When writing a list, ensure all items are syntactically and conceptually parallel. There's an old joke: This will automatically indent the list as well. 6. The capitalization and punctuation for each bulleted item are determined by the sentence structure. You're not "piling on." hn7_@os@`v6Y8m.sSWloK6]G\#4:RsJ.Sv1b0',K4;mgbj\l~}7N|7W}v0qp}_n]QQL~yNy?NQ2*yZ_p@PnCx'q%6\zr0nqfopzpyb"uGh7? 7. Dates, time, eras (July 4, 2008; 9 a.m.; the Great Depression ), Q: When referring to a time span, I never know when to use a dash to separate the two times (ex. AP editor Paula Froke fields questions of widest interest posed by subscribers to the online AP Stylebook. Zip Airline offers The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) recommends prefacing unordered lists with dashes instead of bullets, although bullets are an acceptable choice for some publications.AP style also recommends punctuating complete and incomplete introductory sentences with a colon and capitalizing the first word in each list item as well as punctuating When to Use a Colon in AP Style - BKA Content Numbered, lettered, and bulleted lists. Following are some questions and answers to use as guidelines: When is it better to use bullets than numbers? Semicolons Use in Lists: Items with Internal Punctuation Q: Is clarity essentially the only rule determining when a serial comma should be included? The following examples demonstrate both options as well as how to integrate in-text citations into bulleted lists. Lowercase the second word after a hyphenated prefix (e.g., Mid-, Anti-, Super-, etc.) It also connects closely related thoughts. Lowercase the second word in a compound modifier (e.g., Mid-year or On-site). Q: Do music groups take singular verbs, as do collective nouns, or plural verbs, as with sports teams? There are five important things to watch for in numbered and bulleted lists: inconsistent capitalization. The idea is that the list reads like a single sentence, with semicolons separating each point, a conjunction just before the final entry, and a period at the end. Titles. The bullets indicate that I like apples, bananas, and oranges equally. AP Style - Purdue OWL - Purdue University - Purdue Writing Lab Include the dateline - BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Jan. 1, 2022; . 10. Writing, phrasing, usage (word choice; clarity; subjunctive mood; ethnic-racial; profanity; slang ). She excels at designing customized business writing training programs to maximize productivity, advance business objectives, and convey complex information. ap style bulleted lists capitalization - boyetthealth.com Handling Vertical Lists | Get It Write Online 8. Added standalone cities to guidance on addresses and states. The Chicago Manual of Style. A: The phrase suggests a contingency unlikely to come true, so use "were" for the subjunctive mood. and Ph.D. See "doctor" for an explanation of Dr. as a title for medical doctor on first reference. Q: Is it staff has or staff have? Well, that was really helpful; thanks for the effort. Use a rubber glove to twist the lid off. Also, please note that ads, brochures and legal contracts may require some deviation from these guidelines. Q: Why is "doctorate in psychology" not capped, but "Bachelor of Arts" is? After each dash, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each section. The Chicago Manual of Style has pages of rules and examples of bullet lists that agree with the Garner style recommendation to use semicolons after each item, use and after the next-to-last-item, and use a period at the end of the last item. Q: How do I deal with a vulgarity from a movie that is integral to the article I'm writing? This option is helpful for complex or longer bulleted sentences that may be more difficult to read without the aid . Sentence Case vs. Title Case: When to Use Which July 31, 2019. - Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. Q: How about using e- as a prefix for new terms in the tech and business worlds? Q: In denoting area, which is correct for numbers under 10 -- 5 acres or five acres? A colon adds emphasis, too. Capitalization, Case Internet The word internet is all lowercase (unless, of course, it starts a sentence or comes after a bullet) . Next, read the lead-in word or phrase again followed by the second item on the list. A colon should be used to introduce the list, and the first letter of each point should be capitalised. ?X~soOr{/'gqjfZIuVCZQ!SdbnU)pHuL`>b"wlh)}4!ybjK Bullet point structure Don't mix and match sentence structures. The first option is to use no punctuation after the bulleted items (including the final one), which may be better when the items are shorter and simpler. social connection, in which people text as a way to connect with others; escapism, in which people text to get away from dull or uncomfortable situations such as waiting in line; distraction, in which people text to distract themselves while having a conversation with someone or being in a meeting; audacity, in which people text to get a response from someone, such as to break up with them or ask them on a date; nurturing, in which people text to foster relationships by saying things like good morning or I love you; and. endstream endobj 29 0 obj <> endobj 30 0 obj <>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[603 407.25 648 420.75]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>><>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[270.75 