Spelling out abbreviations

[Sam Beard]

Nancy,

   If it's a proper noun, then I'd say to use initial caps. However, if
it's a pretty generic term, then lower case letters do just fine.
Myself, I'd lean towards putting initial caps on Risk Control Self
Assessments.

Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
Technical Writer
OI Analytical
979 690-1711 Ext. 222
sbeard at oico.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico.com at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico.com at lists.techwr-l.com] On Behalf
Of Nancy Allison
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 12:43 PM
To: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Spelling out abbreviations

I'm editing a document that is peppered with abbreviations and
capitalized terms. My question is about whether you capitalize the terms
when you spell out an abbreviation. Here are some examples from my
document:

---Develop a utility containing Risk Control Self Assessments (RCSAs).  

---Evaluate the Probability of Default (PD).

In both instances, I googled each term and found documents that spelled
them out initially with lowercase letters. However, I bet if I kept
looking I'd find docs online that do use initial caps -- examples found
on the web prove very little!

I want to use lowercase letters for these terms. What would you do? Does
any reference book you have handy deal with this? I am working in a
barren cubicle with no reference materials a-tall.
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