Bullet Lists
Lists help readers find information quickly and easily because readers can scan lists more quickly than they can scan paragraphs. Readers can also extract information more easily from lists than paragraphs.
– Saul Carliner
Use bullet lists for three or more items. Follow these simple rules for creating bullet lists:
- For simple word lists, no punctuation is required. End complete sentences with a period. If any item on a list is punctuated, punctuate every item.
- Single space simple word lists. Double space lists of sentences.
- Capitalize the first word of a list item only if the item is a complete sentence.
- Do not substitute numbers for bullets unless the sequence of the items is important (bullets imply random order).
- Structure all items within a list similarly.
- Introduce each list with a sentence or phrase.
