Keep Your Writing Organized With Seriation

Some weeks ago, I was offering some feedback on a student essay when I came to a section that should be formatted using a bulleted list. Instead, the author used a numeric list (audible gasps from the gallery). It was at this point that I asked myself this question: “Why is it that a bulleted list is conventional here?” This may be an unpopular observation, but APA generally doesn’t stipulate arbitrary rules. There is usually some explanation for choosing one feature over another. Put differently, there is a guiding logic that dictates why we do things a certain way in APA formatting style. 

So, I set off to answer this “why,” question. With a deep investigation into the different kinds of seriation that are present in APA style, how they are subtly different from one another, and when each should be employed. What follows is a breakdown of the different kind of seriation: sentence-level seriation and seriation within a section of a piece that will help to answer the age-old question: When crafting a list, why do we do things one way over another?

Sentence-level Seriation
When it comes to seriation within a sentence, there are a number of ways to format a serialized list. Each has some different features depending on how you are constructing that list and the items that you are including in it.

The simplest and most common is the serialized list where items are separated using a comma. This is known as a serialized list. When you have three or more equal items in a list, you separate these using commas. Here’s an example of what this can look like: For lunch I ordered a salad, a side of raw carrots, and a hot fudge sundae with extra hot fudge. It is important to note that there is a comma between each of these three items, including the last item. This is the simplest for of seriation and one that many students are familiar with. For more information about seriation generally, take a look at page 63-65 of the Publication Manual of American Psychological Associations (3.04 Seriation).

You can also use lowercase letters to distinguish between specific items in a serialized list. This shows the reader what information belongs to each specific item in the list. Here’s an example of how this could look: My dog has toys that are used for specific occasions: (a) a stuffed football that he plays with outside; (b) a blanket, which he lays on to take naps; and (c) a bear, his companion inside the house. Here, you can see that each item is distinct; the lowercase letters break up this list and make it clear what information belongs to what item. For more information on this, check out page 64 of your Publication Manual of American Psychological Associations (3.04 Seriation)

Seriation Within a Section
At times, it is appropriate to craft a list that expands beyond a single sentence, taking up most of an entire section. This becomes common and conventional especially when looking at larger pieces like dissertation documents or articles for publication. When doing this, you can use a bulleted list or a numbered list; each contains specific attributes that are important to consider when deciding between the two.

As with sentence-level seriation, the most common seriation within a section is also the simplest: the bulleted list. When you have items that are meat to appear in no particular order, you should use bullets. Here’s how this should look:

• Dusek (2018) argued… [paragraph continues]
• Philbrook (2016) posited… [paragraph continues]
• Dado (2018) found… [paragraph continues

As you can see, these imply no chronology, importance, priority, etc. These are simply separate pieces of information that appear in no particular order. For more information on how to do this, you can look at page 64 of the Publication Manual of American Psychological Associations (3.04 Seriation).

If the order of the elements in your list matter, however, you should use a numbered list. This is very similar to a bulleted list, only you use numbers, and these numbers show the reader a specific order that the listed items appear in. This order can be a chronology, a significance, a priority, etc. The point I’m driving at here is that the order matters, and the numbers in the numbered list tell the reader the order that the information should come in. Here’s an example of this:

1. I wake up in the morning… [paragraph continues]
2. As I come to midday… [paragraph continues]
3. At night time… [paragraph continues]

This list reflects the chronology of a day. The order that these items appear are important. Reading them out of order would give the reader an inaccurate impression of the day. More information on this can also be found on page 64 of the Publication Manual of American Psychological Associations (3.04 Seriation).

Seriation allows an author to get a lot of information across to the reader at once, but there are some specific rules that dictate how lists should be used in APA style. Asking “why,” led me down a path to see what these rules actually are. Through this, a seemingly arbitrary rule of APA gained an order and a logic. I encourage you to be curious writers and seek answers to questions derived from instances that don’t make sense to you. Doing so can have benefits like, reduced anxiety, true understanding, knowledge application, happiness, fulfillment, etc.

Michael Dusek is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. He enjoys working with students and improving their writing skills. The idea that an essay is expressive as well as formal is a cornerstone of the way he views writing. He believes that approaching a writing project as a creative problem-solving activity can alleviate apprehension that students often encounter. In his personal life, he enjoys the outdoors, books, music, and all other types of art. 

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