Using Bullets

The APA does not allow lists marked with bullets. To make a list (seriation), follow one of the appropriate APA styles explained and illustrated below.

Numbers or Letters? (Note: The following list is not APA style.)

1. First off, the APA uses the term seriation when discussing lists. Look under the
term seriation or paragraph seriation in the APA manual’s index.
2. Whether you use letters within a paragraph or numbers in a list of paragraphs,
the elements in a series must be grammatically and semantically parallel. For
information on parallel construction, see the APA manual [2.11, 60].
3. Items in a numbered list are double-spaced, just like the rest of the text. They
are single-spaced below to save copying costs.
4. If you are creating a numbered list, turn off the word processor’s automatic
numbering function. See the “Using MSWord for APA Tasks” section of this
booklet.

Alphabetized Series Within a Sentence [3.33 and 5.12]

When seriated items appear within a sentence, they can be—but don’t have to be— designated by letters (not numbers) in parentheses. Whether the items are in a single sentence or not, remember the serial comma—that’s the comma before the last item, as in the following two examples:

EXAMPLE 1: Unlettered Seriation in a Sentence

The researchers divided participants into four groups on the basis of age, gender,height, and weight.

EXAMPLE 2:Lettered Seriation in a Sentence or Paragraph

In the text, cite all the research sources you used to produce your text, even if you don’t quote the sources directly. Cite each source each time you refer to it in your paper. Citations serve three functions: (a) to give credit to the persons whose ideas you used, (b) to allow readers to find your original sources, and (c) to establish the credibility of your presentation. Most of the time, you will comment on or paraphrase the ideas of others. Occasionally, you will provide direct or indirect quotes to emphasize or clarify a point. Note, however, that you must cite sources, regardless of whether you quote or paraphrase.