The itemize environment is used to create bulleted lists; if you use this tag, add the more general lists tag. For numbered lists, one uses the enumerate environment, and for descriptive lists, one uses the description environment.

Typically, itemize is used like this:

\begin{itemize}
  \item The first item
  \item The second item
  \item (and so on...)
\end{itemize}

There are a few packages for customizing the appearance of bulleted lists.

1. The enumitem package (documentation) provides an interface to adjust the vertical and horizontal spacing of list items, change the bullet shape, and define custom list environments.
2. The paralist package (documentation) provides commands for using lists compactly within paragraphs.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I remove the vertical space from an itemize environment? (This is particularly useful for bulleted lists inside tables.)
• How do I change the left margin of an itemize environment?
• How do I change the bullet symbol? Relatedly, how can I define a list with custom symbols?