It is very easy to make up your own shorthand as you go along. When professors use long words, write the entire word down the first time and each time after that, use an abbreviation that you make up. The key is to write down the entire word the first time the professor uses it. If you forget what the latter abbreviations stand for, you can go back and look for the entire word. Here are a few examples. The possibilities are endless, and you will make up your own as you go along.

Est. - Established

Exp. - Explore/exploration

Col.- Columbus

Sys. - System

Dyn. - Dynasty

Mon. - Mongolia

S.A. - South America

Eng. - England

Port. - Portugal

X - Christ

Xnity - Christianity

Xian - Christian

Conf. - Confucius

Arch. - Architecture

Ct. - Court

Byz. - Byzantine

M.E. - Mid East/ Middle Eastern

Theo. - theology

Euro. - European

Fr. - French/France

Soc. - Social/Society

Str. - Structure

w/ - with

w/o - without

? - question

e.g. - example

esp. - especially

cit. - citizens

ppl. - people

$ - money

≠ - does not equal

< - less than

> - greater than

% - percent/percentage

# - number

vs. - versus or against

i.e.- that is

@ - at or about

" " - quote

etc. - and so on

et al. - and others

↑ - increase

↓ - decrease

& - and

* - important

Asst. - assist/assistant