By far, this is the most vexing punctuation issue! The Gregg Reference Manual uses periods only after bullets that are dependent clauses and long phrases. 8. So long as your capitalization rules remain consistent in your organizations communications, youre golden. My name is Erin. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! The following example demonstrates this format as well as how to include a citation for the information in the bulleted list. Use proper punctuation for bulleted sections. Lowercase and spell out when not used with an individual name: The president issued a statement. 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. Government, including federal government and U.S. government. Get an email every time a new blog post is published. 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. A: AP lowercases those descriptive titles. There's an old joke: Bulleted lists are covered in Section 6.52 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition. 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. A: We follow Webster's on that term, which is lowercase. Continue from there down the list. Capitalize major words, e.g. The first word after a colon unless it begins an independent clause. Bulleted lists. 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. When a vertical list follows a full sentence, introduce it with a colon. The key thing is applying a clear and consistent punctuation style to all lists. A: AP uses the numeral for acres, even when less than 10, as a dimension: 5 acres. Use periods, not semicolons, at the end of each section or a phrase." This is clear, but AP doesn't fully address when to omit a period at the end of each bullet. 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." If a bulleted list contains phrases, each bullet should begin with a lowercase letter. Bulleted lists. Capitalize My Title requires JavaScript to be enabled in order to run. Use all sentences or all. Write it. Your email address will not be published. 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. - Use periods, not semicolons, at the end of each section. 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. I like bananas. A: 2-5 p.m. is preferred. 1:28 PM - 14 Jul 2021 37 Retweets 189 Likes One exception: email (no hyphen, which reflects majority of usage). (AP Style reminds writers that it is still correct to use bullets if preferred.) . Capitalization looks fancy and makes things seem important. Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. 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. Sentence case simply means you capitalize the first letter of a sentence, proper nouns, and nothing else as opposed to capitalizing almost every first letter in title case. The capitalization rules are as follows: Wikipedia editors must follow certain capitalization rules for any posts to Wikipedia. (CMS) and the Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) are what writers typically use. To draw visual attention to items in a list without implying that items go in a certain order (e.g., chronology, importance, priority), use a bulleted list. The capitalization chapter has new guidance on how to write about census divisions and geological formations. Most often, the text that introduces such lists ends with a colon, as in "The value of . Do you need a colon to introduce a list? Example 1: Again, style guides dont agree.]. 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). AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential . 7. A: In AP headline style, only the first word and proper nouns are capped. Capitalize the first and the last word of titles and subtitles. We could also write this list with commas instead of semicolons. Symbols such as small circles, squares, dashes, and so forth may be used for the bullets. Alternatively, you can use our tool to convert text from lowercase to uppercase by clicking the UPPER button. Dont use a period after bullet lists that are not complete sentences or do not complete the opening stem sentence. Anation could be oppressed by its leaders, Judy Vorfeld Repellent and Repulsive both speak to driving others away, but REPULSIVE Three horizontal centrifugal pumps with design temperature of 100 degrees F. Three electric motors, in accordance with Appendices. 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. A colon adds emphasis, too. DO NOT capitalize plural words even when part of a proper name (e.g. How to Write Vertical Lists (Ordered and Unordered), How to Export PDF Tables from Adobe Acrobat to Excel (PC & Mac), How to Insert Images into Shapes in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac), How to Align the Periods in Numbered Lists in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac), How to Password Protect Files in Microsoft Word, How to Password Protect PDFs in Adobe Acrobat (PC & Mac). Q: Others use one word for internet-related terms. As an Amazon Associate, CapitalizeMyTitle.com earns from qualifying purchases. If bulleted items are complete sentences, begin each item with a capital letter and finish it with a period or other appropriate punctuation. AP Style: Sentence Fragments and Capitalization Finally, let's look at Associated Press style. The Gregg Reference Manual(Sabin). When do Icapitalize the first letter in abulleteditem? All major words in titles (including small words, such as "Is" and "It"); for example, "Business and Economics". But if youre following AP style, chances are youre overusing those big letters. 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. Watch your title convert case and be automatically capitalized! Ordered lists can be introduced by a complete or incomplete sentence and are typically prefaced by numbers1 or letters2 followed by a period. $;$ExRp" e8CQiQYgKdIw lP"1C[;d,|xk0:[#.kvZ|{wY14\.wCzb`*,a`FK{GQfl!hie "h9e tI*2$"/'O6\a>Zb=01fD?