Dec 09 - Do we use the definite and indefinite articles in a Spanish list?

Hola a todos.

I was wondering if the definite and indefinite articles (el la un una) were used in making a list in Spanish.

For example, on a personal list like a shopping list, I would not expect them to be used, but I know from my experience with DuoLingo, translating from English to Spanish always ended up with many more definite articles than in English.

Is there some kind of rule about this?

Thanks