Q. I’m an editor for a training department. In our instructional material we often have long lists of objectives. Using Chicago’s 6.124 standard for vertical lists makes them a little hard to read. Do you have an alternate suggestion? The instructional designers feel that it takes away from the meaning of the objectives when we reword the lead-in to be a complete sentence. For example, they don’t like “At the completion of this module you will complete the following.” They don’t like it because instructionally you’re not always “completing” something. Other ideas?
Q. When creating an outline for a research paper, does each object in the list regardless of hierarchy need to be a complete sentence?
Q. I have a question about bulleted lists and capitalization. I’ve always written lists with the first word capitalized and then subsequent words, not (unless proper nouns of course). A colleague believes that every word other than prepositions or conjunctions should be capitalized.
—No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
—No Artificial Colors, Flavors, or Preservatives
I can’t seem to find a “rule” on this. Any help?
Q. I am evaluating annual reports for a large business, and have been unable to find the answer to my question of when to write numbers as words and when to use numerals when they begin the items in vertical (bulleted) lists. For example: sixty-nine people chose . . . or 69 people chose . . . Which is the correct choice? I would certainly appreciate your answering my question and I have no understanding of the reason this issue isn’t discussed in information concerning vertical lists.