list of symbols and abbreviations in thesis

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List of Abbreviations for a Thesis or Dissertation

By DiscoverPhDs
September 14, 2020

What are Abbreviations and Acronyms?

An abbreviation is a shortened version of a term or phrase, e.g. kg for kilogram or Dr. for doctor.

An acronym is a type of abbreviation constructed from the first letters of a term, e.g. FRP for Fibre Reinforced Polymer or STEM for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

List of Abbreviations in a Thesis or Dissertation

If your thesis or dissertation contains several symbols or abbreviations, it would be beneficial to include a list of abbreviations to assist your reader. This is a list sorted in alphabetical order that gives their definitions.

This will not only help the reader better understand your research, but it will also improve the flow of your paper, as it prevents continually having to define abbreviations in your main text.

Where Does a List of Abbreviations Go?

When including a list of abbreviations, insert them near the start of the report after your table of contents. To make it clear that your document contains an abbreviated list, also add a separate heading to your table of contents.

Note: The page number for your list of abbreviations should continue from the page number that proceeds it; there is no need to reset it for this section.

Rules for Using Abbreviations and Acronyms

The first time you use an abbreviation or acronym, it is good practice to write out the full terminology or phrase followed by the abbreviation or acronym encased in parenthesis.

After defining an abbreviation or acronym for the first time in your main text, you no longer need to use the full term; for example:

Example of Acronyms in a Thesis or Dissertation

This allows the reader to understand your report without having to rely on the list of abbreviations; it is only there to help the reader if they forget what an abbreviation stands for and needs to look it up.

Note: In academic writing, abbreviations that are not listed should always be defined in your thesis text at their first appearance.

Abbreviated Exceptions

Very common abbreviations should not be included in your list because they needlessly overload your list with terms that your readers already know, which discourages them from using it.

Some examples of common abbreviations and acronyms that should not be included in your standard abbreviation list are USA, PhD , Dr. and Ltd. etc.

Example of List of Abbreviations for a Thesis or Dissertation

An example abbreviation list is as follows:

The above example has been extracted from here .

List of Symbols

You can add symbols and their definitions to your list of abbreviations, however, some people like to keep them separate, especially if they have many of them. While this format will come down to personal preference, most STEM students create a separate list of symbols and most non-STEM students incorporate them into their list of abbreviations.

Note: If you are writing your report to APA style, you will need to consider additional requirements when writing your list of abbreviations. You can find further information here .

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list of symbols and abbreviations in thesis

Dr Grayson gained her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 2016. She now works in industry as an Applications Portfolio Manager and is a STEM Speaker and Advocate.

Dr Joseph gained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge in 2018 and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Physics at the University. Her research is on better understanding how cells organises its contents via the process of liquid-liquid phase separation.

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Formatting Your Thesis or Dissertation with Microsoft Word

List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Copyright Page
Dedication, Acknowledgements, & Preface
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Citations and Bibliography
Page Numbers
Tables and Figures
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List of abbreviations

Microsoft Word can automatically create a List of Abbreviations and Acronyms. If you use a lot of abbreviations and acronyms in your thesis — and even if you only use a few — there is no reason not to include a list. The process is not at all difficult. See the video tutorial below to see how to create such a list.

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Last Updated: Mar 21, 2024 2:35 PM
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List of Abbreviations | Example, Template & Best Practices

List of Abbreviations | Example, Template & Best Practices

Published on 23 May 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on 25 October 2022.

A list of abbreviations is an alphabetical list of abbreviations that you can add to your thesis or dissertation. If you choose to include it, it should appear at the beginning of your document, just after your table of contents .

Abbreviation lists improve readability, minimising confusion about abbreviations unfamiliar to your reader. This can be a worthwhile addition to your thesis or dissertation if you find that you’ve used a lot of abbreviations in your paper.

If you only use a few abbreviations, you don’t necessarily need to include a list. However, it’s never a bad idea to add one if your abbreviations are numerous, or if you think they will not be known to your audience.

You can download our template below in the format of your choice to help you get started.

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Table of contents

Example list of abbreviations

Best practices for abbreviations and acronyms, additional lists to include, frequently asked questions.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

There are a few rules to keep in mind about using abbreviations in academic writing. Here are a few tips.

