Lists are essential components of essays because they make the paper easier to read and understand. Whether you are writing guides, recipes, academic papers, or informational articles, including lists is a good writing practice.
Nevertheless, lists can distort your paper’s structure, so you need careful consideration when listing things in your essay. So, how do you do it and balance between aesthetically improving your piece and, at the same time, not overdoing it?
Generally, a list is a form of presentation that helps to organize ideas orderly. It also provides information in an easy-to-read format. This makes it easier for your readers to understand what you are trying to convey.
In this post, we will go over the different types of lists that you can use when creating your essay, as well as when and why you should use them.
Importance of Listing Things in an Essay
You might be wondering why we need to use lists. A list helps you organize information, break up long paragraphs and make information easier to understand. Lists can also be used to make reading easier and more enjoyable.
Generally, the following are the benefits of listing things in an essay.
-
It gives your essay a better structure
A list is a simple but powerful device for organizing and presenting the information. Using a list in your essay gives the paper a strong structure and makes it easy to read.
Further, using lists in your essay can help you organize your ideas clearly and logically, which in turn, makes them easier to follow by the reader. In addition, because some papers may contain many points, lists make such articles more manageable for readers by breaking up large amounts of text into smaller chunks that are easier to digest.
-
It engages and gives readers a better memory
Listing is a great way to engage your readers. It’s easy for them to remember the points you make because they are in a list rather than in prose. If you have three or four main points in your essay and want them to stand out, and be memorable to the reader, listing them is an ideal route.
When you use lists, it makes it easier for the reader to follow what you are saying one by one. Lists are also helpful in organizing information and ideas you want to share and making them more memorable.
-
It helps you prioritize your points
Listing things in an essay helps you prioritize and make your strong points first, then finish with less crucial points. This is because you can easily follow through on listed points rather than in a paragraph.
This is also true for readers because you want to convince them at the start rather than wait until the end.
How to List Things in an Essay
As highlighted, a list is a common way to present information in an essay. They help readers understand the ideas in your writing without much struggle.
In general, lists help you organize information or give a complete picture of something. For example, if you’re writing about how much time your family takes to do daily chores, you might list the time each of the following activities takes.
- Cleaning the bathroom
- Taking out the trash
- Washing dishes
The following are some of the common ways on how to list things in an essay.
-
Using a bulleted list
Bulleted lists are a great way to organize your thoughts and make them easy for the reader to follow. They’re also easy to write, so if you’re struggling with an idea for your essay, try keeping things simple by listing everything out instead of trying to explain it in paragraphs.
You can use bulleted lists anywhere in your essay—the beginning or end, or even as a transition between paragraphs.
Bulleted lists can make any paper look more professional and organized, but they’re handy when writing research papers because they allow professors and graders to quickly skim through an essay and get a sense of what important points you’re trying to make.
A bulleted list is ideal for a typical list of items, such as people’s names and ingredients.
For example, you can have a recipe with the following listed items
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes
- Meat
-
Using Arabic numbers
Use Arabic numbers when you want to list things out of order. For example, if you wanted to write about the ingredients mentioned above, your list will look as follows
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes
- Meat
The Arabic numbers can be followed by a period, as shown, or by a parenthesis.
-
Using lowercase letters
Lowercase letters are another way to list items in an essay. The format follows the Arabic format, either a period or a parenthesis.
-
Using capital letters
Capital letters are another great way to list items in your essay. It entails using capital letters in alphabetical order, followed by a dot or parenthesis.
-
Using a numbered list
A numbered list involves listing your items using numbers. This method is effective if you are explaining the steps of a process.
As with any other method, you can write the numbers followed by a period or a parenthesis. For example, if you are writing about installing a specific software, your list will look as follows
- Visit the software’s company download page or any other reliable page
- Download the software
- Run it on your computer and install
If you decide to use parenthesis, your list will look as follows.
- Visit the software’s company download page or any other reliable page
- Download the software
- Run it on your computer and install
-
In-text lists
Listing items within a text is another option for students and writers to list things. However, it is not apparent to every reader, but it is still considered a list.
For example, if your essay is on factors that cause environmental pollution, within a paragraph, you may write, ” motor vehicle fumes, greenhouse gases, industrial waste, and agricultural chemicals.”
- Numbered in text
This is another option but similar to the in-text list. The only difference is that the list is numbered.
For example, factors that lead to environmental pollution are ” 1) motor vehicle fumes, 2) greenhouse gases, 3) industrial waste, and 4) agricultural chemicals.”
Dos and Don’ts in Lists
These are some rules to follow when listing things in an essay.
-
Ensure your items in a list belong together
This is the most fundamental principle to follow when listing items. Ideally, every list should include like-minded items.
For example, if listing steps to do something, do not include ingredients in the list as part of the steps.
-
Make the list easy to read
Essentially, lists are meant to make your essay easy to read and appealing. Therefore, if your list contains chunks of text, it does not serve the purpose.
Also, if there is a technical and complex aspect in the list, ensure it comes in the end. However, it does not mean it can’t start, but if it is possible, save it till the end to avoid confusing your readers.
-
Use a sentence to introduce a list
In most cases, lists, especially vertical ones, have a sentence introducing them. This is essential as it helps readers know a list will follow and also serves as a good transition.
For horizontal lists, a dash can suffice, although it is considered informal.
-
Use the right punctuation
Punctuation is a critical aspect of lists. And if you want to stand out, you must follow the required punctuation rules when listing items.
If you use a verticle list, your items must be introduced by a colon. However, in horizontal lists, it is not necessary.
Other exceptions to the colon requirement are if you use the words namely, including, and such as. Additionally, the colon is unnecessary if your list flows smoothly.
Semicolons are another punctuation used in lists. They are used if the list is complex and when an item has a comma within itself. Similarly, a comma is another standard list separator and is used in simple lists.
In addition, the semicolon and comma are used before the word ‘and’ and the last item on the list. This is commonly known as the serial comma, although it is not used in the British and Australian English dialects.
Conclusion
This post has highlighted several ways of listing things in an essay. But remember that one method is not necessarily better than another, but the best approach will often depend on the specific type of list involved and the specific criteria for each task.
In addition, the most critical element will always be your ability to identify what you are writing about and create a good list for the reader. Further, when listing things in your essay, it is essential to develop them effectively so that your professor will have no trouble understanding your ideas.
Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that not all essays need lists. And despite this, lists are useful when presenting more than one, explaining a process or if many different points need further explanations.