Punctuation and Capitalization
Acronyms and Initialisms
Units of Measurement
Personal Names and Titles
Company Names
Other Terms When in Parentheses, Tabular Material, or Documentation
PERSONAL NAMES AND TITLES
Personal names should generally not be abbreviated.
Spell out an academic, civil, religious, or military title when it does not precede a proper name.
When preceding a name, some (but not all) titles are customarily abbreviated. (See also Ms./Miss/Mrs.)
Dr. Smith, Mr. Mills, Ms. Kalz
An abbreviation of a title may follow the name; however, it should not duplicate a title before the name.
When addressing letters and including names in other documents, normally spell out titles that precede a name (exceptions: Mi:, Mrs., Ms., Dr.):
Professor Charles Matlin
Captain Juan Ramirez
The Honorable Mary J. Holt
The Reverend James Macintosh
The following list gives common abbreviations for personal and professional titles. Where alternative forms are given with a / between them, the first is the one recommended by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA).
Atty Attorney
BA/B.A. Bachelor of Arts
BS/B.S. Bachelor of Science
Capt. Captain
Col. Colonel
CPA/C.P.A. Certified Public Accountant
DA/D.A. Doctor of Arts
DD/D.D. Doctor of Divinity
DDS/D.D.S. Doctor of Dental Science (or Surgery)
Dir. Director
Dr. Doctor (used with any doctors degree)
Drs. Plural of Dr.
EdD/Ed.D. Doctor of Education
Esq. Esquire (used after a lawyers name)
Hon. Honorable
JD/J.D. Doctor of Law (Latin Juris Doctor)
Jr. Junior (spelled out only in formal contexts, such as formal invitations)
LLB/LL.B. Bachelor ol Laws
LLD/LL.D. Doctor of Laws
Lt. Lieutenant
MA/M.A. Master of Arts
MBA/M.B.A. Master ol Business Administration
MD/M.D. Doctor of Medicine (Latin Medicinae Doctor)
Messrs. Plural of Mr. (French Messieurs)
Mmes. Plural of Mrs. (French Mesdames)
Mr. Mister (spelled out only in formal contexts, such as formal invitations)
Mrs. Married woman (abbreviation lor Mistress)
Ms. Woman of unspecified marital status
MS/M.S. Master of Science
Msgr. Monsignor
PhD/Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy
Prof. Professor
Rep. Representative
Rev. Reverend
RN/R.N. Registered Nurse
Sen. Senator
Sgt. Sergeant
Sr. Senior (spelled out only in formal contexts, such as formal invitations)
St. Saint
COMPANY NAMES
Many companies include in their names such terms as Brothers, incorporated, Corporation, and Company. If these terms appear as abbreviations in the official company names, use the abbreviated forms: Bros., Inc., Corp., and Co. If such terms are not abbreviated in the official names, spell them out.
Similarly, use the ampersand (&) only if it appears in the official company name. (Note: The ampersand is not used in MLA style.)
Only when space is limited should you abbreviate titles of organizational units such as Department (Dept.) and Division (Div.).
OTHER TERMS WHEN IN PARENTHESES, TABULAR MATERIAL, OR DOCUMENTATION
When used within regular text, most words should be spelled out. However, the following abbreviations may be used to conserve space in parentheses, tabular material, or documentation.
abbr. abbreviation
acad. academy
adapt. adapted by, adaptation
anon. anonymous
app. appendix
assn. association
assoc. associate, associated
attnb. attributed to
aux. auxiliary
b. born
bk. or bks. book or books
c., ca. around this date (Latin circa)
cf. compare (Latin confer)
ch. or chs. chapter or chapters
col. column
comp. compiled by
cond. conducted by, conductor
contd. continued
d. died
dept. department
div. division
ed.; eds. editor, edited by, edition; editors, editions
e.g. for example (Latin exempli gratia)
e-mail (E-mail) electronic mail
esp. especially
et al. and others (Latin et alii}
etc. and so forth (Latin et cetera)
ex. example
fig. figure
fr. from
fwd. foreword, foreword by
govt. government
hist. history, historian, historical
i.e. that is (Latin id est)
illus. illustrated by, illustrator, illustration
inc. incorporated, including
insl. institution
mil. international
introd. introduced (or introduction) by
irreg. irregular
misc. miscellaneous
ms. or mss. manuscript or manuscripts
narr. narrator, narrated by
natl. national
NB/N.B. take note (Latin nota bene)
n.d. no publication date
no. number
n. pag. no pagination
ong. original, originally
p. or pp. page or pages
par. paragraph
PS/PS. postscript
pseud. pseudonym
pub., publ. published by, publisher, publication
qtd. quoted
reg. registered, regular
rept. reported, reported by
rev, revised by, revision, review
rpt. reprint, reprinted by
sec., sect. section
soc. society
supp. or supps. supplement or supplements
trans. translator, translated by
vol. or vols. volume or volumes
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