Quick Help: Editing abbreviations and numbers

• Use abbreviations and numbers according to the conventions of a specific field: for example, 57% might be acceptable in a math paper, but 57 percent may be more appropriate in a sociology essay.
• If you use an abbreviation readers might not understand, spell out the term the first time you use it, and give the abbreviation in parentheses.
• If you use an abbreviation more than once, use it consistently.
• Consider your context. In informal writing, abbreviated terms and symbols are much more conventional than in formal writing.