The IEEE Style requires certain information in your Reference List to be abbreviated. This page lists some of these standard abbreviations. Information about standard abbreviations not covered in this Guide can be found in IEEE's Reference Guide (2021). You may also ask in a Meet with a Librarian session Show
Month abbreviations are used for sources including standards, patents, and websites. Books, reports, conferences, and theses do not require month abbreviations. The IEEE standard abbreviations for each month are: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. Journals issued every two months (i.e. Bimonthly): Aug./Sept. 2019 Journals issued every four months (i.e. Quarterly): July–Sept. 2019 Word Abbreviations: The IEEE Reference Guide contains a list of common abbreviated words. Journal Title Abbreviations: Use the CAS Source Index (CASSI) Tool to generate the appropriate abbreviation for the journal you are referencing. For an IEEE Journals and Transactions, you can also refer to IEEE's Journal Title and Abbreviations list. For an IEEE Magazine, you can also refer to IEEE's Magazine Titles and Abbreviations list. Conference Proceeding Abbreviations: Abbreviate common words as per the IEEE Reference Guide's list of common abbreviated words (e.g. 'Information Science and Technology' is abbreviated to 'Inform. Sci. and Technology') Abbreviate standard conference terms as per the IEEE Reference Guide's list of common abbreviated words (e.g. 'International Conference' is abbreviated to 'Int. Conf.') Written numbers in the conference proceeding title are converted to numerical representation (e.g. 'Fifth Conference' is abbreviated to '5th Conf.') Use acronyms in the conference title if provided (e.g. 'NUSOD') Articles and prepositions (e.g. 'of the', 'on') are removed from a conference title when it is abbreviated. Example - Full Title: 'Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Numerical Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices (NUSOD)' Theses/Dissertation Abbreviations: Abbreviate common words (including Department names) as per the IEEE Reference Guide's list of common abbreviated words. Abbreviate the name of the University only if you know the correct abbreviation. Abbreviate the State for place of publication details, if the work originated from United States of America. Page 2
What is an abbreviation? Learn abbreviation definition and how to use them in both formal and informal speech. This lesson also provides a useful list of different types of abbreviations with meaning in English. Abbreviation Definition and UsageWhat is an Abbreviation?Both in formal and informal speech, we don’t always write the whole word or phrase and use a shortened form instead. For example, it’s common to come across an “etc.” or “i.e.” in an essay and an “OMG” or “FYI” in a text message you receive from a friend. All of these are abbreviations. Even though it might seem that abbreviations are a rather modern phenomenon that exploded due to technology and text messages, they’ve actually been around for thousands of years. In fact, in ancient Greece and Rome, it was common to shorten words by their first letter. As for the English language, it’s been full of abbreviations from the very beginning. Beowulf, an Old English epic poem from some time around the tenth century, is only one example of works that had shortened forms of words in them. Why Do We Use Abbreviations?The reason why abbreviations have been popular hundreds of years ago and why they still remain so today is that they help us save space and time. Obviously, it takes a lot less effort to write SARS than it would if you were to write “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome”, the whole phrase that it stands for. In addition, in the modern world, there sometimes is the need to fit as much information as possible into one message while having a limited amount of characters. For instance, Twitter doesn’t allow tweets to be longer than 280 characters. It’s natural to shorten all the words that can be shortened, to make sure that everything you want to say fits into a single tweet. Abbreviations can take various forms, and there isn’t a rule that would strictly define how words can or can’t be shortened. One option is representing the word by its first letter or by the first few letters, e.g. v. for verb and Co. for company. Some abbreviations take the most important letters of the word, such as Ltd. that stands for limited, or Revd that stands for Reverend. A single word can also be shortened by taking only the first and the last letter, e.g. Dr. for Doctor, Rd. for road. It’s also common that first letters of the words in a phrase are used instead of a whole phrase. Examples are BTW for by the way and RSVP for répondez s’il vous plaît. Many abbreviations appeared at the end of the 20th century when people started sending each other text messages. These are most commonly first letters of the words in a phrase, such as TMI that stands for too much information. Sometimes letters are replaced with numbers to make an abbreviation; thus, L8r stands for later. Often quite a few questions arise when it comes to abbreviations. Do I use a full stop after the shortened version of the word? Do I use lowercase or uppercase letters? What do I do if I need a plural form? These are just some of those questions. However, just as it is with the majority of English grammar, practice makes perfect. If you keep using abbreviations in your writing, you soon will have no problems with them. Learn more about acronyms and the difference between acronym vs abbreviation. Abbreviations ListList of different types of abbreviations with meaning in English. Business & Finance AbbreviationsExamples of common business abbreviations in English.
Marketing & Sales AcronymsExamples of sales and marketing acronyms in English.
Medical Abbreviations
Title Abbreviations
Note Taking/ Writing AbbreviationsExamples of common abbreviations for note taking.
Time Abbreviations
Postal Terms & Direction Terms
Measurement Abbreviations
State Abbreviations
English Teaching AbbreviationsExamples of abbreviations for English language teaching.
Internet Acronyms & Text AbbreviationsExamples of text abbreviations and internet slang words.
Common Abbreviations List | InfographicsText Abbreviations List |