To create an itemized list, use the itemize environment by typing the commands:
\begin{itemize}
\item (Within the itemize environment, the \item command tells the list to make this a new item. Each item will have a corresponding bullet.
\end{itemize}
The list here appears as a LaTeX itemized list would - both use bullets.
To create an enumerated list, use the enumerate environment by typing these commands:
\begin{enumerate}
\item
\end{enumerate}
Enumerated lists are numbered lists, so the first \item would be 1. The Second \item would be 2. and so on. Note that because LaTeX is assigning the numbers after the document is finished, the numbered order will be correct and you don't need to fiddle with the \item to get the numbering to be correct as you might need to do in a program like Microsoft Word.
To create a description list, use the description environment by typing these commands:
\begin{description}
\item[topic]
\end{description}
Description lists require a topic for each item. The topic needs to be within square brackets, as in the example above.
Lists within Lists
By default, as many as four lists can be embedded within each other. The defaults can be changed to allow for more embedding and can be changed to set the standard appearance for embedded lists. The default is to have the outer list in Arabice numerals, an embedded enumerated list is in lowercase letters, a third level is numbered in lowercase Roman numerals, and the fourth level is in uppercase letters.
These are only the defaults and these can be changed with the \renewcommand. The \renewcommand simply switches the default and it is used like this:
\renewcommand{\theenumi}{\alpha{enumi}}
This command means renew, or switch, the default for the first embedded list to make the symbol be an alphabetical symbol (rather than the default which is a digit).
| Level | Default | Counter | Label Command |
| 1 | digit | enumi | \theenumi |
| 2 | Lowercase Letter | enumii | \theenumii |
| 3 | roman. | enumiii | \theenumiii |
| 4 | Uppercase Letter | enumiv | \theenumiv |
| Note: there are other types of lists and other ways to change the appearance of lists. Please see the documentation in the IMAGE Lab for this, or please check one of the websites for additional reading. |