387.75 315.75 401.25]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>><>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[281.25 368.25 318.75 381.75]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>>]/Contents[34 0 R 35 0 R 36 0 R 37 0 R 38 0 R 39 0 R 41 0 R 42 0 R]/CropBox[0 0 792 612]/MediaBox[0 0 792 612]/Parent 26 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSets[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 31 0 obj <>stream Should each point start with a capital letter and end with a period? How about AP? Judy Vorfeld Oppress means to persecute/tyrannize/bully. A: Always use figures for people, animals and objects: 3-year-old house. By far, this is the most vexing punctuation issue! Bullets - Rules and Examples - Really Learn English Here is a sampling of frequently asked questions, with examples of AP style used in answers. Subscribe to the My Blog Editor blog for the latest TIPS on improving the QUALITY of your business content. A: Lowercase for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, hepatitis C, etc. A: Normally staff is a collective taking a singular verb, Spelling (one word or two; hyphenation; noun phrases; prefixes; suffixes), Titles (academic; courtesy; professional; military; occupational; political; religious). We could also write this list with commas instead of semicolons. Find it. That's . So many choices to make! Do you need a colon to introduce a list? Q: Why is atheist not capitalized while Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., are? This is why capitalization of items that make up a list of bullet points is sometimes a matter of style. I was a fan until I realized it wasn't AP Style, all hail AP Style Honorable mention a.m. and p.m. - That's how they're used. Include periods after independent clauses, dependent clauses, and long phrases, and also after short phrases or words that are necessary to make the sentence grammatically complete: To register for the Annual Meeting: Go to aad.org. Below is a description of the ways you can use our case converter. How to Capitalize and Punctuate Bullet Points - LinkedIn And if youd like any more help with the punctuation and capitalization of lists in a document, dont forget we have proofreaders available 24/7! Copyright 2023 Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc. mar Girls Beginning and Intermediate Guide to AP Style. A: "don't ask, don't tell" policy. If your bulleted list is part of the sentence and is not preceded by a colon, treat the bullets like a part of the sentence, adhering to standard capitalization and punctuation. These are perfectly acceptable, and some style guides suggest writing lists like this. EPA Communications Stylebook: Writing Guide When to Use a Colon With Capitalization: The puppy left a trail of destroyed items in his wake: shredded papers, mangled stuffed animals and what looked like the remains of a shoe. Associated Press style basics - The Journalist's Resource Vertical Lists, Bullets - The Chicago Manual of Style Online 7. Vertical lists can be ordered or unordered and can be introduced by complete or incomplete sentences, all of which affect how the individual list items are capitalized and punctuated. A: member is lowercase, as are congressmen and congresswoman. Once again, complete sentences introducing unordered lists are traditionally punctuated with a colon. Examples: House Cleaning Tips: Remove items from shelves before dusting. Q: If using "member of Congress" instead of congressman/congresswoman, should "member" be capitalized? Q: Is clarity essentially the only rule determining when a serial comma should be included? A list of information can be neatly organised using bullet points. Our tool lets you convert the case of your text easily into sentence case. Asthma or some allergies. The Gregg Reference Manual uses periods only after bullets that are dependent clauses and long phrases. If youre confused about what words to capitalize in a title or headline, we recommend using our title capitalization tool above, but if you want specific capitalization rules, they are as follows. Finally, should you capitalize the first letter of each entry in a vertical list? According to APA, racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and Get your free sample back in 3 to 6 hours! Don't Be That Guy - Part 1: The Most Common Capitalization Mistakes Possessive versus descriptive Q: A months confinement or a month's confinement? APA Style 6th Edition Blog: Lists, Part 4: Numbered Lists Theyre easy to read. These include short words and conjunctions: The other major type of title capitalization standard is sentence case. in English from the University of Rhode Island, an M.A. Capitalization - VA.gov Design System - Veterans Affairs This is ultimately a matter of stylistic preference. Published: November 13, 2012 Updated: August 22, 2020. Should the opening stem sentence end with a colon to introduce the bullet lists or use no colon? Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading. The key thing is applying a clear and consistent punctuation style to all lists. Q: Should the names of decades be capitalized when written out? Careful punctuation also reflects thought and care. Gently tap the lid against a hard surface. ap style bulleted lists capitalization - saudiqamat.com How to punctuate bullet lists can be tricky because various style guides contradict each other. The stylebook uses italics for examples only. If all else fails, when it comes to accepting AP style: Just do it. Do Bullet Points Have Capital Letters? - Authors Cast Capitalize the first and the last word of titles and subtitles. Creating Vertical Lists in MLA Style | MLA Style Center The capitalization rules are as follows: NY Times style capitalization is mainly used by writers for the NY Times but is also used widely throughout journalism. APA allows the use of bulleted lists with or without punctuation. Bullet points | Staff | Imperial College London See the "legislative titles" entry for rulings. When writing an argumentative essay, you would typically research a topic and adopt a certain How to Punctuate and Capitalize Bullet Points. Clean windows with a newspaper and . Considering those rules, these hyphenated words would all be correctly capitalized in titles: In the list above, up, in, on, off, and out are adverbs-not prepositions. The Associated Press Stylebook says when writing lists use periods, not semicolons, at the end of each section, whether it is a full sentence or a phrase.. Use a numbered list if you want to display items in a numbered series. Capitalization and end punctuation depend on the type of list and the contents of the list. Does this help? This isn't an exhaustive list, but it will get you started. Stay with us.". Its illogical to use semicolons and vertical lists punctuated as sentences in business writing because its visually cluttered so its harder to scan. . I the word Cocaine supposed to be capitalized? Bulleted lists are covered in Section 6.52 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. They look good. To keep bullets simple and consistent, I take a dual approach to styling them, based on whether the items in the list are complete sentences or partial sentences. Clarity and consistency are the building blocks of great content. 48 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<8DCDC806A06A984EB23F9AC6F5FBCE2C><8DCDC806A06A984EB23F9AC6F5FBCE2C>]/Index[28 32]/Info 27 0 R/Length 99/Prev 782230/Root 29 0 R/Size 60/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream 28 0 obj <> endobj Its hard for some people to wrap their heads around this rule, especially if each item on the list is not a full sentence. Please enable JavaScript and visit again! AP Style - use dashes, capitals and periods. AP Stylebook recommends: "Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. If you feel punctuation does not matter, consider the impact of punctuation in these bullet lists: 2023 Instructional SolutionsRefund Policy | Terms | Privacy Policy. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of New Hampshire. A: As a descriptive term, doctorate in psychology is lowercase. Q: A months confinement or a month's confinement? Write it. PDF APA Style Guidelines t7 h Edition - Brainfuse This is the fourth in a six-part series. However, Garner qualifies this: "If you begin each item with a lowercase letter, put a semicolon at the end of each item, use and after the next-to-last item, and put a period after the last item." This article is a summary of AP style. Vacuum windowsills and corners with a vacuum hose. Microsoft and Gregg would capitalize flat and sharp if they appeared in a title (unlike Rule 2). Fax: 205-921-5595 2131 Military Street S Hamilton, AL 35570 View Location Important Note: The MLA Handbook from the Modern Language Association (MLA style) follows Chicago-style recommendations for ordered and unordered vertical lists. If necessary, rewrite the list item so that all items begin with capital letters or all items begin with lowercase words. A: AP uses dashes, not bullets, for lists in news stories that follow a colon. nouns, pronouns, verbs. 7 Tips for Writing Powerful Bullet Points | Grammarly Your subscription includes the . Over 1.5 million copies sold! Home Style and Grammar Guidelines Lists Lists Just as heading structure alerts readers to the order of ideas in a paper, lists help readers understand a related set of key points within a sentence or paragraph. Inconsistent punctuation; Sometimes the grammar isn't parallel between items. In bulleted and numbered lists, do not use a period or other punctuation after titles or phrases that are not complete sentences (also good for accessibility). We updated guidance on how to write about U.S. and international currency. Q: Do you capitalize a conjunction in a headline? The capitalization rules are as follows: Capitalize the first and the last word. In APA 7, you have two options for punctuating bulleted phrases: to include no punctuation after each list item and after the last list item or to include commas or semicolons, as appropriate, after each list item and final punctuation at the end of the list. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. Semicolon Use in Lists A properly inserted semicolon helps to provide pause and clarifying separation in sentences. This means you must CHECK to find out the proper name!) The Copyeditors Handbook (Einsohn). PDF EIA Writing Style Guide - Energy Information Administration Input your member identification number. That order can be based on rank (e.g., a list of most favorite to least favorite foods) or sequence (e.g., recipe instructions). DO NOT capitalize plural words even when part of a proper name (e.g. