Abbreviations

Abbreviations, acronyms and contractions are shorter ways to write words. For accessibility reasons, you should be careful when and how much you use them. When writing for digital content, you should follow our guidance on tagging.

  • An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase.
  • A contraction is a word resulting from a word or phrase that has been shortened in the middle (I'm, can't).
  • An initialism is pronounced as the individual letters (LGBTQIA+, IT)
  • An acronym is a set of initials from other words but pronounced as a word (EUCLID, UCAS).

Tagging

For accessibility reasons, it's very important that you tag abbreviations where appropriate.

Tagging is where an abbreviation, contraction or acronym used on the web is marked with special code so that users know what it means.

The additional text contained in the tag is revealed when the user hovers over the tagged item with their cursor. This often shows what letters in an acronym stand for - but this is not always the case.

Abbreviations

Avoid abbreviations where you can. If you do use one, format it without punctuation and make sure it's appropriately tagged.

Punctuation

As a general principle, abbreviations should not use punctuation, including full stops.

Is an abbreviation appropriate?

Abbreviations can be confusing. It's often better to write the word out in full. In particular, avoid abbreviations of terms that aren't standard British English, such as 'e.g.' or 'RSVP'.

Acronyms

Acronyms which you know your audience will recognise do not need to be written out in full, but they usually need to be tagged.

Others should be written out the first time they are used (on every page), with the tagged acronym coming after in brackets. After this the tagged acronym can be used alone. Don’t put full stops between letters.

Example

  • Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA)

Contractions

A contraction results from letters being missed out (an abbreviation is a shortened version). Mr is a contraction of M-iste-r.

Don’t use full stops in contractions or abbreviations.

Example

  • Mr rather than Mr.
  • Dr rather than Dr.

Contracted words

Some types of contracted words can cause issues with usability. Simple contractions may be fine.

Example

  • you’ll - for you will
  • we’ll - for we will

University abbreviations

The A to Z shows what many common University abbreviations stand for. 

You can use the University of Edinburgh Acronyms and Abbreviations site (often referred to as the Edinburgh Acronym Buster) to look up acronyms to find out what they mean.

University of Edinburgh Acronyms and Abbreviations site (log in required)   

A level

No hyphen, lower-case l.

Hyphenate in adjectival sense: 'A-level results'

BA

Tag as Bachelor of Arts.

BEng

Tag as Bachelor of Engineering.

billion

Abbreviate to bn, not b, only if necessary. Tag as billion.

BSc

Tag as Bachelor of Science.

chemical formulae

Avoid where possible. Write ‘carbon dioxide’ instead of CO2.

Where used, chemical formulae should be written in plain text - CO2 - and do not need to be tagged.

If your web page contains reference to a number of chemical formulas and their use is unavoidable, consider creating a glossary of terms. Provide a link to this glossary on each relevant page.

Covid-19

Do not tag.

DClinPsychol

Tag as Doctor of Clinical Psychology.

degrees, degree classes

No full stops.

"MA (Hons)"

Use colons to separate 2:1, 2:2

See individual entries for tagging guidance for specific degree abbreviations.

Dr

Do not tag.

DSc

Tag as Doctor of Science.


ECA

Tag as Edinburgh College of Art.

EdD

Tag as Doctor of Education.

eg

Avoid. Use 'for example' instead.

etc

Avoid. State full list or use alternative phrases. If unavoidable, use ‘etcetera’.

‘Each month’ rather than ‘in January, February, etc’ ‘Ball games’ rather than ‘football etc’.

EUSA

The first time, write it in full as Edinburgh University Students' Association. After that, use the acronym EUSA and tag as Edinburgh University Students’ Association.

ft

Avoid. Tag as full time if unavoidable.

GP

Avoid. Use ‘doctor’ or similar instead. If it is unavoidable, tag as ‘General Practitioner’.

HTML

Do not tag unless the page’s purpose is to explain what HTML is.

ie

Avoid. Use ‘that is’ or other alternative.

LLB, LLM

Do not tag.


MA

Tag as Master of Arts.

MBA

Tag as Master of Business Administration.

MBChB

Do not tag.

MCS

Tag as Master of Chinese Studies.

MClinDent

Tag as Master of Clinical Dentistry.

metres

Avoid abbreviating. Use 'm', tagged as ‘metres’ where unavoidable.

million

Abbreviate to mn, not m, only if necessary. Tag as million.

MMus

Tag as Master of Music.

MPhil

Tag as Master of Philosophy.

Mr, Mrs, Ms

Do not tag.

MSc

Tag as Master of Science.

MSW

Tag as Master of Social Work. 

MTeach

Tag as Master of Teaching.

MTh

Tag as Master of Theology.

NB

Do not use.

NHS

Tag as National Health Service or leave untagged, depending on context.


PGDE

Tag as Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (not Postgraduate Diploma).

PgDip

Tag as Postgraduate Diploma.

PhD

Do not tag.

postcodes

Do not tag. Format with a contact box if using EdWeb.

Professor

Do not abbreviate to ‘Prof’ unless absolutely necessary. If the abbreviated form is used, tag as Professor.

RSVP

Do not use. Use ‘please respond/reply’ instead.

SQA

Tag as Scottish Qualifications Authority.

UCAS

Tag as University and Colleges Admissions Service.

UK

Tag as United Kingdom.

USA

Tag as United States of America.

URL

Avoid if possible, using ‘website address’ or similar instead. If used, do not tag unless the purpose of the copy is to explain Uniform Resource Locators.


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