The first time an acronym appears in your paper, state what the acronym stands for and put the acronym in brackets. Every time the acronym appears afterwards, use the acronym only. If the title only appears once in your paper, do not give the acronyms.
Examples
- The West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) is a non-profit examination board. WAEC was established in 1951.
- The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes many helpful documents. The APA manual should be consulted for writing scientific papers. The APA also collaborates with the American Educational Research Assocation and the National Council of Measurement Experts on some papers, as well. (Note that American Educational Research Assocation and National Council of Measurement Experts can also be abbreviated AERA and NCME. However, the acronyms are not given since they are not repeated in the paper.)
- The International Reading Association (IRA) promtes literacy education across the world. Find the IRA website on the internet for useful resources.
Practice
For the following sentences, the name and acronym are bolded. Rewrite the sentence so the acronyms are appropriately written.
- The National Association for the Education of Young Children/NAEYC provides valuable information about early childhood education. The National Association for the Education of Young Children/NAEYC sponsors a valuable conference every year.
- The Nigerian Educational Psychologist is published by the Nigerian Society for Educational Psychologists/NISEP. The Nigerian Society for Educational Psychologists/NISEP conference in 2009 was postponed due to the university strike.
- The United Nations/UN has been providing troops to protect the safety of the country. The United Nations/UN website provides statistics about every country in the world.
Answers
- The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides valuable information about early childhood education. The NAEYC sponsors a valuable conference every year.
- The Nigerian Educational Psychologist is published by the Nigerian Society for Educational Psychologists (NISEP). The NISEP conference in 2009 was postponed due to the university strike.
- The United Nations (UN) has been providing troops to protect the safety of the country. The UN website provides statistics about every country in the world.
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