Abbreviations

When do you use abbreviations? Here are some common examples:

• Titles before proper names: Dr., Ms., Mr., St. (Saint), Lt.
• Descriptions following names of people, places, or things: Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Ltd., Washington, D.C., Pontiac GTO, Smith Co., Inc.
• Names of agencies, organizations, and nations: USA, CIA, NASA, USSR, IBM, MTV
• Words accompanying dates or figures: B.C., A.D., No., A.M., P.M., Fig.
• With footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies. Note: See our individual entries for different bibliographic styles, and check with your professors to verify which method of citation they prefer.
  • ed. - edited by, editor, edition
  • e.g. - for example
  • etc. - and so forth
  • et al. - and others
  • ibid. - in the same place; as cited previously*
  • i.e. - that is
  • op. cit. - in the work cited elsewhere*
  • p., pp. - page, pages
  • trans. - translated by

*Ibid. and op. cit. are rarely used in documentation. See our pages on Chicago-Style documentation for details on the use of ibid.

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