Abbreviations in writing

Abbreviations such as NB are shortened forms of words or phrases, used to save time and space. They are a common and convenient but sometimes confusing feature of  English. Understanding the abbreviations used in all types of academic writing is important for reading as well as writing. Most subject areas, for instance Business, have their own language of abbreviations, but certain abbreviations are used more generally:

anon.                     anonymous
asap                      as soon as possible
cf.                          compare (with another source)
ed.                         editor or edition
e.g.                        for example
et al.                      and others (with multiple authors)
Fig.                        figure (for labelling charts and graphs)
ibid.                       in the same place (to refer to sources mentioned immediately
                              before)   
i.e.                         that is (for restatement)
NB                         take careful note
nd                          no date (an undated source)
op.cit.                     in the source mentioned previously
p.a.                        yearly (per annum)
PS                         postscript
re.                          with reference to     

Students should notice that if writers wants to introduce their own special abbreviations into an essay, this should be done in the introduction:

Starting from the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, it is claimed that ...