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as "play with"), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. Lowercase the second word in a hyphenated compound when it is a prefix or suffix (e.g., Anti-itch,world-wide) or part of a single word. endstream endobj startxref A colon can introduce a long quotation or one of more than one sentence, because it says to a reader: "There's more coming here than you thought. Right you are. No periods on the end of a list of bullets unless its more than one sentence. Subscribe to AP Stylebook Online: AP Stylebook Online is a searchable, customizable guide for writers and editors that is updated throughout the year. If that sounds like a lot to remember, think of it this way instead: as a general rule of thumb, any word that's three letters or less should not be capitalized. Beyond that, all three capitalize the first and last word of a title. Online and technology (the web; the internet; URL; computers; e-commerce ). Thank you, Sarah! Bulleted lists may be comprised of complete sentences or phrases. AP Stylebook Online builds on everything that's in the print Stylebook, and makes it a more comprehensive, convenient resource. RECOMMENDATION: Please avoid usingthe following format: If you write alot of reports and documents with lists, youll always do well if you follow the guidelines above, recognizing the need of the reader to grasp information quickly and easily. A: A few examples: Radar, Laser, NATO, OPEC. As with so many things in the English language, capitalization with colons can be complex, and many times, it's more of a style issue than one of correctness. Colons - Quick and Dirty Tips persistent psychological distress (Glozier et al., 2010; Lund et al., 2010). Punctuating every introduction with a colon and every list item with a period regardless of other structural issues (such as complete versus incomplete introductory sentences and list-item formatting) could potentially decrease flow and readability. To see what I mean, read the lead-in word or phrase then read the first item on the list. You have multiple options to capitalize and change the case of your titles, headlines, song titles, book titles, email subjects, and more. Numbered Lists and Bullet Lists: Why and How? The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style . The capitalization rules are as follows: Bluebook style capitalization is mainly used by lawyers. Example: You will need to present the following information: Your driver's license. But here are a few things you might not realize are actually lowercase in AP style. Capitalize the first word in each bullet. Lists - American Psychological Association For lists of fragments, short phrases, or words, capitalization is optional: My favorite fruits include: oranges apples bananas dragon fruit My favorite fruits include: Oranges Apples Bananas Dragon fruit As with the other optional punctuation above, though, make sure to use a consistent capitalization style throughout your writing. People who grew up in the 1980s watched a lot of television, including: If you arent a strict follower of AP style, consider using the general guidelines explained in the sections above instead of those outlined in this alert box. The individual list items following the complete sentence are usually lowercased if they arent complete sentences themselves. All major words in titles (including small words, such as "Is" and "It"); for example, "Business and Economics". Quickly convert your title or text to sentence case by simply clicking the Sentence case button in the tool above. Bulleted lists are covered in Section 6.52 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition. I like apples. Were so programmed to capitalize only proper nouns and the first word of acomplete sentence that it almost seems wrong to capitalize single words and phrases. Q: What is AP's style on the military's don't ask, don't tell policy? The following rules apply to APA headline capitalization and title capitalization: Making sure you have the right capitalization for MLA headings is crucial for scholarly articles. A However, you can omit the colon when a list follows a partial sentence. 0 Some guiding principles behind AP style are: Consistency Clarity Accuracy Brevity AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language. is lowercase. Ive never found the AP Stylebook entry that covers this, including capitalization.. PDF AP STYLE GENERAL RULES - Kennesaw State University To help, weve prepared a guide to punctuating and capitalizing bullet points. Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. . Why wouldnt you want to add a list to your work? AP follows two broad rules for capitalization: Common names are not capitalized unless part of a proper name (the river vs. the Thames River). AP Style Rules to Remember for Your Writing | Beyond Bylines The Fantastic Shakers have won many awards. Although a little old-fashioned, some people like to use semicolons or commas in lists. Capitalization After Colons | Grammarly Bulleted lists - American Psychological Association How to Write Vertical Lists (Ordered and Unordered) - Erin Wright Writing All rights reserved. finish the project by Friday, January 23; place everything youve turned in to date, plus this assignment, on afloppy disk;and. The capitalization rules are as follows: AMA style capitalization is mainly used in the scientific community. Ordered vertical lists have, you guessed it, an order. How a list is punctuated depends on the sort of information that is being presented. Ive updated. Bulleted lists. Sixth and