formatting - When should I use punctuation with bullets?

When writing bulleted items, what are the rules for placing periods? Presumably bulleted items that aren't sentences wouldn't require punctuation:

• Orange


• Apple


• Banana

But how about sentence bullets?

• I am happy


• She was happy


• He is happy still

Should that be:

• I am happy.


• She was happy.


• He is happy still?

And how do I distinguish between cases? What happens if there are multiple sentences per bullet?

Update: This is actually going to be published from a corporate website, so the house rules are less clearly defined in that case, but I think that is a great point regardless.

Answer

I like to use periods with full-sentence bullets, but it depends on the house style of wherever you're submitting your writing. My only caveat is that if you have a list where some items are full sentences and some are not, you have to be consistent: either they all get periods (even the phrases or single words) or they all don't (even the full sentences).

If there are multiple sentences per bullet, I would end the final one with a period (or whatever the appropriate punctuation is), and if it's house style not to, I would ask the person to whom I'm submitting it how s/he wants you to handle that instance.