Squirrels: FYI On Acronyms, BTW

Many of you referred to Lansing Community College in first reference. And in most first cases, it's best to spell out the full title of an entity.

But how do you handle subsequent references?

You have a few options. One is to refer to the college in the generic, like I just did: as the college, lower-cased.


A second option would be to consider using an acronym, if there is a common acronym for the group. An acronym is a word formed from the first letter or letters of a series of words, such as MSU (which is the acronym for Michigan State University). In this case, the correct acronym is LCC.

If an acronym is well-known -- like NASA or FBI or USA -- then generally it is acceptable in a second reference, or even in a first reference.

This is where I'm going to refer you back to AP Style. Please carefully read and review the listing for abbreviations and acronyms.