Acronyms are formed using the first letter of each word in a phrase. The first time you use an acronym, write the phrase in full and place the acronym in parentheses immediately after it. You can then use the acronym throughout the rest of the text.
The same guidance goes for abbreviations: write the explanation in full the first time you use it, then proceed with the abbreviated version.
If you’re using very common acronyms or abbreviations, such as UK or DNA, you can abbreviate them from the first use. If you’re in doubt, just write it out in full the first time.

As well as the list of abbreviations, you can also use a list of tables and figures and a glossary for your thesis or dissertation.

Include your lists in the following order:

List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations

As a rule of thumb, write the explanation in full the first time you use an acronym or abbreviation. You can then proceed with the shortened version. However, if the abbreviation is very common (like UK or PC), then you can just use the abbreviated version straight away.

Be sure to add each abbreviation in your list of abbreviations !

If you only used a few abbreviations in your thesis or dissertation, you don’t necessarily need to include a list of abbreviations .

If your abbreviations are numerous, or if you think they won’t be known to your audience, it’s never a bad idea to add one. They can also improve readability, minimising confusion about abbreviations unfamiliar to your reader.

A list of abbreviations is a list of all the abbreviations you used in your thesis or dissertation. It should appear at the beginning of your document, immediately after your table of contents . It should always be in alphabetical order.

An abbreviation is a shortened version of an existing word, such as Dr for Doctor. In contrast, an acronym uses the first letter of each word to create a wholly new word, such as UNESCO (an acronym for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

Your dissertation sometimes contains a list of abbreviations .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. (2022, October 25). List of Abbreviations | Example, Template & Best Practices. Scribbr. Retrieved 21 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/abbreviations-list/

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Understanding Abbreviations – How To Use Abbreviations in PhD Theses

Posted by Rene Tetzner | Nov 9, 2021 | PhD Success | 0 |

6.3 Understanding Abbreviations

Abbreviations are required to some degree in almost all doctoral theses, but most style guides and guidelines will recommend that authors keep their use of abbreviations to a bare minimum or use only standard abbreviations (such as SI units) for weights and measures. Some guidelines will suggest that abbreviations be used predominantly in parenthetical material, footnotes and endnotes, bibliographies and reference lists, and tables, figures and appendices, but in the fields of science and technology, abbreviations tend to be used quite extensively, and many theses use abbreviations of some kind in the running text as well as in ancillary material. Virtually all scholarly guidelines will ask that any but the most common abbreviations (again, SI units are a good example) and those used more frequently and better known than the corresponding full terms (‘CD,’ ‘AIDS’ etc.) be defined (or written out in full) on first use (in the main text as well as the abstract and other ancillary material) to ensure that readers will understand both the abbreviations and what the author is saying about the abbreviated terms and concepts. They also tend to suggest that abbreviations only be used if practical or necessary, that they be employed only for terms and names that are used several times in a chapter or thesis (‘five times or more’ according to the Chicago Manual of Style , 2003, p.558) and that a list of abbreviations and their definitions be provided if many nonstandard abbreviations are used in a document. If you use nonstandard abbreviations in your thesis, you should therefore check university and department guidelines and follow any specific advice provided. In the absence of such advice, the best policy is to define or explain any nonstandard abbreviations briefly but accurately, which can usually be done quite simply by using the full term followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, as in ‘American Psychological Association (APA) style is used in many theses in the social sciences.’ Each abbreviation should then be used with precision and consistency throughout the thesis.

If a list of abbreviations is required for your thesis, the list should observe alphabetical order according to the abbreviations (rather than the full terms) so that readers can easily find specific abbreviations (see also Sections 4.6.2 and 5.5.2). The following, for example, might be the opening items in a list of abbreviations:

