Writing lists

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Lists present small portions of information in a well-structured way. This helps readers to scan a text quickly and to find information easily.

Lists also help you, the author, because they organize your thoughts.

There’s no strict sequence in the items of the list.

List items are bulleted, not numbered. Don’t confuse lists with procedures (see Writing procedures).

Basic rules:

 1  If it’s not obvious from the heading what a list is about, begin the list with an introductory phrase. The introductory phase can either be a complete sentence or a sentence fragment.

Don’t build a list and its introductory phrase as one continuous sentence.

Don’t continue the introductory sentence through the list.

Don’t use words and phrases such as “and,” “as well as,” or “or” to connect the items of a list.

There are several reasons why you shouldn’t build lists that are actually one big sentence:

You should support readers who don’t read the complete text, so it’s important that each list item is comprehensible on its own.

Lists that are actually one big sentence can be very hard to translate into foreign languages.

Adding items to the list, deleting items from the list, or reversing the order of items requires modifications also in other list items, which is often forgotten.

 2  Keep all list items as short as possible. List items may be full sentences or sentence fragments; however, avoid mixing full sentences with sentence fragments within the same list.

Build all list items in a parallel, consistent way (see Be parallel).

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Examples    1 

No:

You may use

a CD,

a DVD, or

a USB drive

to save your data.

Yes:

You can save your data on:

CD

DVD

USB drives

Examples    2 

No:

In a document, white space is important for the following reasons:

visual separation of sections

attention focus

white space breaks content into smaller chunks

Yes:

In a document, white space is important because it:

visually separates sections

focuses attention

breaks content into smaller chunks

Punctuation and capitalization in lists

Usually, regardless of whether an introductory phrase is a complete sentence or a sentence fragment, place a colon after the introductory phrase. The colon clearly signals the beginning of a list and creates anticipation.

Note:
If the introductory phrase is a full-sentence statement, a colon is sometimes too emphatic. It’s OK to use a period then.

Yes:

With DemoSoft, you can:

write texts

plan projects

Yes:

You can use DemoSoft to write several types of documents:

letters

reports

books

If all list items are complete sentences, use sentence-style capitalization and punctuation. A list item is considered a complete sentence if, removed from the context of the list, it could stand on its own as a sentence.

Yes:

To avoid loss of data:

Make a daily backup copy of all files.

Use the latest security software and update this software regularly.

If all list items are sentence fragments:

Use lowercase for the initial word of each list item (except for names).

Many style guides also suggest capitalizing the first word in this case. This is also OK. However, no matter which format you prefer, use it consistently throughout your whole document.

Don’t use periods, semicolons, or commas to end list items if these list items aren’t full sentences. Adding punctuation isn’t strictly wrong, but it adds unnecessary clutter.

Don’t use a period after the last list item.

Don’t use a period even if a list item completes the introductory clause of the list (not recommended).

No:

With DemoSoft, you can:

write texts,

plan projects.

Yes:

With DemoSoft, you can:

write texts

plan projects

If some list items are complete sentences and other list items in the same list are sentence fragments (not recommended):

Start each list item with a capital letter.

End each list item with a period.

If essentially all list items are sentence fragments, but one or more of these fragments are followed by a complete sentence, use sentence-style capitalization and punctuation for all list items. As an alternative, you can also use semicolons.

Yes:

With DemoSoft, you can:

Write texts. (You must have the extended text module installed to use advanced editing features.)

Plan projects.

alternatively:

With DemoSoft, you can:

write texts; (you must have the extended text module installed to use advanced editing features)

plan projects


Be parallel

Writing procedures

Designing: List paragraph styles