The text that introduces the list is known as the ‘lead-in text’. The rules for lead-in text are the same for both bulleted and numbered lists.
If the list items are sentence fragments (rather than full sentences), the lead-in text will also be an incomplete sentence. See Bulleted lists of sentence fragments for information on punctuating lists of sentence fragments.
If the list items are full sentences, the lead-in text should also be a full sentence. See Bulleted lists of full sentences for information on punctuating lists of full sentences.
If all items in the list start with the same word, you can either include that word in each item or move the word to the lead-in text:
We look at who the main groups of users are and at:
- their needs
- their expectations and understanding
- their behaviour.
or
We look at who the main groups of users are and at their:
- needs
- expectations and understanding
- behaviour.
In a bulleted or numbered list of organisations – where some that have the as part of their name and some that do not – the the can be omitted to make the list easier to scan:
Western Australia has 5 universities:
- Curtin University
- Edith Cowan University
- Murdoch University
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Western Australia.
However, include the (as appropriate) when the list occurs in running text:
Western Australia has 5 universities: Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Western Australia.
