Use of acronym table?
Use of acronym table?
(OP)
I have referred to a couple of technical writing books and cannot find an answer to my question. I'll start by stating what I think I know to be true.
When using acronyms in a technical report, it is commmon or expected that you spell out the acronym first followed by the acroynm in paranthesis; example, Field Service Representative (FSR).
Now on to the question. How does this "rule" relate to an acronym table placed at the beginning or end of the document? If you use an acronym table can you skip spelling out all acronyms in the text?
Thanks in advance. Any rules, advice, or assistant are appreciated.
When using acronyms in a technical report, it is commmon or expected that you spell out the acronym first followed by the acroynm in paranthesis; example, Field Service Representative (FSR).
Now on to the question. How does this "rule" relate to an acronym table placed at the beginning or end of the document? If you use an acronym table can you skip spelling out all acronyms in the text?
Thanks in advance. Any rules, advice, or assistant are appreciated.





RE: Use of acronym table?
RE: Use of acronym table?
embedded in the text is a rational way to introduce the addreviation.
the table puts all of them in one place, in an organised manner, so the reader can find the reference without thinking "where did i see that term explained in the text ?". at a minimum you could expect the reader to refer to the table for the first instance as well. you might want to consider having something to distinguish the same abbrev, eg FSR[1] = Field Service Rep, FSR[2] = Field Special Repair.
RE: Use of acronym table?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Use of acronym table?
If you're too lazy to type it all as you write then use acronyms and do a search and replace at the end.
RE: Use of acronym table?
Given a choice, or the control, I have always opted to provide a standardized list of acronyms at the beginning of a report. Sometime they end up as an attachment at the end. As far as what standard to use, I have generally used Means Construction Dictionary as the base reference, with industry common or specialized acronyms added to an alphabetical list . When the final report is proofed, the acronyms in the report should be checked against the standard, including acronyms not on the list, which should be added prior to publishing the report.
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Use of acronym table?
Acronym Glossary + spell it out (and acronym in parenthesis) first time you use it.
Unnecessary acronyms should be avoided, but docs can get long winded if you don't make appropriate use of ones familiar to the likely reader.
As to my preferred source of Acronyms, why ASME Y14.38 of course.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Use of acronym table?
Mint, it depends on the report. Some investigation reports that refer to a construction material or type would be much more difficult to read if you did not use the acronym. The one that comes to mind for me is EIFS, or exterior insulation and finish system. It is so common for architects and engineers in my field to refer to this material as 'EE-EYE-EFF-ESS' OR 'EE-FISS' that spelling it out would be much more confusing.
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Use of acronym table?
RE: Use of acronym table?
My intention was to spell them out then put the TLA in parentheses the first time I used the term. I failed miserably and didn't even know it the first 5 times I taught the class. Spelling out something like psig as "pounds force per square inch gauge" is truly unreadable. There was a German in my class that was so locked into kg(f)/cm^2 that he thought that was the only pressure unit on the planet--he had never even heard of kPa.
I think that anything you do will stike some people as good and some as bad. You should do your best to make the stuff you're writing as readable as possible. Beyond that you can find a style guide to support any position.
David
RE: Use of acronym table?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: Use of acronym table?
You do it even more than you think! What is a TLA?
Stephen Argles
Land & Marine
www.landandmarine.com
RE: Use of acronym table?
David
RE: Use of acronym table?
There are a couple of cases where I have spelled it out more than once in the document, such as when the acronym hasn't been used for a couple of sections or if a section is stand alone (ie I'll spell it out in the executive summary and then again in the main body of the report). Anything that will help make the document more readable.
The exception being if it's a really common acronym such as psig, it still goes into the acronym table but I won't spell it out in full in the document.
RE: Use of acronym table?
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Use of acronym table?
Fe
RE: Use of acronym table?
I do not like the acronym "psig". I prefer to spell out units -- lb/in^2(g). I do not even like the metric practise of naming units after people. A kPa is 1000N/m^2. If you write the units out, you can do a unit balance.
Quite a few years ago, a bunch of us were trying figure out what a Torr was. This was prior to the internet, so it took quite a bit of time to figure out that it is one millimeter of mecury.
RE: Use of acronym table?
"psig" takes less definition since it is in such wide usage.
David
RE: Use of acronym table?
I work for an "Acronyms-R-Us" company. If we didn't have acronyms, I'd still be back about mid last year in my speech and typing on company matters.
rmw
RE: Use of acronym table?
Now that's a classic.
rmw
RE: Use of acronym table?
Matt Lorono
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
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RE: Use of acronym table?
RE: Use of acronym table?
Over use of acronyms can make extremely frustrating reading for someone less familiar with the topic.
It can seriously detract from the flow of thought if the reader has to constantly be flipping back and forth to follow the plot.
RE: Use of acronym table?
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Use of acronym table?
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Use of acronym table?
RE: Use of acronym table?
What to call the units is an ongoing problem. Do you call it SI when someone uses kg/m^2 as a pressure unit? I don't think so. One company I've recently worked with calls it FPS (feet, pounds, seconds) which I thought was pretty clear and unabmigious once I worked out the acronym.
When I was in the UK last year I heard a lot of "feet", "mph", and "stone" so "English" seems to be a fair name for the units we use in the U.S. (especially since most of the terms originated there). Imperial seems more PC this week, but what that really means is "the units of England during the Imperial period", so again calling them English units seems to work.
David
RE: Use of acronym table?
RE: Use of acronym table?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Use of acronym table?
David
RE: Use of acronym table?
I bought the mag and "tried" to read it. Not only was there no table for acronyms & abbreviations (A&M's) but there was not even one spelled out clue for the plethora of A&M's. The editor had asked for feedback via internet and I gave him my opinion. He did not appreciate that I referred to his authors as inane by not giving us any clues. His defense was that the intended audience would be cutting edge enthusiasts who would know the terms. This seems a very weak excuse given the fast pace of change particularly in the field of computers.
Give me a table or give me a first time spell-out but do not keep repeating the spell-out which is distracting. If you really want to know the spelling and cannot remember at the next A or M, seaching for it will help stimulate your brain to better cement it in your PMB (Personal Memory Bank).
RE: Use of acronym table?
RE: Use of acronym table?
Here is a good start.
RE: Use of acronym table?
TLA (Three Letter Acronym)
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Use of acronym table?
I've got a handicapped daughter in a public school program called "Career and Transition". The local newspaper did a story on her class and as expected, got the class name wrong as "Career in Transistion".
The full class name is used in paragraphs 2 and 6, each time by itself, and then in paragraph 7 the term C&T shows up twice.
We showed the article to 21 people (I counted) who have stopped by in the past month, and every single of them looked up when reading through it and said, "What's C&T?"
Every one of them then said something to the effect of, "why wasn't C&T in parentheses next to Career and Transition earlier in the article?
The evidence shows, that the expectation.
I doubt whether it matters whether (C&T) is before or after, but every literate person I showed it to said the acronymn should be next to the full name term.
RE: Use of acronym table?
Sounds like the editor of that article needs some re-training.
Matt Lorono, CSWP
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
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