Please try again. Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. If checked, quotes will be output as straight quotes. 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. 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! . How about Civil Rights Movement? 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. A: AP uses dashes, not bullets, for lists in news stories that follow a colon. Unfortunately, many brands forego style guides and choose to wing . Garner calls this "vertical lists punctuated as a sentence." Lowercase the second word after a hyphenated prefix (e.g., Mid-, Anti-, Super-, etc.) Q: For a subject/verb agreement, how should I treat "one or more features? Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as "play with"), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. It makes it easier for your reader. Judy Vorfeld Oppress means to persecute/tyrannize/bully. You can quickly convert your text or title to all caps by selecting the UPPER button on the tool. 7. Once again, complete sentences introducing unordered lists are traditionally punctuated with a colon. Items that are complete sentences If bulleted items are complete sentences, begin each item with a capital letter and finish it with a period or other appropriate punctuation. Bulleted lists. 1:28 PM - 14 Jul 2021 37 Retweets 189 Likes Q: My AP Stylebook always lists examples in italics, so it's difficult to see if italics are part of the style. AP style is actually not capitalized, though AP Stylebook is. Its all about readability. To see what I mean, read the lead-in word or phrase then read the first item on the list. These include short words and conjunctions: The other major type of title capitalization standard is sentence case. Sorry to pile on here, but your discussion of verb endings is inadequate. Zip Airline offers Numbered Lists and Bullet Lists: Why and How? When your writing is crisp, clear, and easy to understand, audiences will likely leave your site with a positive impression. Learn more about how to write better bullet lists. I recommend APs style guidance for end punctuation: All of these recommendations follow AP, but one clarification is needed. 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. The default rule is to lowercase words unless theres a reason they should be uppercase. Lower is default; upper is special. By virtue of their formatting, numbered lists stand . The key thing is applying a clear and consistent punctuation style to all lists. 8 Tips to Make Your Writing Sound More Formal, Capitalization in APA, Chicago, MLA, and AP. This is why capitalization of items that make up a list of bullet points is sometimes a matter of style. This is a tricky one for me because, personally, I agree with you. Should each point start with a capital letter and end with a period? Does this help? The following examples demonstrate both options as well as how to integrate in-text citations into bulleted lists. AP uses dashes, not bullets, for lists in news stories that follow a colon. A: In a simple series, AP doesn't use a comma before the last item. Everyone loves a vertical list. Proven techniques for attention grabbing headlines & titles. Enter the email you used in your Ragan store purchase. Capitalization and end punctuation depend on the type of list and the contents of the list. All major words in titles (including small words, such as "Is" and "It"); for example, "Business and Economics". Bullet points. Q: Do you capitalize a conjunction in a headline? Q: Great Depression is capitalized and so is American Revolution. Quickly convert your title or text to title case by simply clicking the Title Case button in the tool above. Capitalization looks fancy and makes things seem important. After each dash, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each section. 0 AP Style: Sentence Fragments and Capitalization Finally, let's look at Associated Press style. Again, these will depend on the specific style you choose (see Title Capitalization Rules by Style section). Example: Hampton, Va. See the stylebook for specific abbreviations. A colon adds emphasis, too. You can also use this tool to do it automatically. 2023 American Psychological Association, 750 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, Telephone: (800) 374-2721; (202) 336-5500. The MLA's guidelines for styling vertical lists are derived from The Chicago Manual of Style (6.127-132). Lowercase indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions. Bonus: We have some great shortcuts to make your life easier. Grammar (essential vs. nonessential clauses; pronouns; subject-verb agreement ), Q: I'm confused on the use of "that" and "who" when talking about groups. 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. finally, draft your conclusion. APA allows the use of bulleted lists with or without punctuation. If bulleted items are complete sentences, begin each item with a capital letter and finish it with a period or other appropriate punctuation. 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 Q: Is the age of an inanimate object expressed in numerals or spelled out? Q: Why is atheist not capitalized while Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., are? Q: Is clarity essentially the only rule determining when a serial comma should be included? Thanks! I like apples. The capitalization and punctuation for each bulleted item are determined by the sentence structure. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of four letters or fewer. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it will get you started. Chicago Style is one of the most used and respected headline capitalization methods used in journalism. Capitalize My Title requires JavaScript to be enabled in order to run. The tricky thing is punctuation. Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. Recently, we looked at how to write run-in lists, which are lists that appear inside sentences. Well, that was really helpful; thanks for the effort. Why wouldnt you want to add a list to your work? Use sentence case capitalization Use sentence case capitalization for most content, including page titles, headings, subheadings, buttons, and text links, unless a word is a proper noun. This is where the semicolon confusion comes in. Title case is the most common form of title and headline capitalization and is found in all four major title capitalization styles. Again, style guides dont agree.]