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. Capitalize the first word in each bullet. News media (datelines; headlines; newswriting ). Complete sentences introducing ordered lists are traditionally punctuated with a colon. 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. Write a strong thesis statement, compose the body of your essay, complete the introduction, and. Here is an example of bullet lists that need a period to complete the introductory stem sentence: Here is an example of bullets lists that do not need a period because they are fragments not connected to the introductory stem sentence: These are reasons I love traveling to Ireland: Here is an example of bullet lists that do not need a period because theyre one word or a short phrase that feels like an inventory or shopping list: This issue is straightforward. Semicolons Use in Lists: Items with Internal Punctuation These aren't always the same abbreviations the mail carrier uses. 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. Try it with a list of shorter items like this. r%Q! Next post: Make blog post content rich with layers, Previous post: Blog Post Format: Chunk It. Lowercase and spell out when not used with an individual name: The president issued a statement. Ordered lists can be introduced by a complete or incomplete sentence and are typically prefaced by numbers1 or letters2 followed by a period. Some guiding principles behind AP style are: Consistency Clarity Accuracy Brevity AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language. While its not wrong and some style guides recommend this, its not the best business writing choice. It is the same across all of the four styles. Colon Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun orFile Size: KB. in English Literature from Boston College, and a C.A.G.S. If you left caps lock on accidentally, you can quickly convert your title from uppercase to lowercase by selecting the lower button above. The tricky thing is punctuation. the proper name, do not capitalize. Others, like the Chicago Manual of Style, suggest lowercasing it. See APA 7, Section 6.52 for examples and more information. 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. 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. Enter the email you used in your Ragan store purchase. Recently, we looked at how to write run-in lists, which are lists that appear inside sentences. Numbered lists (as noted on p. 64 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) can be used to denote items in a series, such as conclusions or procedural steps. 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. However, most people now leave out the extra punctuation. The rule of thumb in AP style is that things should be lowercased unless a rule indicates that they're upper. The capitalization rules are as follows: Bluebook style capitalization is mainly used by lawyers. So nice to hear the positive feedback! 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. Title case is the most common form of title and headline capitalization and is found in all four major title capitalization styles. AP Stylebook Online builds on everything that's in the print Stylebook, and makes it a more comprehensive, convenient resource. The Chicago Manual of Style. "The cat's toy" means one cat owns that toy. Zip Airline offers I love traveling to Ireland because of its: [AP, Garner, and Gregg use the colon here. This article is a summary of AP style. Include the dateline - BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Jan. 1, 2022; . Q: My AP Stylebook always lists examples in italics, so it's difficult to see if italics are part of the style. Capitalization is a style choicewith sentence fragments, you can choose to start each with either upper- or lower-case letters. Vacuum windowsills and corners with a vacuum hose. Added standalone cities to guidance on addresses and states. Thanks for the comment, Anna. This is why capitalization of items that make up a list of bullet points is sometimes a matter of style. The top tabs allow you to select which style of capitalization you want to use. Please enable JavaScript and visit again! Q: A months confinement or a month's confinement? Its visually cluttered, impeding easy scan. Q: Should diseases also known by acronyms such as PTSD be capitalized? AP Style - use dashes, capitals and periods. Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. 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. Hello! Q. Q: Would "crew chief" and "team owner" be capitalized before a name? . July 31, 2019. Its all about readability. Lists, Part 4: Numbered Lists. Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. Another easy decision. When your writing is crisp, clear, and easy to understand, audiences will likely leave your site with a positive impression. For a list of short items, there is no need to punctuate each point. Quickly convert your title or text to sentence case by simply clicking the Sentence case button in the tool above. Q: Why is atheist not capitalized while Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., are? Lower is default; upper is special. Q: Great Depression is capitalized and so is American Revolution. 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. Regards, Julia! They are also written without terminal punctuation (i.e., they dont end in a period, comma, colon, or semicolon).9. According to APA Style, the first word after the colon is capitalized only if it begins a complete sentence. (Just like this bullet list youre reading now.). 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. Once again, complete sentences introducing unordered lists are traditionally punctuated with a colon. A: AP Stylebook entry on "collective nouns" says band names take plural verbs. Bachelor of Arts is capitalized as an academic degree, as are B.A. AP editor Paula Froke fields questions of widest interest posed by subscribers to the online AP Stylebook. Capitalize all words of four letters or more. is lowercase. [M zmp0&BLp$UPd67Z9Ha{0gPY "nG~h%rls 'wdt;:^2i+>f9V%EQ)j2"^e\KP"TiNc-((V A&N+E}E;SnIP Prepositions that contain five letters or more. Poor sleep quality has been linked with the following symptoms: The second option is to insert punctuation after the bulleted items as though the bullets were not there, which may be better when the items are longer or more complex. However, in regard to headlines, is it now true that press release headlines should be in sentence case? Theyre easy to read. 