Acronyms in MLA Style

Acronyms are abbreviations, usually of names of organizations, formed from the initial letter of each word in the name. In this post I provide a few guidelines for using acronyms clearly and consistently in your writing. Note that it’s best to avoid using too many different acronyms in your work, especially if they are unfamiliar to readers, because doing so can make it hard for readers to remember what they all stand for. Acronyms should be used sparingly whenever possible. If you find that you would need to use many different acronyms in your work, it might be clearer to spell out each instance instead of using acronyms.

In MLA style, names of organizations are spelled out when they first appear and the acronym is given in parentheses. After that, the acronym alone is used. But if the acronym would appear only once in the work, then it can be omitted entirely. The following provides examples:

Acronym Used More Than Once and Given Parenthetically

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created in 1947. The headquarters of the CIA is in Langley, Virginia.

Acronym Omitted Because It Would Be Used Only Once

The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947. Its headquarters is in Langley, Virginia.

To make an acronym possessive, add an apostrophe and s, even if the acronym ends with S.

The CIA’s headquarters is in Langley, Virginia.

The Organization of American States (OAS) was founded in 1948. The OAS’s headquarters is in Washington, DC.

To form the plural of an acronym, add s to the end, even if the spelled-out form of the acronym contains a plural term.

prisoners of war (POWs)

runs batted in (RBIs)

If you use an acronym in place of an italicized title, italicize the acronym:

In his book published in 2008, Ammon Shea recounts his experience reading through the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Over the course of one year, Shea read the entire OED.