ANOVA: Analysis of variance

CG: Control group

CI: Confidence interval

ES: Effect size

G1: Group 1

G2: Group 2

All abbreviated and full versions of terms in the list should correspond exactly to those used in the chapters and other parts of the thesis. The same forms should be used in your abstract if you include (and are allowed to include) abbreviations there (see Section 4.2), and keep in mind that abbreviations used in your abstract should be defined there as well, even if they are also used and defined in the main text of the thesis. In some cases, abbreviations will need to be defined (or redefined) on first use in each chapter, which can be useful because it renders your meaning clear even if a reader consults only a single chapter of your thesis. Abbreviations used in other parts of your thesis, such as tables, figures and appendices, should also be defined in those parts (once again using the same forms and terms as elsewhere in the thesis) so that the tables, figures and appendices can be understood without the reader referring to other parts of the thesis for definitions (see Sections 4.4.1 and 4.6.1). The abbreviations used in bibliographies and reference lists tend to be standardised and thus usually do not require definition, but any that are not standard (abbreviated names of corporate authors, for instance, such as ‘MLA’ or ‘WHO’) should be defined, and any referencing abbreviations that are also used in other parts of the thesis (‘et al.,’ for instance) should take the exact same form in all places (with or without italic font, for instance, in the case of ‘et al.’). As a general rule, abbreviations other than those used more frequently and better known than their full versions (‘AIDS’ and ‘DVD’ are good examples) should be avoided in titles and headings (see Section 6.1); although abbreviations are sometimes allowed in this context (do check your guidelines), the full terms are clearer and should be preferred unless they are unwieldy. The abbreviations can instead be introduced and defined (or simply used if already defined) in the sentences following a heading.

There are several different kinds of abbreviations and not all of them are true abbreviations, though they are commonly grouped under that one term in guidelines and style guides. A true abbreviation is formed when the end of a word is omitted; the full stop that tends to close this sort of abbreviation represents the missing letters (‘assoc.,’ ‘ref.,’ ‘Wed.,’ ‘Nov.’ etc.), but the full stop does not always appear. Frequently referred to as an abbreviation is a contraction in which the middle of the word is missing; because the final letter of the word is included, a full stop is not necessary and often does not appear (‘attn’ ‘Mr,’ ‘Jr,’ ‘St’ etc.), but there are exceptions. An acronym , strictly speaking, is formed from the initial letters of the words that make up a term or name and can be read as a single word (as ‘NASA’ and ‘UNICEF’ can be). When in common use, acronyms are sometimes written as a normal word bearing only a single initial capital (e.g., ‘Nasa’ and ‘Aids’). Also generally referred to as an acronym but not a true acronym is an initialism , which is also formed from the initial letters of the words that make up the term or name, but initialisms are pronounced as single letters (as ‘BBC’ and ‘IQ’ are), not as words. The use of acronyms in sentences differs slightly from that of initialisms, so the distinction between the two is important. As special typographical characters or letters of the alphabet, symbols or signs (such as ‘%,’ ‘£,’ ‘$,’ ‘§,’ ‘+’ and ‘=’) are more abstract representations than the other kinds of abbreviations and they can take a myriad of forms both generally and in different fields of study, but they, too, represent a word or concept in a shortened form.

6.3.1 Lowercase or Uppercase Letters in Abbreviations

Abbreviations of all kinds can be formed with lowercase or uppercase letters or a combination of the two: ‘NASA,’ ‘UNICEF,’ ‘IQ,’ ‘BBC,’ ‘assoc.,’ ‘a.m.,’ ‘kph,’ ‘attn,’ ‘Mr,’ ‘Dr’ and ‘Ph.D.’ As these examples show, acronyms and initialisms tend to use all capitals, while true abbreviations and contractions tend to use all lowercase letters or an initial capital followed by lowercase letters, but there are exceptions: ‘Unicef’ can be written with only an initial capital, for instance, ‘kph’ is technically an initialism and ‘a.m.’ and ‘p.m.’ often appear in capitals in American English (‘A.M.’ and ‘P.M.’), sometimes without the full stops (‘AM’ and ‘PM,’ though the stops should definitely be used if there is any chance of confusion with ‘AM’ meaning Anno Mundi : see the list of Latin abbreviations in Section 6.3.11). The Chicago Manual of Style (2003, p.559) helpfully points out that ‘noun forms are usually uppercase (HIV, VP), adverbial forms lowercase (rpm, mpg).’ Single letters used as symbols can be uppercase (e.g., ‘R’ meaning ‘multiple correlation’ or ‘U,’ the Mann–Whitney test statistic) or lowercase (‘d’ for Cohen’s measure of sample effect size or ‘z’ for a standardised score).

