Writing Tip Tuesday: Bullet Points

Welcome to Writing Tip Tuesday, the Bullet Points edition. This is the ninth in a series of posts pulled from my free guide “On Not Writing Badly.” You can download the whole thing by filling out this form, or, if you’d rather not subscribe to my email list, you can simply check back here over the next several Tuesdays for a regular dose of word nerdery.

Bullet Points

Rule 1: If your bullet points are not complete sentences you do not need punctuation or capitalization.

I love three flavors of ice cream:

chocolate
coffee
salted caramel

Rule 2: Do not use commas, semicolons, or “and” at the end of each line. Just let it be.

I have three dogs:

Daisy
Lupe
Fart Bucket

Rule 3: If your bullet points are complete sentences, do use punctuation and capitalization.

These are the pool rules:

Do not run.
If you see unsafe behavior, report it to the lifeguard.
Did you remember your towel?
Have fun!

Rule 4: Use numbered bullet points when the order of the items is important.

How to eat ice cream:

Get a spoon.
Open the container.
Dig in.