ClearTips: Powerful paragraphs
Lead with the point and follow it with a bulleted list
A list of numerical facts, complicated details, or recommendations
can be difficult for readers to lift off the page from a block of text.
Breaking that block into bulleted items clarifies those elements and works
well for setting up a line of argument.
Why do this?
- To articulate three, four, or more facts
- To relieve a dense block of text or
a long series
- To set each element apart, making it
easier to remember
- To highlight a list of recommendations
or important ideas
The ratio of global trade to GDP has been rising over
the past decade, but it has been falling for 44 developing countries,
with more than a billion people. The least developed countries,
with 10% of the world's people, have only 0.3% of world trade—half
their share of two decades ago. The list goes on:
- More than half of all developing
countries have been bypassed by foreign direct investment,
two-thirds of which has gone to only eight developing
countries.
- Real commodity prices in the 1990s
were 45% lower than those in the 1980s—and 10%
lower than the lowest level during the Great Depression,
reached in 1932.
- The terms of trade for the least
developed countries have declined a cumulative 50% over
the past 25 years.
- Average tariffs on industry country
imports from the least developed countries are 30% higher
than the global average.
- Developing countries lose about $60
billion a year from agricultural subsidies and barriers
to textile exports in industrial nations.
If financial systems are to reach low-income
female entrepreneurs and producers, delivery systems need to respond
to the common characteristics of low-income women and their businesses:
- Women have less
experience in dealing with formal financial institutions.
- Women tend to
have smaller enterprises and fewer assets.
- Women are less
likely to own land or other assets and face legal barriers
to borrowing in many countries.
- Illiteracy rates
are higher among women.
- Low-income women
tend to concentrate on different economic activities
than low-income men.
The trick to writing this kind of paragraph is knowing when
not to do it. Some reports have bullets everywhere. Used too frequently,
they lose their effectiveness and become an excuse for not writing complete
paragraphs. That said, there are good reasons for using them: to organize
many numerical facts or to emphasize important recommendations.
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