Lists

"Listicles" get a lot of flack, and perhaps rightfully so. The list format has changed how people write and consume content on the internet, and not always for the better.

But just because an article is presented as a list doesn't make it bad. In fact, according to one Guardian journalist, lists have the advantage of being easier to write, easier to read, and, on the whole, more democratic than other literary forms.

We advocate embracing the list while being mindful of not overusing it. With that in mind, here are some pointers (presented, naturally, in list form).

• Use lists to present steps, groups, or sets of information. Give context for the list with a brief introduction. (This can be as little as a short sentence fragment or as much as a few paragraphs, depending on the content type.)

• Use a bulleted list when order doesn't matter and a numbered list when it does.

• If any item in a list forms a complete sentence, all items must begin with a capital letter and end with a period (or exclamation/question mark). Don't use semicolons.

• If list items are not complete sentences, don't use punctuation, but do capitalize the first word of each item.

• You can nest lists, but don't go more than three levels deep, and try to keep it to two.

• Make sure that all of your list items are parallel. That means each list item should be structured the same way. (If you start one bullet point with a verb, then start every bullet point with a verb.)

• If you're writing a long-format post/"listicle," please refer to the headings and subheadings section for more information on formatting.