Using bullet lists is an efficient and effective way to provide information.  To use lists effectively, writers must follow certain rules.  Below, we detail the guidelines for APA style lists.

Guidelines

Punctuate bulleted and numbered vertical lists correctly:

• Vertical lists are best introduced by a grammatically complete sentence (i.e., a sentence that is complete all by itself, without the help of the list), like the one above, followed by a colon.
• No periods are required at the end of entries unless at least one entry is a complete sentence, in which case a period is necessary at the end of each entry.
• Listed items should be parallel in construction; that is, they should all begin with the same part of speech: noun, verb, etc.
• Unumbered items that are phrases (incomplete sentence), should begin lower case and require no terminal punctuation.

If a list completes the sentence that introduces it:

• items begin with lower case letters,
• commas or semicolons are used to separate each item,
• the last item ends with a period.

If items are numbered, a period follows each number, and each entry begins with a capital letter—whether or not the entry forms a complete sentence.
Correct Examples

Standards reflect the marketplace today:

• All organizations are struggling with the paradigm shift to open systems.
• Many organizations recognize the need to recommend standards selections.

Questions to consider are:

• How long has the system been used?
• How expensive is maintenance on the system?
• What new products have emerged since the last upgrade?

The elements of a biographical reference are:

• the author or authors of the work,
• the title of the work,
• publication information

Incorrect Examples

Standards reflect the marketplace today.

• All organizations are struggling with the paradigm shift to open systems;
• Many organizations recognize the need to recommend standards selections;

Questions to consider are

• How long has the system been used
• The maintenance on the system is expensive
• If new products have emerged since the last upgrade

The elements of a bibliographical reference

• are the author or authors of the work
• the title of the work
• and publication information