Academic Degrees & Professional Designations
In this week's tip, we'll
discuss the guidelines for referring to academic degrees and
professional designations in your writing. Are you ready to be bombarded
with tons of little letters that have big
meanings?
The following rules are based on
The Gregg Reference Manual, tenth edition.¹
Rule #1: Do not capitalize academic degrees when they are used as
general terms of classification. However, academic degrees used after a
person's name should be capitalized.
Examples:
| ●
a bachelor of
science degree |
●
a bachelor's
degree. |
| ●
a master of arts
degree |
●
a master's degree. |
|
●
Exception: Marie
Chapman, Master of Business Administration |
Rule #2: When
abbreviating academic degrees and professional designations, use a
period between each letter or element in the abbreviation. No internal
spaces are necessary.
Examples:
|
●
B.A. |
●
B.S. |
●
M.B.A. |
●
B.Arch. |
|
●
M.D. |
●
R.N. |
●
D.D.S. |
●
Ph.D. |
Notes:
| ●
|
The Chicago
Manual of Style now recommends omitting these periods unless
they are required for tradition or consistency.
|
| ●
|
The term M.B.A.
is often written without periods when referring to the person
holding the degree and not to the degree itself. |
Examples:
| ●
|
The firm is hoping to hire a
Harvard MBA this spring.
|
| ●
|
Shelley holds an M.B.A. from
Harvard. |
Rule #3: Do not use titles such as Dr., Mr., Mrs., Miss, or Ms.
before a person's name if an academic degree follows the person's name.
Examples:
| ●
|
Dr. Madeline Hutton
|
| ●
|
Madeline Hutton, M.D. |
| ●
|
Not: Dr. Madeline Hutton,
M.D. |
Note: Other titles may precede the person's name if they do not
have the same meaning as the degree following the name.
Examples:
| ●
|
Professor Curtis Jackson,
Ph.D.
|
| ●
|
President Kristen McGovern,
M.B.A. |
Rule #4: List academic degrees only after a full name, not after
a last name alone.
Examples:
| ●
|
Professor Curtis Jackson,
Ph.D. |
| ●
|
Not: Professor Jackson,
Ph.D. |
Rule #5: When a person's name is followed by two or more academic
degrees, list them in the order in which they were awarded. Honorary
degrees should follow earned degrees. There is no specific rule for
listing professional designations after a person's name. If the person's
preference is unknown, professional designations can be listed alphabetically. When both
academic degrees and professional designations follow a person's name,
the academic degrees should be listed first.
Rule #6: Many professional designations (such as CPA) are written
without periods. However, when listing professional designations
alongside academic degrees, periods should be used (assuming that you've
chosen to use periods in the abbreviations of academic degrees).
Examples:
| ●
|
Andrew Kaufmann, CPA
|
| ●
|
Andrew Kaufmann, B.S.,
M.B.A., C.P.A. |
Since the two well-known style guides I referenced aren't in agreement
about the use of periods in the abbreviations of academic
degrees, that means it's your call! As always, consistency within each piece
is key. Just pick a style, and then stick with it!
Additional Resources:
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Sources:
1. Sabin, William A. The Gregg Reference Manual. Tenth Edition.
New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin,
2005, pp. 113, 153-154.
2. University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th
ed.
(Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2003), pp. 563-564. |