Seventh streets). Everyone loves a vertical list. STATES: Abbreviate state names when listed after a city. See "diseases" entry for further guidance. The Gregg Reference Manual(Sabin). The department prefers bullets, but punctuate them per AP style: After each bullet, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each item. Important Note: If you follow The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style), see the Style Guide Alert at the bottom of this post for clarification on AP styles recommendations for unordered lists, which differ from the general guidelines explained below. Q: Is the proper phrase "If money were no object" or "If money was no object"? Next, identify a newsworthy angle and set up your press release's header section. A: In AP headline style, only the first word and proper nouns are capped. A) Begin each bullet with the same part of speech (noun, verb, adjective) It is very common to use action verbs (also known as dynamic verbs) to begin each item in a bulleted list. The book club members made a list of their favorite genres: Individual list items following a complete sentence that are themselves complete sentences are each punctuated with a period.4. Alternatively, you can use our tool to convert text from lowercase to uppercase by clicking the UPPER button. Content style guide Capitalization As part of our plain language style, we use sentence capitalization as the standard on VA.gov, with a few exceptions. label all file pages (and the disk itself) with your designatedcode. Q: My AP Stylebook always lists examples in italics, so it's difficult to see if italics are part of the style. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Erin Wright with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Erin Wright, 20122023. In AP style, headlines capitalize the first word, proper names, or proper abbreviations, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. A: Use Arabic figures to indicate decades of history: the 1920s, the '80s Figures, numerals, dimensions (7-year-old boy; three years ago; 1 percent; third grade; size 9; 6-by-8-foot rug; 5 ounces; 68,000-square-foot facility). Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works. Certainly, your business writings substance and information are far more critical than exacting punctuation that technically is neither correct nor incorrect since style guides vary. AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential . finally, draft your conclusion. The two major capitalization styles for headlines and titles are sentence case and title case. You should always use a colon before a bulleted or numbered list. Bulleted lists help make information more scannable and easier to understand. Today we'll look at numbered lists. APStylebook on Twitter: "AP uses dashes to introduce individual Please list your allergies and give date of last flare-up. Let me frame my recommendations. Q: Is there a standard AP style for bulleted areas of text? 6. Johns Hopkins Medicine - Writing and Style Guidelines For example, here is a summary of the instructions to write a standard 5 paragraph essay. A: AP lowercases those descriptive titles. All contents 2023 Associated Press All rights reserved. Capitalization looks fancy and makes things seem important. Lists Introduced with a Complete Sentence Only use it to avoid ambiguity, if part of the series contains a conjunction or if you have a complex series of phrases. A: AP headlines cap only first word and proper names or proper abbreviations. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Editorial Style Guide | University Brand Guide | Texas A&M University If a sentence contains more than three items or ideas, we recommend breaking them up into a bulleted list. When do Iuse periods and when do Ileave bulleted items without end punctuation? Example: In this project, the equipment shall consistof: RULE: Use periods after short phrases that are essential to the grammatical completeness of the statement introducing the list. Bulleted lists can be used with complete sentences, phrases, or a combination. If checked, quotes will be output as straight quotes. This is usually done when each list entry finishes an introductory phrase, as shown below: Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox. Bachelor of Arts is capitalized as an academic degree, as are B.A. Proven techniques for attention grabbing headlines & titles. For a series of complex terms, though, use commas after each for clarity. Youre singing my tune! Whether youre writing an essay, email, or cover letter, youll likely use parentheses. x]0)} N "d/J]g<3gcyY?9Y\}xLgH*vVQ8e[!}mg%O*~OqoEhe9k=~o^p{?~7?ZOu6ImR)Gow=\JrP 5 simple story types to fill out your editorial calendar, A quick refresher on using minor punctuation marks in AP style, 8 tips on writing and editing from Jerry Seinfeld. - Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. The Best AP Style Cheat Sheet Every Writer Needs We recommend following the AP Stylebooks bullet punctuation, with additional clarifications that AP doesnt address. How to Create Bulleted Lists in Microsoft Word, How to Create and Modify Numbered Lists in Microsoft Word, How to Create Custom Bullets in Microsoft Word, Parallel StructureThe Secret to Beautiful Bullet Points. That includes newspaper names and magazine references. Use a lettered list if you want to emphasize separate parallel items within a sentence. The tricky thing is punctuation.