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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.
