MA or M.A.

I've seen both M.A. and MA used on the web. A friend of mine proofread my paper and she changed my M.A. to MA, so that got me wondering if it matters at all. This is for an application that I am submitting by the way. On to my point...

I need admissions to know that I am a degree seeking student, but after perfecting my piece I do not have any room to write it as such. I have room to say something like this (made up for now): I plan to obtain an MA.

I want to know if there are any rules against writing MA or M.A. by itself without specifically writing MA in Writing or M.A. in writing. I also want to know if MA by itself stands, or does it look confusing and needs dots in between. Thanks so much. I know I didn't do the best job explaining.

 

it's easy to find this out by simply googling: 'MA vs M.A.'

that will give you citations from reliable sources much quicker than waiting for conflicting opinions to appear here...

 

There don't appear to be completely fixed rules about this. Both styles are used. It isn't even a US/UK thing, either. Although UK English tends to drop full stops in abbreviations while US English keeps them, e.g. UK = Mr Brown US = Mr. Brown, many US universities use MA instead of M.A., and some British universities use M.A.

 

There's a fashion to drop full stops in abbreviations, because it looks simpler on the page. If you want to be fashionable then write MA. If you want to be traditional write M.A. There isn't a "right" and "wrong", there are just stylistic preferences.

 

Thanks for your replies, Mammamaia, digitig, and madhoca. Did a Google search before asking, Mammamaia, but I just wanted to be certain because of the varying results I had found. Got to make sure there are no errors

 

I should add that there are house styles, and what they say is right for the relevant institution. If you're writing for somebody with a house style then that might make the decision for you.

 

And some people wonder why English one of the most difficult languages to learn hehe.

 

Heh. I've been trying to learn Chinese, and they can't even decide which direction to write in. Left to right, right to left and top to bottom are all used. Which when the characters fit into an exact square grid can be more than a little confusing!

 

Thanks, digitig. And yes, Chinese is difficult. I wouldn't know from experience, but I have an American-born friend who traveled to the country and married a Chinese man in the process. She now speaks Chinese, fluently.

And cerb123, I agree. There is so much that goes into the English language. It has been ages since I have taken an English class, and because I enjoy writing I know I'm going to have to brush up on those areas where I need work.

On that note, somebody please correct my first sentence. After I wrote, "She now speaks Chinese..." is a comma needed before fluently.

 

Thanks for the mini grammar lesson, digitig. Appreciate it! I mistakenly posted this somewhere else, twice. Sorry to whoever was affected.

 

There is no rule regarding MA vs M.A. BUT it has to be consistant through the work, which ever you use.

 

That would be a rule, then

(I agree, though.)

 

I am in the medical career, many people have an alphabet after their name, most people don't add a period after each.

RN, BSN, MSN, APN, For brevity it would seem to be easier to leave them off. much faster and easier then R.N., B.S.N., M.S.N., A.P.N. Try typing a period after every letter if you have five or more titles to include. Both read the same, so unless working on special rules, do the quick/easy.

My title is easy; El Peon.(no period)