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This isn't a technical or LaTeX code question, but more of a "what should I be using for X?" question.

I am writing up my PhD. It is an Engineering PhD and I have mostly abbreviations (i.e. Particulate Matter = PM, On-board Diagnostics = OBD, that sort of thing) And there are also a few symbols (e for the charge on an electron and the usual array of greek letters found in formulae).

I haven't really been advised otherwise but these are all in one big Nomenclature list placed before my first chapter, built using:

\usepackage[intoc]{nomencl}

I wondering if that is actually the correct way to do things? Should I be having a separate list for abbreviations/acronyms?

if so do I just add the acronym package? can I use just one package to do both?

Alex Mason
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    If you want one package to do both you can try glossaries, but if you've already defined all your entries using nomencl you might find it quicker to use acronym with nomencl, otherwise you'll have to rewrite all the nomencl commands as equivalent glossaries commands. – Nicola Talbot Jan 14 '14 at 18:12
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    Ok cool, thanks.

    I have been reading the acronym package documentation and it seems rather straight forward, so I will look at using the two if the need arises.

    I note, with the example provided in the acronym documentation, that it prints page numbers and uses dots to space the acronym from the page numbers. Is this formatting easy to change?

     – Alex Mason Jan 15 '14 at 16:46
  • I'd use the acro package for symbols, abrreviations, … it allows several lists (but then I'm biased…) – cgnieder Jul 18 '15 at 11:47
  • related: How to create both list of abbreviations and list of nomenclature [...]? – cgnieder Nov 02 '15 at 12:17

2 Answers2

5

Having abbreviations and symbols in the same list would be confusing. Elad Den already showed one way to set it up with nomencl, here's an example with glossaries:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[acronyms,toc,nonumberlist,nogroupskip]{glossaries}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{gloss.tex}
%================ACRONYMS=================%
\newacronym{egr}{EGR}{Exhaust Gas Recirculation}
\newacronym{doc}{DOC}{Diesel Oxidation Catalyst}
%================SYMBOLS=================%
\newglossaryentry{sigma}{type=symbols,name=$\sigma$,sort=sigma,description={Surface tension}}
\newglossaryentry{Mw}{type=symbols,name=$M_w$,sort=Mw,description={Molar mass}}
\end{filecontents}
\newglossary{symbols}{sym}{sbl}{List of Symbols}
\makenoidxglossaries
\glsnoexpandfields
\loadglsentries{gloss.tex}
\begin{document}
\gls{egr} is a technique. \gls{doc} is a catalyst. \gls{sigma} can be used in calculations, \gls{Mw} as well.
\glsaddall
\setlength{\glsdescwidth}{0.5\linewidth}
\setlength{\glspagelistwidth}{0.1\linewidth}
\printnoidxglossary[type=acronym,sort=letter]
\printnoidxglossary[type=symbols,sort=letter]
\end{document}

I used this setup in my master thesis and think it worked great.

Result

3

you can use nomencl package, I did it this way:

in the preamble add

%section the nomenclature
\usepackage{nomencl}
\RequirePackage{ifthen}
\renewcommand{\nomgroup}[1]{%
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{S}}{\item[\textbf{Symbols}]}{
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{A}}{\item[\textbf{Acronyms}]}{}}}

Then in the body of the thesis (after the \begin {document}) When adding a new nomenclature entry it add either A before the sorting or S depending on whether it's a symbol or an acronym

\nomenclature[SB]{$B$}{Some definition of B}
\nomenclature[AS]{SGP}{Some Random Acronym}

enter image description here

Elad Den
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