Acronyms are a type of abbreviation in which the first letters from a phrase or name are taken to stand for the whole phrase or name. Often, an acronym is given in capital letters. Frequently used technical acronyms should be defined the first time they are used.

In 2012, the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) started a national project called Myggjakten in order to collect mosquito DNA.

A small segment of a gene, approximately 400-1000 base pairs (bp), is examined by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced.

Note that in these examples, the boldface is used only to highlight the acronym in the example; acronyms do not need to be highlighted in real texts. Sometimes full stops are used after each letter (such as the U.K. and the U.S.), but using stops is often optional.