Should I use a colon here?

A colon is used in two ways: to start a laundry list or to start a definition. As a laundry list, it comes at the end of sentence and is followed by a series of things. For example, "Jerry went to the grocery to get everything he needed for the big game: chips, beer, burgers, cola, and wine coolers for the ladies." (Jerry is a good ole boy.) The colon takes the place of saying including or such as. A common mistake people make is to put a colon after the words such as or including. That's unnecessary and considered wrong. So if you have written the sentence "Jerry picked up a lot of groceries including chips, beer, and burgers" don't insert a colon after including. The colon also can be used after one sentence and before the next one if that next one somehow defines the first one. For example, "John came very close to the truth: He was due for a lay off, but not because of poor performance." You won't see this use of the colon very often, because it demands a direct relationship between the two sentences that is very clear and powerful. Most often, you will see two sentences that are closely related but have a softer connection, where the second sentence adds more information to the first. That's when you need a semi-colon.