From the course: Tips for Better Business Writing

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Use bulleted or numbered lists in your writing

Use bulleted or numbered lists in your writing

From the course: Tips for Better Business Writing

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Use bulleted or numbered lists in your writing

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- When I lead writing workshops, I ask this question, "how many of you would prefer to read a list than a long dense paragraph?" All hands go up. Your reader is skimming and scanning, looking for what they need, and it's much easier to find it in a task list, a list of instructions or process steps, a grocery list, a fix-it list, et cetera. Lists save you and your reader time. Reduce grammar and punctuation errors. Show off your analytical skills and help us get stuff done. Okay, we all agree that we prefer lists. Great. So when do you use lists? Use lists anytime you can count anything. So if I've identified three problems, great. It's a list. If I see four ways to solve that problem, also a list. Great. There are two ways to present lists, bullets and numbers. Use numbers to show sequence or priority or when you're going to refer back to one of the points. Use bullets when all the items have an equal priority. Do you use lists about 20% of the time you write? Maybe 40%? Either way…

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