Some common abbreviations are described below (see Punctuation of abbreviations for guidance about using full stops in these abbreviations):

• eg, short for Latin exempli gratia (meaning for example), indicates that the list that follows is incomplete. It is especially useful where space is limited. It should only be used in parentheses in running text, or in tables and figures. In formal writing, it should be spelled out in full

• ie, short for Latin id est, means in other words or that is. Like eg, it should only be used in parentheses or in tables and figures

• etc, short for et cetera, is used at the end of a list to show that the list could be extended. It can be used instead of putting eg at the start of the list (but not in addition to eg)

• et al, short for et aliae or et alii (meaning and other people) is used in formal writing to avoid a long list of names of people who have written something together
  

  Jones et al (2007) reported …

  The results showed … (Jones et al 2007)

  See Published references for further advice on using et al in text citations.

If you are writing web content, be aware that some screen readers do not recognise these and other abbreviations and will just read them as if they are a word, which can be confusing for listeners. For this reason, it is a good idea to spell out abbreviations in web content:

Days of the weeks and months are abbreviated to 3 letters (see Dates).