6.3.2 Full Stops with Abbreviations

True abbreviations, as I noted above, generally take one or more full stops (‘Nov.,’ ‘Thurs.’ and ‘Ph.D.,’ with the last lying somewhere between a true abbreviation and an initialism), whereas contractions do not (‘Mr,’ ‘Mrs’ and ‘St’). This is not necessarily predictable, however, and ‘Ph.D.’ (along with other degree titles) can be written without the stops (‘PhD,’ ‘MA’ and ‘MSc’) as well as with them, while ‘St’ without a stop usually means ‘Saint’ and ‘St.’ with a stop means ‘Street.’ Acronyms and initialisms usually do not use full stops (‘UNICEF’ and ‘REM’), though a single capital letter abbreviating a word is generally followed by a stop (in personal names, for instance – ‘S. Taylor’ and ‘S.J.T. Smith’ – but not in all referencing systems, so do check the guidelines you are following); this is not the case with compass points (‘N,’ ‘S,’ ‘E’ and ‘W’), however, or when an entire name is abbreviated (‘JFK’ for ‘John Fitzgerald Kennedy’) or when the letter is actually a symbol (e.g., ‘R’ or ‘U’ in statistics). Acronyms and initialisms are more likely to use full stops if they are written in lowercase letters (m.p.h.), but these, too, are often written without stops (mph); if full stops are used, they should be used after all letters in an acronym or initialism, not just the last one (‘m.p.h.,’ not ‘mph.’). Standard abbreviated forms for weights and measures generally do not take stops (‘m,’ ‘cm,’ ‘kg,’ ‘kph,’ ‘ms’ etc.). As a general rule, full stops are used less frequently in scientific contexts, but American English tends to use full stops more often than British English does, including in contractions (‘Mrs.,’ ‘Mr.’ and ‘Jr.’) and initialisms (‘U.S.A.’ and ‘R.E.M.’). When true abbreviations such as ‘vol.’ and ‘ch.’ are used as plurals with an ‘s’ at the end, they technically become contractions because they include the last letter, so, strictly speaking, they do not require a full stop, but one is generally used in any case for consistency with the singular forms (‘vols.’ and ‘chs.’). In an unusual abbreviation such as ‘c/o’ (for ‘care of’) the slash takes the place of the first full stop and the second stop is omitted (see also Section 5.6.5).

Why PhD Success?

To Graduate Successfully

This article is part of a book called "PhD Success" which focuses on the writing process of a phd thesis, with its aim being to provide sound practices and principles for reporting and formatting in text the methods, results and discussion of even the most innovative and unique research in ways that are clear, correct, professional and persuasive.

The assumption of the book is that the doctoral candidate reading it is both eager to write and more than capable of doing so, but nonetheless requires information and guidance on exactly what he or she should be writing and how best to approach the task. The basic components of a doctoral thesis are outlined and described, as are the elements of complete and accurate scholarly references, and detailed descriptions of writing practices are clarified through the use of numerous examples.

The basic components of a doctoral thesis are outlined and described, as are the elements of complete and accurate scholarly references, and detailed descriptions of writing practices are clarified through the use of numerous examples. PhD Success provides guidance for students familiar with English and the procedures of English universities, but it also acknowledges that many theses in the English language are now written by candidates whose first language is not English, so it carefully explains the scholarly styles, conventions and standards expected of a successful doctoral thesis in the English language.

Individual chapters of this book address reflective and critical writing early in the thesis process; working successfully with thesis supervisors and benefiting from commentary and criticism; drafting and revising effective thesis chapters and developing an academic or scientific argument; writing and formatting a thesis in clear and correct scholarly English; citing, quoting and documenting sources thoroughly and accurately; and preparing for and excelling in thesis meetings and examinations.

Completing a doctoral thesis successfully requires long and penetrating thought, intellectual rigour and creativity, original research and sound methods (whether established or innovative), precision in recording detail and a wide-ranging thoroughness, as much perseverance and mental toughness as insight and brilliance, and, no matter how many helpful writing guides are consulted, a great deal of hard work over a significant period of time. Writing a thesis can be an enjoyable as well as a challenging experience, however, and even if it is not always so, the personal and professional rewards of achieving such an enormous goal are considerable, as all doctoral candidates no doubt realise, and will last a great deal longer than any problems that may be encountered during the process.

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Rene Tetzner

Rene Tetzner's blog posts dedicated to academic writing. Although the focus is on How To Write a Doctoral Thesis, many other important aspects of research-based writing, editing and publishing are addressed in helpful detail.

PhD Success – How To Write a Doctoral Thesis

October 1, 2021

Table of Contents – PhD Success

October 2, 2021

The Essential – Preliminary Matter

October 3, 2021

The Main Body of the Thesis

October 4, 2021

University of South Florida

Office of Graduate Studies

Main navigation, section-specific, list of abbreviations.