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. And, as a guideline, wed suggest punctuating bullet points as follows: However, this again comes down to preference and your chosen style guide. x]0)} N "d/J]g<3gcyY?9Y\}xLgH*vVQ8e[!}mg%O*~OqoEhe9k=~o^p{?~7?ZOu6ImR)Gow=\JrP I have a tendency to be very verbose when I write. Q: Is clarity essentially the only rule determining when a serial comma should be included? If necessary, rewrite the list item so that all items begin with capital letters or all items begin with lowercase words. This is where the semicolon confusion comes in. Learn more about how to write better bullet lists. 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. And consistency goes a long way in creating clear, credible content. A: 2-5 p.m. is preferred. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition. If you want to change your title from uppercase to title case, you can select the Title Case button above. How will ChatGPT affect the communications profession? To illustrate the example, youd sayI voted on election day because I want my candidate to win. I voted on election day because I like to exercise my right to vote. I voted on election day because I believe every vote counts.. finally, draft your conclusion. If the bulleted text is a whole sentence, uppercase the initial letter of the first word and use a period to conclude the paragraph (see "Lists, Part 5: Bulleted Lists" in the APA Style Blog . Very helpful stuff! A: AP stories use PHP, Ajax, XML, FTP search engine optimization click-through rate pay-per-click. Bulleted lists help make information more scannable and easier to understand. Any symbol may be used for the bullets, although small circles or squares are typical software defaults. 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. 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. Capitalization, Case Internet The word internet is all lowercase (unless, of course, it starts a sentence or comes after a bullet) . Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. However, you can omit the colon when a list follows a partial sentence. AP style is actually not capitalized, though AP Stylebook is. Example: You will need to present the following information: Your driver's license. Q: If using "member of Congress" instead of congressman/congresswoman, should "member" be capitalized? AP Style: Sentence Fragments and Capitalization Finally, let's look at Associated Press style. TITLES Mr. Heckle and Mr. Jeckle enjoy several feline activities: Like ordered lists, unordered lists that are part of an incomplete introductory sentence are lowercased and punctuated as if each item was inside the sentence.10, People who grew up in the 1980s watched a lot of television, including, 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 each list item with a period even if the item is an incomplete sentence.11. Writing, phrasing, usage (word choice; clarity; subjunctive mood; ethnic-racial; profanity; slang ). Style Bullets Capitalize the first letter after a bullet. Numbered Lists and Bullet Lists: Why and How? 2023 American Psychological Association, 750 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, Telephone: (800) 374-2721; (202) 336-5500. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of four letters or fewer. 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. driving, in which people text while in their vehicle (Schroeder & Sims, 2018). Capitalize words with four or more letters (including conjunctions and prepositions). The Best 2023 AP Style Cheat Sheet Every Writer Needs (Free Download) Ben Sailer Content. Continue from there down the list. I love traveling to Ireland because of its: I do not recommend this vertical lists punctuated as a sentence format with semicolons for business writing. Please list your allergies and give date of last flare-up. 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. 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: The phrase suggests a contingency unlikely to come true, so use "were" for the subjunctive mood. All major words in titles (including small words, such as "Is" and "It"); for example, "Business and Economics". Its hard for some people to wrap their heads around this rule, especially if each item on the list is not a full sentence. To remove a lid from a jar that is stuck: Place the lid under hot water for ten seconds. 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. Garner calls this "vertical lists punctuated as a sentence." How a list is punctuated depends on the sort of information that is being presented. A: In this instance, use a plural verb. Navigating the not-so-hidden treasures of the APA Style website. Local Phone: (623) 399-6676 | Entries (RSS). For MBA, AP Style don [t use periods. Sixth and Seventh streets). Youre singing my tune! Below you'll find information on numbers, time and dates, locations, phone numbers, punctuation, capitalization and titles, and the Internet. Here is a sampling of frequently asked questions, with examples of AP style used in answers. A list of information can be neatly organised using bullet points. . DO NOT capitalize plural words even when part of a proper name (e.g. This is a tricky one for me because, personally, I agree with you. These might seem like confusing rules with too many exceptions, but youre always welcome to homebrew your own style rules. Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works. Preferred style is without terminal punctuation, unless the list item is a complete sentence. Creating a free account also gives you access to historical stylebooks, writing guidelines and handbooks produced by The Associated Press, dating back to June 1900. In a simple series, AP doesn't use a comma before the last item. AP Style calls for periods after each bullet point, but Texas A&M House Style allows either periods or no periods - just pick one and be consistent. Subscribe to the My Blog Editor blog for the latest TIPS on improving the QUALITY of your business content. Use numbered lists when youre working with instructions to be done in sequence, and the numbers suggest ahierarchy. Use a period after bullet list that completes the opening stem sentence that introduces it. Following are some questions and answers to use as guidelines: When is it better to use bullets than numbers? A: AP style is email (changed from e-mail), but other e- words are hyphenated: e-commerce and e-book. Careful punctuation also reflects thought and care. We could also write this list with commas instead of semicolons. Now check your email to confirm your subscription for My Blog Editor blog alerts. The listing below reflects a few departures from Associated Press (AP) style typically used in Johns Hopkins' web and print text, as well as other style points that, while they are not departures from AP style, require special attention. AP style capitalization is mainly used by writers for the Associated Press but is also used widely throughout journalism. Ive never found the AP Stylebook entry that covers this, including capitalization.. The capitalization rules are as follows: AMA style capitalization is mainly used in the scientific community. You can also use this tool to do it automatically. 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. In the example above, the first two list items end with a semicolon because the second list item has internal commas. Important Note: The MLA Handbook from the Modern Language Association (MLA style) follows Chicago-style recommendations for ordered and unordered vertical lists. Your subscription includes the . If the elements are complex, uses commas for all. For more AP style tips, watch Grammar Girls Beginning and Intermediate Guide to AP Style any time. $;$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 Do you capitalize the first word of a bullet point? 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. If a sentence contains more than three items or ideas, we recommend breaking them up into a bulleted list. Chicago Manual of Style does not. There was an error submitting your subscription. That includes newspaper names and magazine references. Should the first letter of the bullet list be capitalized? Clean windows with a newspaper and . In this review, we'll further consider how the semicolon operates in forming lists that involve items in a series. So many choices to make! Bulleted lists are covered in Section 6.52 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. Bullet point structure Don't mix and match sentence structures. Proven techniques for attention grabbing headlines & titles. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as "play with"), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. Q: When referring to your company in internal (or external) communications, which is correct: Corporate or corporate? Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. 7. endstream endobj 32 0 obj <>stream 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. The Fantastic Shakers have won many awards. Judy Vorfeld Oppress means to persecute/tyrannize/bully. Although a little old-fashioned, some people like to use semicolons or commas in lists. When a vertical list follows a full sentence, introduce it with a colon. Q: Is clarity essentially the only rule determining when a serial comma should be included? Today we'll look at numbered lists. 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. A: A few examples: Radar, Laser, NATO, OPEC. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage. Bulleted lists may be comprised of complete sentences or phrases. Its illogical to use semicolons and vertical lists punctuated as sentences in business writing because its visually cluttered so its harder to scan. Only use it to avoid ambiguity, if part of the series contains a conjunction or if you have a complex series of phrases. . AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential . Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Our amended style is website (one word, lowercase w), along with other compounds: webcam, webcast, webmaster. First, it is important to note that there are four main title capitalization styles: Chicago style, APA style, MLA style, and AP style. When do Icapitalize the first letter in abulleteditem? 7. Q: Is there a standard AP style for bulleted areas of text? Learn how your comment data is processed. hb```"3VTa`0p4 )x3JH2HgQW(Iz8Nul i@fP!40XE&,0e0v`do`6c $X1)`U&y[#b s .6[ 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. 205-921-5556. 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: AP lowercases civil rights movement. Each of these capitalization styles has slightly different rules for which words are capitalized and each of these styles can be written using title case capitalization or sentence case capitalization. Read this and other articles on English grammar, mechanics, and usage at Get It Write. RULE: Use periods after independent clauses, dependent clauses, or long phrases that are displayed on separate lines in alist. Why wouldnt you want to add a list to your work? 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. 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. All contents 2023 Associated Press All rights reserved. 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. Don't use the Oxford comma in a simple series before the conjunction. In general, capitalize formal titles used directly before a name. Example: Hampton, Va. See the stylebook for specific abbreviations. %%EOF Other terminology (business; food and beverages; legal and justice; medical; ethnic and nationality; politics; religion ). For example, here is a summary of the instructions to write a standard 5 paragraph essay. See the "legislative titles" entry for rulings. 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 doesn't use italics in news stories. Capitalize My Title requires JavaScript to be enabled in order to run. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it will get you started. 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. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (regardless of length).
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ap style bulleted lists capitalization