Punctuating titles
Do not add a full stop GB or period US at the end of a one-sentence title. For example:
The Merchant of Venice
Not: The Merchant of Venice.
However, if your title is a question, a question mark should always be added:
Nature or Nurture?
Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?
Subtitles
Subtitles are usually separated from their main title by a colon or dash:
A Whole New Ball Game: A Recent Discovery in Meso-America
A Whole New Ball Game – A Recent Discovery in Meso-America
Punctuating captions to figures
Do not add a full stop GB or period US at the end of a figure caption or legend unless it is more than one sentence long. For example:
Figure 3.3 Population growth since 1900
Figure 3.4 Population growth since 2000. Shaded areas show recent changes in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas.
Punctuating bullets
Do not add a full stop GB or period US at the end of a bullet unless it is a full sentence or more than one sentence long. Similarly, do not add commas at the end of bullets. For example:
- Apples
- Oranges
- Strawberries
- Bananas
Not
- Apples,
- Oranges,
- Strawberries,
- Bananas.
However, a question mark should always be used if your bullet is a question:
- What kind of fruit is it?
- What shape is it?
- Where does it come from?
- What does it taste like?
Furthermore, be consistent in whether you begin bullets with a capital or small letter, for example:
- Apples
- Oranges
- Strawberries
- Bananas
Or
- apples
- oranges
- strawberries
- bananas
Not
- apples
- Oranges
- strawberries
- Bananas