P8-a Add parentheses to enclose additions to a sentence.
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acronym A word formed from the first letters of the phrase that it abbreviates, such as BART for Bay Area Rapid Transit.
Parentheses are useful for enclosing citations of research sources (following the format required by your style guide); for enclosing an acronym or abbreviation at first mention; for adding dates, definitions, illustrations, or other elaborations; and for numbering or lettering a list (always using a pair of marks).
Note: Use commas to separate the items in a numbered list. If the items include internal commas, use semicolons. (See P3-b.)