Link: List of Abbreviations

The List of Abbreviations is an alphabetical list of the abbreviations used in your thesis/dissertation that aims to improve clarity and minimize confusion for the reader. This is optional. If your thesis/dissertation contains numerous abbreviations, or if you think your audience may not be familiar with the abbreviations used, a List of Abbreviations is recommended.

Setting Up Tabs

Create the "List of Abbreviations" heading (2" from the top of the page, styled as a 1st level heading).
Set page spacing to single-spaced.
Click on the bottom right of the Paragraph tab to open the Paragraph Settings window.
Click on the Tabs button at the bottom left of the window.
Set the tab stop to 1.5" (Align LEFT ; Leader NONE ).
Click Save on the Tabs window and then close the Paragraph settings window.
Click and move the right indent to 6.0" so that any long headers will wrap to the next line.
Create the “Abbreviations” and “Definitions” headings, styled as level 2 headings, on the second line using tabs to start the Definitions at 1.5”

General Formatting

Line Spacing: Single-spaced, or Faux double-spaced (Use faux double-spacing when abbreviation/definitions are longer than 1-line) (Set the whole page to single-spaced and add one single-spaced line before each new abbreviation)
Page Number: Lowercase Roman numeral (continued from Table of Contents)

Section Heading Formatting

All 1st-order headings must be 2" from the top edge of the page and must be styled consistently.

Consistent Formatting

All Abbreviations must match verbatim (word-for-word) to those used in the body of manuscript.

Definitions should not be closer than 0.5" from the right margin so they do not overcrowd the page numbers.

The "Abbreviation" should be against the left margin while the "Definition” should be indented to 1.5". All lines of the definition must be indented the same. See the above example for help.

Page numbers are not required for the abbreviations.

Thesis and Dissertation Guide

« Thesis & Dissertation Resources
The Graduate School Home

Introduction

Copyright Page

Dedication, Acknowledgements, Preface (optional)

List of Tables, Figures, and Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

List of symbols.

Non-Traditional Formats
Font Type and Size
Spacing and Indentation
Tables, Figures, and Illustrations
Formatting Previously Published Work
Internet Distribution
Open Access
Registering Copyright
Using Copyrighted Materials
Use of Your Own Previously Published Materials
Submission Steps

Submission Checklist

Sample Pages

The following checklist items should be used to ensure your document is properly formatted prior to submission. These items will be reviewed by staff in The Graduate School and your document will not be accepted until all items are confirmed.

Be sure you have read and reviewed the information in this Thesis and Dissertation Guide prior to finalizing your document and preparing it for submission.
Successfully submit an application to graduate in ConnectCarolina before submitting your document.
Submit your thesis or dissertation after your defense has occurred and all final edits are approved by your advisor and committee.
Your Committee Composition and Exam Report forms (with all approval signatures) must be submitted to The Graduate School before submitting your document.

General Formatting

Uniform left (1″ or 1.25″) and right (1″) margins continue throughout the entire document
Fonts are 10, 11 or 12 points in size and consistent
Paragraphs are indented consistently throughout
Text appears in a single column on each page and is double-spaced (except for blocked quotations, notes, captions, legends, and long headings, which are single-spaced)
Document text is left-justified
All page numbers are centered at the bottom of the page, 1/2″ from the bottom edge
Pages do not contain running headers or footers, aside from page numbers; special spacing is present for any landscape pages
Formatting for tables, figures, and illustrations is consistent throughout the entire document; headings and captions for the associated element are on the same page
Sections and subheadings within chapters are not left “hanging” on the bottom of pages
2″ margin at the top of the page
Title in all capital letters and centered
Your full name centered 1″ below the title
Statement correctly specifying the department/program and school granting your degree, centered 1″below your name
Chapel Hill centered 1″ below the statement
The year your thesis or dissertation is committee-approved (20xx) one line below
The phrase Approved by: 1″ below the year; under that include your committee members' names (without signatures or identifiers), all double-spaced, 2/3 across the page, and left-aligned under the Approved by: phrase
No page number, even though it counts in numbering
Copyright symbol followed by year
Your name exactly as it appears on the title page
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
All text centered, single-spaced, and 2″ from the bottom of the page
The page is numbered in lower case Roman numerals (ii)
2″ margin at the top of the page; the second page, if any, returns to a 1″ top margin
The heading “ABSTRACT” centered in all capital letters at top of page
Your full name followed by the title worded exactly as it is on the title page, centered and one double-spaced line below “ABSTRACT”
The phrase “(Under the direction of [advisor's name])” in parentheses, centered, and one single-spaced line below the title
The text of your abstract must be double-spaced and no longer than 150 words for a thesis or 350 words for a dissertation
Pages are numbered in lower case Roman numerals

