Using Acronyms in Technical Writing

Acronyms serve two main purposes: as shorthand versions of well-established topics, and as a concise way of re-entering a topic into the text. For the second purpose, they form part of the system oflexical connection, along with repetition, synonyms, generic nouns, names, substitution (pronouns) and various clausal systems. A third reason for using an acronym is that it may be better known than the full name; examples are the technical terms AVO and Radar, the medical terms ASA and AIDS and the financial terms RRSP and TSE. Thus even if a new acronym is not used again in the text, it may still serve this third purpose: