Learn English – Spaces after periods in abbreviations

abbreviationsperiodpunctuationspacing

Should I put spaces after periods in the following examples?

  • A.B. Buffington (between the initials)
  • Vol.2, No.6, pp.195-200

I see people missing spaces in their academic writing all the time and I am not sure if I should correct this.

Best Answer

I commiserate with the desire to avoid a cramped, less readable look.

The citation service that I use, CiteULike, gives a choice of six commonly used citation styles. None show spaces between abbreviated first and middle initials. Otherwise, yes, I think I would add spaces to your remaining examples. So to answer your question, this is what I would do:

A.B. Buffington

and

Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 195-200

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