Dedication, Acknowledgement(s) and/or Preface (if any)

The dedication, acknowledgements(s) and preface each begin on a new page
2″ margin at the top of each first page
Subsequent pages of Acknowledgements or Preface return to the 1″ top margin
Short text of the dedication is centered 2″ below top of page
Required headings for “ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS” and “PREFACE” are in all capital letters and centered 2″ below top of page
Text of Acknowledgements and/or Preface begins one double-spaced line below the heading, is left-justified, and is double spaced throughout
The heading “TABLE OF CONTENTS” centered in all capital letters at top of page
One double-spaced line between the heading and the first entry
Pages preceding the table of contents are not included, but all parts of the document that follow are included (i.e., tables/figures/abbreviations lists, chapters, appendices, references)
Each entry is aligned with the document's left margin or indented to the right of the left page margin using consistent tabs
Major subheadings within chapters are listed and indented to the right of the left page margin
Entries taking up more than one line are broken up about three-fourths of the way across the page and the rest of the text is placed on a second line, single-spaced between the two lines of text
Each entry is single-spaced, with a double space between entries
All corresponding page numbers are accurate and leaders (lines of periods) fill out the space between the end of the entry and the page number; the last digit of each number lines up on the right margin
Information included in the table of contents matches the headings, major subheadings, and numbering used in the body of the document

Lists of Tables, Figures, Illustrations

Heading(s) in all capital letters centered 1″ below the top of the page
Each entry includes a number, title, and page number
Each table, figure, or illustration has been assigned an Arabic numeral
Numerals and titles align with the left margin or are indented to the right of the left page margin using consistent tabs
Numbers, titles, and page numbers match the corresponding information as it appears in the document
The heading “LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS” in all capital letters centered 1″ below the top of the page
Abbreviations are arranged alphabetically
Symbols are listed with abbreviations under the heading “LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS” or listed in a separate section following the formatting instructions for abbreviations
The first page ( only ) of each chapter begins 2″ from the top of the page
The second and subsequent pages of each chapter begin 1″ from the top of the page
Page numbers are consecutive and consistent throughout the document
Notes are placed at the bottom of the page and are separated from the text by a solid line one to two inches long
Notes begin at the left page margin, one single-spaced line below the solid line
Longer notes are single-spaced between lines
One double-spaced line between notes
All notes are numbered with Arabic numerals consecutively within each chapter starting over with number 1 for the first note in each chapter, or notes are numbered consecutively through the entire document
Numbers precede the note, are superscripted (placed slightly above the line), and no space is placed between the number and the note
Endnotes always begin on a separate page either immediately following the end of each chapter, or at the end of the entire document
If endnotes are placed at the end of the entire document, they appear after the appendices and before the references
The heading “ENDNOTES” in all capital letters centered 1″ below the top of the first page of your endnotes section(s)
All appendices appear after the last chapter and before the references (not after the chapter to which they pertain)
1″ margin at the top of the page with the appropriate heading centered in all capital letters
For one appendix use the heading “APPENDIX”; for multiple appendices assign each appendix a number or letter heading (APPENDIX 1 or APPENDIX A)
All appendix headings and titles are included in the table of contents
Page numbering continues consistently throughout the appendix or appendices
References begin on a separate page, either immediately following the end of the chapter, or at the end of the entire document
Each reference page has a 1″ margin at the top
An appropriate heading is centered, in all capital letters at the top of the page (e.g., “REFERENCES”, “BIBLIOGRAPHY”, or “WORKS CITED”)
All entries are single-spaced within each entry and double-spaced between entries
Page numbering continues consistently throughout the references section(s)

Helpful Tips

Your thesis or dissertation must be in PDF form for submission online
Be sure to include an email address that you check regularly when you set up your account for online submission
Specific formatting requirements are explained in detail in The Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation Guide

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How it works

List of Abbreviations for Dissertation

Published by Owen Ingram at August 11th, 2021 , Revised On August 22, 2023

What are Abbreviations?

