In technical papers I often see text like this.
Finally, the goal is to determine x. The three ways of achieving this
are the following: The blue method involves tying your
shoelaces. The pink method requires you to first go to the shops and
buy a bunch of bananas. The purple method is really quite
complicated and will take a long time to describe.
What is the proper way to write this? In particular, should the colon simply be a full stop, should the sentences read more like "The pink method, which requires[…]" and should the final sentence start differently?
I should perhaps have added that this needs to all be in one paragraph. There is not enough space to set it out as a numbered list.
Best Answer
To separate the listed items, you can use commas, semicolons, or periods. Also using numbers to segment your list grants you the freedom of writing multiple sentences per list item. Contrarily, if you prefer not to use numbers for segmentation, your list items should not exceed one sentence in length, as this would likely add confusion.
Capitalization rules for a list after a colon are imprecise (see here and here). However, you must maintain consistency for whatever capitalization pattern you choose. For example, the first word of each list item can be capitalized or not (unless you choose to separate list items with a period - in which case you should definitely capitalize the following word). Whether to capitalize the first word following a colon is also your choice (but maintain consistency). The only exception to the consistency rule is if you separate using periods, the first list item after the colon does not necessarily have to be capitalized.