`ZTX7w$\a +!F7X o7N| *&Rp oTF G6eKeJ22N Mb[$er6_oZkh:.jFeX^Lu}]/E.tesv!8;>pi0B@09]l}llx| V:2`zXoyQ% 'w Clarity and consistency are the building blocks of great content. You can learn more in the Title Capitalization Rules by Style section. In most cases, experts recommend that you start each bulleted item with acapital letter. It is the same across all of the four styles. Two new and potentially controversial suggestions when writing bulleted lists are to use dashes instead of bullets and to always use periods (rather than semicolons) at the end of each section, even if it is a phrase and not a sentence. A: corporate (adj.) If numbers arent essential, use bullets, especially in business documents. Subscribe to AP Stylebook Online: AP Stylebook Online is a searchable, customizable guide for writers and editors that is updated throughout the year. Published: November 13, 2012 Updated: August 22, 2020. 1+ 803-479-5092 ntuten@getitwriteonline.com . Awesome sauce! Young adults have many motivations for texting on their smartphones: Further information about bulleted lists is available in the Publication Manual, including how to format lists of definitions in a glossary. Capitalization looks fancy and makes things seem important. AP flags such cases atop the story with an editor's note. This is ultimately a matter of stylistic preference. 4.24.14 AP style rules on state abbreviations updated. Capitalize words with four or more letters (including conjunctions and prepositions). - Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. Learn how your comment data is processed. The most accepted style guide in business writing and web publishing is the AP Stylebook. A: A partial spelling with hyphens in place of some letters would convey the meaning. With this format, use commas after each list item and on the next-to-last list, item use the word and close the list with a . For MBA, AP Style don [t use periods. If unchecked, quotes will be output as curly quotes. In general, the following capitalization rules apply across the four styles in title case: Important words in that last bullet generally refer to: Title case is the most common title capitalization for book titles, headlines, articles titles, etc. A: AP headlines cap only first word and proper names or proper abbreviations. Today we'll look at numbered lists. Thank you, Sarah! 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. Q: Is there a standard AP style for bulleted areas of text? Infants often display positive emotions when following parents behavioral requests, such as not touching the stove. Not using a colon isnt wrong, but omit it only with certainty that you comply with the style guide of your choice. No periods on the end of a list of bullets unless its more than one sentence. 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. Lists Introduced with a Complete Sentence Also, please note that ads, brochures and legal contracts may require some deviation from these guidelines. Q: What is AP's style on the military's don't ask, don't tell policy? The stylebook uses italics for examples only. The default rule is to lowercase words unless theres a reason they should be uppercase. You can also use this tool to do it automatically. A list of information can be neatly organised using bullet points. This means you must CHECK to find out the proper name!) While the APs guidelines on this issue are straightforward and easy to remember, they are designed for news publications dealing with limited space and the technical limitations of news wire transmissions. Learn more about how to write better bullet lists. Bulleted Lists: APA uses bulleted lists to avoid the perception of importance/priority connotated in numbered lists. Q: Veteran's Benefits, Veterans Benefits or Veterans' Benefits? A colon should be used to introduce the list, and the first letter of each point should be capitalised. Lists, Part 4: Numbered Lists. The first step in the process of how to write an AP style press release is to familiarize yourself with the guidelines. Chicago Style is one of the most used and respected headline capitalization methods used in journalism. Use numbered lists when youre working with instructions to be done in sequence, and the numbers suggest ahierarchy. Others, like the Chicago Manual of Style, suggest lowercasing it. Now we have bullets. Q: Is clarity essentially the only rule determining when a serial comma should be included? 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). AP and Chicago Manual of Style - capitalize initial word and use periods after sentence list items. Numbered, lettered, and bulleted lists. Complete sentences introducing ordered lists are traditionally punctuated with a colon. In a simple series, AP doesn't use a comma before the last item. Quickly convert your title or text to title case by simply clicking the Title Case button in the tool above. A: Eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Memorize the AP abbreviations. Other terminology (business; food and beverages; legal and justice; medical; ethnic and nationality; politics; religion ). If checked, quotes will be output as straight quotes. Quick Links: How to Use Capitalize My Title, What to Capitalize in a Title (What Is Title Case, What Is Sentence Case), Title Capitalization Rules by Style (APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, BB, AMA, NY Times, Wikipedia). Now we have bullets. Capitalization, Case Internet The word internet is all lowercase (unless, of course, it starts a sentence or comes after a bullet) . 