Bullet points can be beautiful. Well, maybe that is a stretch, but some are definitely better looking than others! Now, I’m not talking about the actual bullet symbol—that is a topic for another blog post (but here is a quick hint: smiley face bullets should generally be avoided). I am referring to the text itself.
What Is the Purpose of Bullet Points?
The purpose of bullet points is to organize related information for clarity and conciseness. In addition, they make specific content easier to read by visually separating it from the surrounding text.
How Is Parallel Structure Used in Bullet Points?
Effective bullet points are written with parallel structure, which is also called parallel construction and parallelism.
Before we look at what parallel structure is, here is a brief example of what it is not:
A Chicago technical writer should be proficient in the following areas:
- A writer should know where to find great pizza
- Ride the L
- Standing on the Skydeck
- Run under the Bean (a.k.a., Cloud Gate)
Notice that these bullets look awkward because they don’t “match.” The first one is a complete sentence, while the final three are phrases. In addition, they use different verb tenses.
We can eliminate this awkwardness by using parallel structure, which means ensuring that all the bullets are either a sentence or a phrase and that each follows the same format:
A Chicago technical writer should be proficient in the following areas:
- Finding great pizza
- Riding the L
- Standing on the Skydeck
- Running under the Bean (a.k.a., Cloud Gate)
All the bullet points are now phrases beginning with –ing (present participle) action verbs–awkwardness gone!
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