RE: Correct punctuation for bulleted lists

Subject: RE: Correct punctuation for bulleted lists
From: "Scudder, Beth" <beth_scudder -at- retek -dot- com>
To: '@í' <sdeichmann -at- voicemobility -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 15:04:13 -0600

@í_ [SMTP:sdeichmann -at- voicemobility -dot- com]
<mailto:[SMTP:sdeichmann -at- voicemobility -dot- com]> asked:

What is the correct (standard?) punctuation for the following
structure?
(The list below is bulleted, I just put it in plain text for
readability.)

The audit activities Wazoo Software records for a user are:
- adding widgets
- removing widgets
- viewing widget content

Should the last bullet (viewing widget content) have a period?

From the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, p. 158:

"Make entries in a list parallel. End each entry with a period if all
entries are complete sentences, are a mixture of fragments and sentences, or
complete the introductory sentence. An exception is when all entries are
short imperative sentences (three words or fewer) or single words; these
entries do not need a period. If all entries are fragments that do not
complete the introduction, do not end them with periods."

As I understand it, since none of your bullet points completes the
introductory sentence (independently), you do not need a period at the end
of any of them.

Incidentally, a rule of thumb I use is that all bullets in a list should be
ended with a period, or all should not have one: no mixing of the two.

HTH,

--Beth





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