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. Semicolons Use in Lists: Items with Internal Punctuation I have a tendency to be very verbose when I write. Fax: 205-921-5595 2131 Military Street S Hamilton, AL 35570 View Location document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The capitalization rules are as follows: Bluebook style capitalization is mainly used by lawyers. This is a tricky one for me because, personally, I agree with you. AP has a few punctuation rules that differ from many common style guides: Do not use a comma before the last item in a simple series ("My favorite candy includes Snickers, Twix and Zagnut bars."). Use a numbered list if you want to display items in a numbered series. Start each list item with a capital letter, unless case is an important part of the information conveyed by the listsuch as in a list of glossary terms. The Chicago Manual of Style. A 1 ). Numbered lists may appear with or without the period after the number. Capitalization is a style choicewith sentence fragments, you can choose to start each with either upper- or lower-case letters. Take the sentence "She has decided: She won't have surgery to hide the scar.". r%Q! The Associated Press Stylebook provides an A-Z guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. But if you're following AP style, chances are you're overusing those big letters. Examples: House Cleaning Tips: Remove items from shelves before dusting. An updated list of units of measurement makes finding what you need a breeze. "The cat's toy" means one cat owns that toy. There was an error submitting your subscription. Example: There are anumber of tags used in HTML, including: RULE: Its not necessary to use periods after short phrases or single words in alist, if the introductory statement is grammatically complete (see below) or if the listed items are like those on an inventory sheet or ashopping list. Sorry to pile on here, but your discussion of verb endings is inadequate. Are we nitpicking punctuation with these considerations of bullet lists? 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. . Instead, texts like The Canadian Style (2nd ed., 1997) offer guidelines for styling bulleted lists, some of which strike some writers (this one, for instance) as needlessly complicated. A: Always use figures for people, animals and objects: 3-year-old house. We wont send you spam. Capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound if both words are equal and not suffices or prefixes (e.g., Cost-Benefit), Capitalize the first non-Greek letter after a lowercase Greek letter (e.g., -Bromohexanoic), Lowercase the first non-Greek letter after a capital Greek letter (e.g., -9-tetrahydrocannabinol), Capitalize the genus but not the species epithet. The same applies when someone may refer to specific items by number. A: "don't ask, don't tell" policy. This is the fourth in a six-part series. Then craft an attention-grabbing headline, write the body of your press release, add the boilerplate section, and distribute your press . Capitalization Begin each item in a list with a capital letter unless there's a reason not to (for example, it's a command that's always lowercase). Youre singing my tune! A: AP Stylebook entry on "collective nouns" says band names take plural verbs. Topics: Writer's Passport, Writing & Editing. Note however that it is not wrong to capitalize a sentence or clause after a colon. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style . Lowercase indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions. 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 If you left caps lock on accidentally, you can quickly convert your title from uppercase to lowercase by selecting the lower button above. Mary founded Instructional Solutions in 1998, and is an internationally recognized business writing trainer and executive writing coach with two decades of experience helping thousands of individuals and businesses master the strategic skill of business writing. 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). Capitalize the first word in a bullet point and the introduction to the list, but not the rest. This is why capitalization of items that make up a list of bullet points is sometimes a matter of style. A: AP uses dashes, not bullets, for lists in news stories that follow a colon. The top tabs allow you to select which style of capitalization you want to use. Please enable JavaScript and visit again! 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. AP Stylebook recommends: "Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. Some style manuals, such as the AP Stylebook and APA Publication Manual, recommend capitalizing an independent clause after a colon. 9. Prepositions that contain five letters or more. Q: Should diseases also known by acronyms such as PTSD be capitalized? hbbd```b``"A$dH\8'$XM7"$c[D& j@H2w 2+: Required fields are marked *. How about Civil Rights Movement? Use a lettered list if you want to emphasize separate parallel items within a sentence. Q: If using "member of Congress" instead of congressman/congresswoman, should "member" be capitalized? July 31, 2019. Preferred style is without terminal punctuation, unless the list item is a complete sentence. The buttons at the bottom let you choose specific case conversion options for the various styles. Very helpful stuff! This will uncapitalize your text. The bullets indicate that I like apples, bananas, and oranges equally. Below are examples of vertical listswhich may be unnumbered, numbered, or bulletedand how to introduce, punctuate, and capitalize them. Ordered vertical lists have, you guessed it, an order. Our amended style is website (one word, lowercase w), along with other compounds: webcam, webcast, webmaster. 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! The capitalization rules are as follows: Capitalize the first and the last word. Asthma or some allergies. Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works. Punctuation (commas; quotation marks; colon; semi-colon; ellipsis ). the proper name, do not capitalize. 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. Whether using bullets or numbers, vertical lists can be tricky. In AP style, the word that begins the list or series should generally only be capitalized if it is a proper noun. AP Stylebook: Use periods after bullets. The Gregg Reference Manual uses periods only after bullets that are dependent clauses and long phrases. Judy Vorfeld Oppress means to persecute/tyrannize/bully. 6. Read this and other articles on English grammar, mechanics, and usage at Get It Write. 10. We updated guidance on how to write about U.S. and international currency. Q: Do you capitalize a conjunction in a headline? AP style is actually not capitalized, though AP Stylebook is. Consider the examples below: 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.
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