Abbreviations, Acronyms and Initialisms
Acronym: a word, usually pronounced as such, formed from the initial letters of other words.
laser, scuba, NATO
Initialism: a group of initial letters used as an abbreviation for a name or expression, each letter being pronounced separately.
CBC, TRU, FYI
Lower case
Use periods with abbreviations that appear in lower case.
e.g., a.k.a., a.m., p.m., et al., vs., etc.
Upper case
Use no periods with abbreviations that appear in upper case or small caps.
VP, USA (US), CEO, TRU
Use no periods with acronyms and initialisms.
Place course codes in upper case.
SERV 3000
Place acronyms in upper case except when they have become common words.
UNESCO, NATO, scuba, laser
Place initialisms in upper case.
TRU, BCLC, ICBC
According to Canada Post standards, abbreviations of provinces and territories should appear in upper case without periods.
AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, NT, NU, ON, PE, QC, SK, YT
Place foreign currency codes in upper case.
EUR, USD
Mixed upper and lower case
Abbreviations with mixed upper and lower case other than academic degrees should have a period at the end.
Dr., Prof., Mr., Ms., Co., Ltd.
When abbreviating personal names, use periods and a space between abbreviations.
P. D. James, W. A. C. Bennett
Academic degrees
Use no periods in academic degrees. For accepted abbreviations, see Appendix A: Academic degrees.
PhD, BSc, BA
TRU and other universities
Spell out “Thompson Rivers University” in its first reference. Thereafter “TRU” is preferable except in very formal instances.
In abbreviating the names of degree-granting institutions, TRU’s Calendar does not use periods. Other units are urged to follow this treatment.
BA (Alta), MA (McG), LLB (Tor)
Abbreviations ending a sentence
When an abbreviation that takes a period ends a sentence, no additional period follows.
Class ends at 5:30 p.m.
The project was funded by ABCD Ltd.