“Oxford English Dictionary defines an abbreviation as ‘a short form of a word’. For example, UN is the short form – an abbreviation – for United Nations.” Abbreviations are commonly used in every form of writing, including academic writing. Abbreviations in dissertations generally have to do with names of organisations, institutions, theoretical models and the like.

If your dissertation includes many abbreviations, it will make sense to define all these abbreviations in an alphabetically-organised list.

This can really help your readers understand the jargon and specific terms they might not be familiar with. Here is all you need to know about the list of abbreviations for the dissertation .

Placement of a List of Abbreviations

Abbreviations’ list should be placed at the start of the dissertation and right after the table of contents . The list of abbreviations should also be a part of the table of contents. If you aren’t using many abbreviations, there isn’t a need to include a whole list. Underneath, we will guide you on how to define abbreviations within the text.

Abbreviations don’t need to be numbered in the list.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

There are various ways of placing acronyms and abbreviations in a dissertation. While using acronyms formed by combining the first letter of each word from a phrase, you should write that phrase in its full form and then write the abbreviation in parenthesis right after that. You can then make use of that acronym for the rest of the dissertation .

Acronyms Example in a dissertation

I met the regional sales manager (RSM) of 5 different multi-national companies (MNC). I conducted in-depth interviews with the RSM, through which I came to know that every MNC has a different strategy for its product marketing.

Some exceptions don’t apply to this rule, such as when acronyms like AI, URL, FIFA, etc. are involved You can still write the full acronym if unsure.

Point to remember: In research, it is not considered right to create your own abbreviations and/or acronyms. You can only abbreviate terms that have officially been abbreviated in books, journals and other published materials. For instance, you cannot abbreviate ‘women leaders in private sectors’ to ‘WLiPS’. Unless such an abbreviation actually exists, this would be unethical in the context of research.

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APA Style of Abbreviations

If you are working with APA referencing style, there are additional and specific requirements for creating a list of abbreviations for the dissertation.

Other Types of Lists in a Dissertation

In addition to the list of abbreviations, there are other lists that you can include in your dissertation paper, including:

Table of Contents
Figures and tables

Point to note: You might come across some types of research or theses where the abbreviations’ column is placed in front of an ‘explanation’ column. The latter is simply another way of ‘defining’ the acronyms/abbreviations or rather, giving their full forms. Here is an example of such a list of abbreviations from a thesis:

List-of-abbreviations-and-acronyms-used-in-this-article

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a list of abbreviations.

A list of abbreviations is a compilation of shortened forms used in a document, often found at the beginning or end. It explains the meanings of acronyms, initialisms, or shortened terms to help readers comprehend the text more easily.

Introduction

A list of abbreviations and symbols is common in many scientific documents. These types of lists can be created with L a T e X by means on the nomencl package. This article explains how to create nomenclatures, customizing the ordering and subgrouping of the symbols.

Nomenclature entries work pretty much like index entries:

Open this nomencl example in Overleaf

As usual the package is imported in the preamble by \usepackage{nomencl} . The three basic commands to produce the nomenclatures are:

\makenomenclature . Usually put right after importing the package.
\nomenclature . Used to define the nomenclature entries themselves. Takes two arguments, the symbol and the corresponding description.
\printnomenclatures . This command will print the nomenclatures list.

Basic Syntax

Additional options can be used when importing the nomencl package. The next example shows how to add the nomenclature to the table of contents and how to change the default language:

The additional options used here in when importing the package are:

intoc Adds the Nomenclature to the table of contents.
spanish Changes the language, translating the default title Nomenclatures accordingly. The supported languages are: croatian , danish , english , french , german , italian , polish , portuguese , russian , spanish and ukranian .

Other useful features of the nomencl package are the possibility of manually setting the nomenclature title, and adding an additional annotation.

changes the default title.

The command

inserts some text in between the title and the list symbols.

To group the symbols depending on their type some additional work is needed. We add a prefix to each symbol and use the etoolbox package to compare the prefixes.

Some extra groups are added. The code for this is not that simple, it uses the command \ifstrequal{}{}{}{} , the first two arguments are the strings to compare, if they are equal the term is added to the group, otherwise the next nested condition is checked.

Notice that now each \nomenclature command has an additional argument, the prefix, inside brackets; which is used in the grouping code.

If etoolbox is not available one can use the ifthen package instead, which provides the conditional \ifthenelse{}{}{} , but the syntax is slightly more complex:

This will produce the same nomenclature groups.

