Acronyms and abbreviations
What are acronyms and abbreviations?
Acronyms are formed from the initial letters of a series of words. Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases.
Example: Information Technology Accessibility Office (ITAO) is an acronym. "Dept." (department) is an abbreviation.When to expand acronyms
Follow these detailed instructions to know when to expand acronyms (or abbreviations) in your documents:
First use of an an acronym
When you first introduce an acronym in your document, first provide the expanded form (and then the acronym in brackets) to ensure all readers understand the meaning.
- Type the full term first
- Write out the complete name or phrase
- Example: "Information Technology Accessibility Office"
- Add the acronym in parentheses
- Follow the full term with the acronym
- Complete example: "Information Technology Accessibility Office (ITAO)"
Subsequent uses of an acronym
Once you have established what an acronym means, you can use it throughout your document.
- Use just the acronym
- You can now use "ITAO" alone
- No need to repeat the full term
- Consider context
- If it's been many pages, remind readers with the full term again
- In new sections, you may want to re-introduce important acronyms
Additional Considerations
How you format acronyms affects how screen readers interpret them:
- Use "USA" instead of "U.S.A."
- Periods can cause awkward pronunciation
Creating an acronym glossary
For documents with multiple acronyms, consider creating a dedicated glossary section to help readers reference unfamiliar terms.
Basic glossary approach
For most documents, you can simply follow the standard "full term (acronym)" format throughout your content. This approach works well for documents with just a few acronyms.
Formal glossary for complex documents
Documents with many technical terms benefit from a dedicated acronym section. Here's how to structure it effectively:
- Create an "Abbreviations" or "List of Acronyms" section
- Place this section near the beginning of your document, typically after the table of contents
- Format as a simple two-column layout: "Acronym" and "Full Term"
- List acronyms alphabetically for easy reference
Example glossary format
A well-structured acronym glossary might look like this:
- API - Application Programming Interface
- IT - Information Technology
- PDF - Portable Document Format
- WCAG - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines