "the" before EAC, EPA, FAA, AMS, CCM, GCM, and other
acronyms that are not pronounceable as words (exceptions noted above). Do use "the" when
any acronym serves as an adjective (the NASA program). [03/2000]
Foreign acronyms
Use the English-equivalent spellout; when
translation is not available use the foreign-language acronym plus
an English description of the institution in parens.
See also
Acronym List
State
abbreviations for lists, tables, congressmember IDs
Staff
Notes and UCAR Quarterly style guides if you are editing
those publications
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