Adding units for physical constants

Another interesting feature is using the siunitx package to add units, aligning them to the right of the corresponding entries. For this, one has to define the nomunit macro as shown in the following example:

Open in Overleaf (example using nomencl and siunitx packages).

Sorting the Entries

This is the default sorting order:

Notice that the Greek character showed up before the alphabetic characters because of the backslash \ in \alpha .

Just like for grouping, it is possible to use a prefix to manually sort the nomenclature entries:

The number inside the brackets determines the order to print the corresponding symbol. One can also combine grouping and manually sorting:

Notice that the capital letters used for grouping are different from the ones used in the example at previous section, because that letter is used to sort the groups.

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Writing Tips

How to Create a List of Abbreviations in Microsoft Word

3-minute read

4th May 2020

If you’re creating a large document, such as a thesis or business report , it could contain many abbreviations. And if so, you may want to add a list of abbreviations to help the reader. But how does a list of abbreviations work? And how do you create one in Microsoft Word? Let’s find out.

Why List Abbreviations?

When introducing an abbreviation in writing, you will usually need to define it first . But in a longer document, you may use quite a lot of abbreviations. And they may be scattered throughout your writing.

In cases like this, a list of abbreviations can work as a reference point for your reader, meaning they can look up any abbreviation in one place rather than having to find where it was introduced. Typically, this list will:

Appear early in the document, just after the table of contents.
List all abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms alphabetically.
Define each abbreviation alongside its shortened form.

If you are using one, you may also want to check your style guide for advice on defining abbreviations and how to list them.

You can create a list of abbreviations manually by going through your work and noting each one down, then adding them all to a list at the start of your document. However, you can also use a combination of Microsoft Word and Excel to quickly generate a list of abbreviations.

The first step is to find all the abbreviations in your document. To do this:

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Go to Home > Editing > Find > Advanced Find on the main ribbon.
In the Find what… field, add “[A-Z,0-9]{2,}” (minus the quote marks).
Click the More > > button and select Use wildcards .
Under the Find In menu, click Main Document .

This will then select all strings of capital letters and numbers in the document, which should include all acronyms and initialisms. Once you have done this, you can use Ctrl + C to copy them.

To then create your list, you will need a helping hand from Excel:

Open an Excel spreadsheet.
Paste the copied abbreviations into a column.
Select the column and go to Home > Editing > Sort & Filter > Sort A to Z .
Remove any duplicates, errors, or common abbreviations that do not need defining (e.g., TV, PC, UFO, VIP). Alternatively, you can select the column with the abbreviations and go to Data > Remove Duplicates (just remember to remove any errors or common abbreviations manually).
Add a new row at the top of the column titled “Abbreviation.”
Add a header in the next column along saying “Definition.”
Write the full terminology for each abbreviation in the corresponding cell.
Copy and paste both columns to your Microsoft Word document.

You will then have a list of abbreviations and definitions ready to go!

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because LaTeX matters

List of symbols or abbreviations (nomenclature).

Update (April 2014): This package has not been updated in the past few years. You may want to use the more recent and more flexible glossaries package .

Printing a list of abbreviations or symbols is one of these things (like so many) LaTeX provides a very simple and elegant solution for. The nomencl package implements a few basic commands to do that.

First load the package in the preamble. The makenomenclature command is required for the generation of the nomenclature file (.nlo). Commenting it out is a convenient way to “switch it off”.

Next, add abbreviations together with their description or long form to your document. Ideally, this is done immediately after an abbreviation is mentioned for the first time.

This command has an optional argument which provides control over the order of the entries. Consider the following example:

Linebreaks were added for presentation purposes only.

The following command prints the abbreviation/symbol list at the corresponding position of the document.

To control the distance between the symbol or abbreviation and the explaining text use the optional distance argument.

To change the name of the list use

Similar to a glossary or bibliography, the document is typesetted once (latex). Next, the nomenclature is generated using makeindex . Finally, the document is typesetted again, adding the nomenclature to it.

The makeindex command takes the nomenclature file (.nlo), the style file (nomencl.ist) and the name of the output file (.nls) as input arguments.

Complete code of a working example and its output

Note, to save some typing, you can define your own nomenclature command that prints the symbol/abbreviation and generates a list entry at the same time.

Refer to the nomencl package documentation for more details.