Advice on how to punctuate properly.
For a list that contains full sentences:
For a list whose bullet points are not full sentences:
Use square brackets [ ] only in a quotation to indicate an interpolation or explanatory note by the writer or editor.
Use a colon between two sentences (or parts of sentences) if the first introduces a proposition that is resolved by the second.
Use a colon, not a comma, to introduce a quotation or to precede a list.
Use a comma (often called a “serial comma” or “Oxford comma”) before the final “and” in a list of three or more items.
Use an ellipsis (three dots with no spaces between them) to indicate the omission of a word or words in quoted matter. Use a space both before and after an ellipsis. Do not add a full stop if the ellipsis ends a sentence; do use a full stop at the end of a sentence that immediately precedes an ellipsis, however, to denote the omission of text between that sentence and the next.
When deciding whether or not to hyphenate a term, follow the form given in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary or the Oxford Dictionaries website.
For words not listed in the dictionary, write as one word wherever possible: for example, “macroeconomics”, “multicultural”, “underrepresented” (not “macro-economics”, “multi-cultural”, “under-represented”).
Use a hyphen for compound adjectives and adverbs that modify a following noun, except when the first word is an adverb ending in “-ly” :
For a compound adjective whose meaning is clear, no hyphen is needed: for example, “the civil rights movement”, “the financial services sector”. If there is potential for confusion, however, use a hyphen to clarify: for example, “a small-state representative” vs “a small state-representative”; “a violent-weather conference” vs “a violent weather-conference”; “forty-year-old documents” vs “forty year-old-documents”.
See Quotations.