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Subject:RE: Acronyms--How often do you spell them out? From:"Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:18:50 -0400
I work for a DoD contractor now and the standard is to spell them out the
first time they are used and to include an acronym glossary at the end of
the document. If I pull out sections to make them into their own document,
then I will define the acronyms again, other than that I just define them on
the first use. The tricky part is sometimes I get the same acronym for two
different definitions, in that case I will define them both again if they
are close together in the document.
From: "Diana Ost" <Diana -dot- Ost -at- msmcorp -dot- com>
To: "Darges, Katherine"
<katherine -dot- darges -at- defensegp -dot- com>,<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: RE: Acronyms--How often do you spell them out?
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:26:47 -0400
>When I worked for a Veterans Affairs project a couple of years ago, I
>only spelled them out on first use, because like you, I had a glossary
>at the end.
>
>The users thought that was fine :-)
>
>
>Diana Ost
>Technical Writer/Reporting Analyst
>Production Administration
>Market Street Mortgage Corporation
>diana -dot- ost -at- msmcorp -dot- com
>Phone (727) 431-7209
>Fax (727) 724-9096
>2650 McCormick Drive, Suite 200
>Clearwater, Florida 33759
>
>
>
>
>
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>-----Original Message-----
>From: techwr-l-bounces+diana -dot- ost=msmcorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+diana -dot- ost=msmcorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
>Behalf Of Darges, Katherine
>Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 3:23 PM
>To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>Subject: Acronyms--How often do you spell them out?
>
>All,
>
>
>
>I am editing a multi-section document, with each section 50 to 75 pages.
>The document was written by the Government for the Government. Phrases
>that get turned into acronyms are spelled out when they are first used,
>followed by their acronyms in parentheses - most in the first section.
>Appendix A is a complete acronym list - about 300 all together (this IS
>the Government, after all).
>
>
>
>Would you re-identify the acronyms in each subsequent section as well as
>adding the new ones? Or, is once really enough, based on the fact that
>the readers of the document have all been involved in the project of
>which the document is a record?
>
>
>
>Thanks!
>
>
>
>V/r (that's "Very respectfully" in Government shorthand),
>
>
>
>Katherine
>
>
>
>Katherine Darges
>
>Sr. Management Analyst
>
>National Security Programs Group
>
>
>
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