Standards and Guidelines: Abbreviations and Acronyms

• Abbreviations are shortened forms of words, phrases or names e.g. WHO or Dr.
• Acronyms are abbreviations that are pronounced as words e.g. AIDS or OPEC.

• Avoid abbreviations in public-facing content. 
• Abbreviations are generally not good for readability and can be misunderstood. 
• Screen readers cannot interpret and verbalise abbreviations.
• Only use abbreviations of general terms without explanation if the abbreviation is the more common form e.g. TAFE NSW or Dr.
• Considered the large number of international students at TAFE NSW, most Australian abbreviations should to be defined even though they are commonly used e.g. Work, Health and Safety (WHS)
• Define abbreviations and acronyms the first time you use them on a page. Write the name in full, followed by the abbreviation in brackets e.g. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) or English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL). For subsequent mentions you can use the abbreviations or acronyms on their own.

Use the following abbreviations for Australian states without full stops.

• NSW
• Vic
• Qld
• WA
• SA
• Tas
• ACT
• NT

• US
• UK

e.g. stands for the Latin term exempli gratia and means for example. Use this to introduce examples to illustrate your statements.

i.e. stands for the Latin term id est and means that is, namely or in other words.

• Use e.g. and i.e. with the full stops as using them without is considered informal.
• In Australian English, i.e. and e.g. are not usually followed by a comma.

etc

• Do not use etc

Examples

e.g.

Some Asian countries (e.g. China, India and Vietnam) are doing well economically.

i.e. 

They live down under, i.e. in Australia.