. 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. An updated list of units of measurement makes finding what you need a breeze. The bullets indicate that I like apples, bananas, and oranges equally. Erin Wright, 20122023. I the word Cocaine supposed to be capitalized? 10439 W Royal Palm Rd., Peoria AZ 85345 If you have a list of full sentences or a list with a mix of full sentences and fragments we suggest capitalizing the first letter in each item. 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. Ordered vertical lists have, you guessed it, an order. Problem solved. Following are some questions and answers to use as guidelines: When is it better to use bullets than numbers? 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. The Best 2023 AP Style Cheat Sheet Every Writer Needs (Free Download) Ben Sailer Content. This is a grammar guide that accompanies our post on how to write better bullet points. The stylebook uses italics for examples only. Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading. Here is a sampling of frequently asked questions, with examples of AP style used in answers. Get an email every time a new blog post is published. Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. Q: If using "member of Congress" instead of congressman/congresswoman, should "member" be capitalized? Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works. in compound modifiers (e.g., Mid-year, Anti-hero, etc.). %%EOF A: AP lowercases civil rights movement. is lowercase. Use a rubber glove to twist the lid off. J%HfTH@zGI8a. AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential . The Copyeditors Handbook (Einsohn). Bulleted lists help make information more scannable and easier to understand. According to APA Style, the first word after the colon is capitalized only if it begins a complete sentence. In general, capitalize formal titles used directly before a name. 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. Use a period after every bullet point that completes the introductory stem. If the elements are complex, uses commas for all. 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. r%Q! Required fields are marked *. ap style bulleted lists capitalization veterinary ophthalmologist santa barbara June 22, 2022 flood banks advantages and disadvantages montana national guard jobs ap style bulleted lists capitalization veterinary ophthalmologist santa barbara June 22, 2022 flood banks advantages and disadvantages montana national guard jobs ap style bulleted lists 7.2.15 New section added on when to capitalize names of degree programs. These aren't always the same abbreviations the mail carrier uses. Bulleted lists can be used with complete sentences, phrases, or a combination. Possessive versus descriptive Q: A months confinement or a month's confinement? Microsoft and Gregg would capitalize flat and sharp if they appeared in a title (unlike Rule 2). Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: AP style, APA style, Chicago style, formatting, grammar, MLA style, punctuation. Words that should not be capitalized include: Semicolon Use in Lists A properly inserted semicolon helps to provide pause and clarifying separation in sentences. 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. Also, please note that ads, brochures and legal contracts may require some deviation from these guidelines. Geography, addresses (state names, regions: Mideast; Northwest; northeast Minnesota; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.; Fifth Avenue ). 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. 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. EPA follows the AP rule after the dash or bullet: capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each section. Try it with a list of shorter items like this. 8. A: Use "that" for a thing, "who" for the personal pronoun, although "that" also fits some human references. Only use it to avoid ambiguity, if part of the series contains a conjunction or if you have a complex series of phrases. The rule of thumb in AP style is that things should be lowercased unless a rule indicates that theyre upper. For more AP style tips, watch Grammar Girls Beginning and Intermediate Guide to AP Style any time. Good business writing seeks to make information easy to understand. Some style manuals, such as the AP Stylebook and APA Publication Manual, recommend capitalizing an independent clause after a colon. Bulleted Lists: Capitalization and Punctuation By Judy Vorfeld Did you know that before the introduction of word processing (via word processors and computers), most publications displayed lists in either outline form or numbered lists. . If a bulleted list contains phrases, each bullet should begin with a lowercase letter. But if you are using a style guide, you may want to check it for guidance on which style to use. 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? Infants will try to help others who seem like they need help with simple tasks, such as carrying multiple objects. Vertical lists are set apart from the surrounding text and are usually prefaced with bullets or sequential numbers or letters. Capitalize the important words in the title, Subordinating conjunctions (when fewer than 5 letters), Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for), Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including. A always refer to the style guide and doublecheck capitalization recommendations. Bulleted lists: Capitalize the first letter after the bullet. There are two options for the punctuation of bulleted lists when the items are words or phrases. However, you can omit the colon when a list follows a partial sentence. In Not quite. One exception: email (no hyphen, which reflects majority of usage). They look good. A: The phrase suggests a contingency unlikely to come true, so use "were" for the subjunctive mood. Style Bullets Capitalize the first letter after a bullet. The two major capitalization styles for headlines and titles are sentence case and title case. 