In general, if there is no particular order in the list, alphabetisation is recommended. The punctuation preceding a list is a colon. However, if the list is immediately below a heading (and does not have an introductory sentence), do not add a colon to the end of the heading. If writing for the web, please refer to the guidelines at the bottom of this listing.
No punctuation is needed at the end of bullet points which are a list of items. Begin each point in lower case (unless a proper noun).
Triathlon segments:
- swim
- bike
- run
If the bullet points form a complete sentence with preceding text, begin each point in lower case with a full stop only at the end.
In order to complete the triathlon, he needed to complete the following segments:
- swim
- bike
- run.
If the points themselves are full sentences, begin each one with upper case and a full stop at the end of each.
A number of University staff were recognised for their research:
- Associate Professor David Ballantyne received the Evert Gummesson 2015 Award for outstanding scholarly contributions to service and marketing research.
- Professor Tony Ballantyne won the New Zealand History Association's inaugural W.H. Oliver Prize.
- Professor Richard Blaikie was awarded the Royal Society's Thomson Medal recognising his science leadership in the field of nanotechnology.
When writing for the web
Start each point with a capital letter. No punctuation is required at the end of any of the points. If the list is immediately below a heading (and does not have an introductory sentence), do not add a colon to the end of the heading.