Bullet Points – How to Use Them Correctly

What is a bullet point?

For a bulleted list to be clearly visible, it should be set slightly in from the left margin. This indentation creates more white space in the text and draws attention to the selected points.

The main purpose of bulleted lists is to highlight specific sentences or phrases using special symbols. This separates selected information from the main body of the text and makes the message easier for the reader to understand. Bullet points are therefore useful whenever several pieces of information need to be grouped under one heading without creating, for example, a table.

Bulleted lists and punctuation

An unordered list should generally be introduced by an opening sentence ending with a colon.

In English, list items that are fragments usually begin with a lower-case letter and do not need end punctuation. If the items form complete sentences, they should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop. Keep the punctuation consistent throughout the list.

Bulleted lists containing single words or short phrases

When a list contains single words or short phrases, end punctuation can normally be omitted.

Longer phrases may be followed by a comma if the list forms part of a single sentence.

Bulleted lists containing complex phrases

When list items have a complex structure and contain punctuation marks themselves, a semicolon can be used at the end of each item instead of a comma.

Bulleted lists consisting of full sentences

If the bullet points are complete, separate sentences, each one must begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

To keep unordered lists readable, avoid mixing different types of bullet points, such as single words and complete sentences. Differences in the length and form of individual items could make the list more difficult to read correctly.

Bulleted and numbered lists – what is the difference?

Items in an unordered list are marked with special graphic symbols called bullet points, whereas a numbered list consists of numbers indicating the position of each item, for example:

1. First list item.
2. Second list item.
3. Third list item.

In this case, each item should begin with a capital letter and use appropriate punctuation. At the end of both numbered and bulleted lists, punctuation can sometimes be omitted, particularly when the items form a table of contents.

Numbered lists should be used whenever it is important to present items in a particular order. You can also create an additional bulleted list within a numbered list to expand on one of the main points.

The most common bullet point symbols

Other symbols can also be used as bullet points, for example:

• an asterisk (*),
• an en dash (–),
• a lower-case letter o (o),
• a tick or check mark (✔),
• an arrow (▶).

Depending on the needs of a particular document, different bullet point styles can be used to mark different types of content. For example, an en dash can indicate the special features of an object, an asterisk can mark the steps in a set of instructions, and black dots can separate complete sentences from a block of text.

Examples of bullet point usage

Bulleted lists can be found in encyclopaedias, technical texts and summaries, where information with varying degrees of connection needs to be presented concisely. In such cases, it is enough to create a separate category and assign the relevant phrases or words to it, placing an appropriate typographic symbol before each item.

Bullet points in different styles are also common on websites and in online shops, where they are used to highlight a product’s features or benefits. Writers also use bullet points in blog articles to add variety to the text and emphasise the most important information.