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. Its visually cluttered, impeding easy scan. Right you are. 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.". In most cases, experts recommend that you start each bulleted item with acapital letter. Use all sentences or all. The Gregg Reference Manual uses periods only after bullets that are dependent clauses and long phrases. Prepositions that contain five letters or more. A: AP stories use PHP, Ajax, XML, FTP search engine optimization click-through rate pay-per-click. Our amended style is website (one word, lowercase w), along with other compounds: webcam, webcast, webmaster. This is the fourth in a six-part series. Welcome to Ask the Editor, a forum on writing, style and phrasing issues that go beyond the pages of the AP Stylebook. Follow @APStylebook AP uses dashes to introduce individual sections of a list, like this: - Put a space between the dash or bullet and the first word of each item in the list. Memorize the AP abbreviations. - Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. That's . Do you need a colon to introduce a list? Did you know that before the introduction of word processing (via word processors and computers), most publications displayed lists in either outline form or numbered lists. This post deserves a standing ovation. Careful punctuation also reflects thought and care. Bulleted lists may be comprised of complete sentences or phrases. How a list is punctuated depends on the sort of information that is being presented. All style guides agree to capitalize the first letter of the bullet list unless you opt for the "vertical lists punctuated as a sentence" format using semicolons, illustrated above. Colon Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or A: A few examples: Radar, Laser, NATO, OPEC. Below are examples of vertical listswhich may be unnumbered, numbered, or bulletedand how to introduce, punctuate, and capitalize them. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions. If you want to change your title from uppercase to title case, you can select the Title Case button above. Bulleted lists allow a writer to create a list that stands out from the text without the implied chronology or order of importance that a numbered list might convey. A: In this instance, use a plural verb. Include the dateline - BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Jan. 1, 2022; . For MBA, AP Style don [t use periods. Capitalize the first and the last word of titles and subtitles. 11.5.13 Updates made to University statistics, the list of research centers and section on Web addresses. It is the indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice. No periods on the end of a list of bullets unless its more than one sentence. A: 2-5 p.m. is preferred. Another easy decision. This will convert your text to uppercase. Q: How do I deal with a vulgarity from a movie that is integral to the article I'm writing? Now we have bullets. These might seem like confusing rules with too many exceptions, but youre always welcome to homebrew your own style rules. Then craft an attention-grabbing headline, write the body of your press release, add the boilerplate section, and distribute your press . Infants are happy to participate in normal household chores, such as cleaning up. AP and Chicago Manual of Style - capitalize initial word and use periods after sentence list items. 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. Punctuation Numbered lists may appear with or without the period after the number. When do Icapitalize the first letter in abulleteditem? When writing an argumentative essay, you would typically research a topic and adopt a certain How to Punctuate and Capitalize Bullet Points. AP Stylebook Online builds on everything that's in the print Stylebook, and makes it a more comprehensive, convenient resource. Cite it. She excels at designing customized business writing training programs to maximize productivity, advance business objectives, and convey complex information. Added standalone cities to guidance on addresses and states. Q: How about using e- as a prefix for new terms in the tech and business worlds? And, as a guideline, wed suggest punctuating bullet points as follows: However, this again comes down to preference and your chosen style guide. Abbreviations, acronyms (24/7; NATO; laser; U.S.; No. Q: Should diseases also known by acronyms such as PTSD be capitalized? 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. To make peace with periods in a list, think of the entire list (including the lead-in word or phrase) as several sentences (all of which need a period at the end). You should always use a colon before a bulleted or numbered list. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition. It's like APA style in that you capitalize the first word after a colon if it's the start of at least one complete sentence. In this review, we'll further consider how the semicolon operates in forming lists that involve items in a series. (AP Style reminds writers that it is still correct to use bullets if preferred.) The CMS is commonly used in the publishing sphere, and AP style is more press-oriented . However, most people now leave out the extra punctuation. 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. Other terminology (business; food and beverages; legal and justice; medical; ethnic and nationality; politics; religion ). Fax: 205-921-5595 2131 Military Street S Hamilton, AL 35570 View Location Q: Should the names of decades be capitalized when written out? In the example above, the first two list items end with a semicolon because the second list item has internal commas. %PDF-1.4 % 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. So nice to hear the positive feedback! And consistency goes a long way in creating clear, credible content. A: Veterans benefits, lowercase and not a possessive, is usually a descriptive term. We have three punctuation issues to consider: Should the ending punctuation at the end of each bullet list be a period, a semicolon, or no punctuation? Because AP recommends the colon and AP is the preferred business writing style guide, I recommend using it consistently in your business writing.