If bullets are used to complete a sentence, use a colon at the end of the lead-in text, lower case for the first word of each bullet point (except for proper nouns) and no punctuation at the end of each list item except for a full stop after the last item of the list:
The areas to be addressed in this quarter are:
- finances
- staffing
- profitability.
When writing for the web, the final full stop is often omitted. See Web content for more information about writing for the web.
Avoid starting a new sentence within bullet points that are sentence fragments. If it is absolutely necessary to have a new ‘thought’ within a bullet point, use a semicolon, an en dash or parentheses:
The areas of action to be addressed in this quarter are:
- improving service delivery
- enhancing the customer interface; an improved interface will be rolled out to customers who have signed up to trial it.
or
The areas of action to be addressed in this quarter are:
- improving service delivery
- enhancing the customer interface – an improved interface will be rolled out to customers who have signed up to trial it.
or
The areas of action to be addressed in this quarter are:
- improving service delivery
- enhancing the customer interface (an improved interface will be rolled out to customers who have signed up to trial it).
Whichever style you choose, be consistent both within the list and within your document.
Items in a list of sentence fragments sometimes start with an introductory word or phrase that functions like a heading. Use an en dash after the introductory word or phrase, not another colon:
The policies are:
- feed-in tariffs – policies that offer long-term purchase agreements with power producers
- auctions – competitive bidding processes for renewable electricity
- tax incentives – policies involving tax incentives for installation of renewable energy.
not
The policies are:
- feed-in tariffs: policies that offer long-term purchase agreements with power producers
- auctions: competitive bidding processes for renewable electricity
- tax incentives: policies involving tax incentives for installation of renewable energy.
