Pick up a document written by an IT person and you will likely find it littered with acronyms. Much of the time, the acronyms are not spelled out, leaving non-IT people struggling to figure out what they stand for. There are instances where it makes sense to use an acronym. Take for example the acronym ‘laser’. It makes more sense to use the acronym than ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation’.

If you do include acronyms on your document, here are some usage guidelines to consider:

• Keep acronyms to a minimum. Littering a document with acronyms can frustrate someone who is reading it. Only include an acronym if you feel it is necessary, not because you are too lazy to spell out the word. 
• Spell out an acronym on first use. Some people include the definition in brackets after the acronym while others do the opposite. For example, LOL (laughing out loud) or laughing out loud (LOL).
• When spelling out an acronym, do not capitalize the first letter of each word unless it is a proper noun. For example, you would not capitalize the definition for the acronym ‘LOL’ because it is not a proper noun.
• Once you define an acronym, consistently use the acronym throughout the rest of the document. Do not flip between spelling out the definition and using the acronym.

[rsslist:http://shop.tagjag.com/acronym]