Contractions and abbreviations

• Avoid them in academic writing.
• Write not instead of the informal contraction (do not, cannot, should not).
• Use for example or for instance instead of e.g.
• Do not use etc. (you may use etcetera, but sparingly, because you have to be specific in academic writing).
• When writing an acronym, always write the full form before it the first time you mention it: The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is located in Toowoomba.