1. Understanding Period References
How do we refer to the correct time period when writing or referencing?
Egyptians, shakespeare ,gibson girl of 1900, rhinna

2. First Things First…
A decade is 10 years.
A century is 100 years

3. We use acronyms to specify periods of time in history.
You may see the letters A.D. or C.E.
The letters A.D. mean “Anno Domini” which translates to “in the year of our Lord.” Year 1 refers to the year that Christ was born because the American calendar is based on the birth of Jesus Christ .

4. A.D. has been modernized to an alternate acronym and new books will reflect the change.
Now the years following the birth of Jesus are labeled C.E. which is an acronym for Common Era.
Since the entire world is not Christian, it didn’t make sense to refer to a period of time based solely on Christian beliefs.
Besides, there are many differences as to the exact date of Jesus’s birth ranging between 4-6 years.

5. How to reference C.E.
Typically modern writers don’t use the C.E. acronym when writing unless they are switching between both C.E. and B.C.E. time periods.
Typically if there is no acronym listed, we assume the time period is C.E.
However, If you do need to use the acronym, you would write the acronym before the date; for instance: C.E

6. Going from B.C. to B.C.E
The term B.C. is an acronym for “Before Christ.”
Again, the term didn’t make a lot of sense to the non- Christian world, so the term was changed to B.C.E. which simply means “Before Common Era.”

7. How to Reference B.C.E.
When referring to the period before the birth of Christ, the acronym is placed behind the date; for example, B.C.E.
You should use the B.C.E.
acronym when writing about
any period prior to C.E.

8. The year 1 B.C.E. occurs 1 year before 1 C.E.
For example, the year 10 B.C.E. refers to the 10 years before the birth of Christ. Therefore, the years leading up to His birth are counted down.

9. But wait…there’s more!
If you saw a date such as the fifteenth century, would you know what time period or date this represented?
Remember that a century represents 100 years. So years 1 through 100 represent the first century.
The years 101 through 200 represent the 2nd century. So if the date was 152, then it is the 2nd century.
This sequence continues with every 100 years. We are currently in the 21st century.
Let’s break it down visually.

10. Examples of the year to century conversion
If the date is between the years: It is the following century st nd rd th th th th th th th th th th st
Examples of the year to century conversion

11. What century were you born in?

12. That’s it for Centuries and Period References…..