Top Ten List Assignment
Content
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1!
TOP TEN LIST
Humans seem to love using the end of the year as an excuse to state their opinions. We get the Top Ten Songs of the Year, the Year’s Best Movies, People’s List of the Ten Most Fascinating Faces of the Year. Television broadcasts the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the MTV Music Awards, and the People’s Choice Awards. Time chooses a man or woman of the year. Athletes fight for the Heisman, the ESPN Play of the Year, or any number of trophies and honors. These are, however, only opinions, so we have just as much of a right to create our own top ten lists!
Choose a subject that interests you and about which you know a lot. Your list can cover almost anything—sports, entertainment, politics, religion, school, etc. Who were your ten best friends of last year? Which ten historical figures would you most like to meet? What were your ten favorite sayings? What were the ten best television shows? You may also choose to discuss the worst of the year, and your list may cover any span of time. As an example, if you choose music you can create the Best Songs of Last Year, Worst Songs Ever, Most Overplayed Songs of the Decade, or Favorite TV Theme Songs.
You must include the following elements in your typed final draft:
Audience, Style, and Introductions Reflections
Explore and explain the stylistic choices you made—what you did and why you did it. Who is your target audience? What are their interests? What is their attitude or knowledge of your topic? What style of writing do they prefer? Why did you start the paper the way you did? How did this introduction influence the reader? This is the metacognitive, reflective portion of the assignment. Prove that you are completely aware of the effect your stylistic choices have on your audience.
Introduction
Craft a paragraph-length introduction that fulfills all the requirements of an effective introduction: 1. Grab the attention of the audience. You may pretend that you are writing for a specific audience or for a specific publication, 2. Introduce the topic that you will explore. 3. Begin adding depth to your topic. With a formal essay, this might be a thesis statement that specifically mentions the main points you will use to support your thesis. For the Top Ten List, you should explain the specific criteria used in selecting your list. For example, if you chose your favorite movies of the year, explain what you meant by “favorite movies.” Movies that you enjoyed most with your friends? Movies that you were able to watch again and again? Movies with impressive cinematography? Movies with the hottest actors and/or actresses? Your detailed criteria should explain the thinking behind your choices. 4. Begin to set the mood, tone, voice, style, and primary mode of your paper. Remember that an introduction exposes how you want the reader to respond to your writing. Uncertainty can lead to discomfort!
List with Detailed Support
Develop a list of at least eight items and no more than twelve items. Each item must be between fifty and one-hundred words in length. You will need to carefully explain each item and make it clear why it fits where it does on your list. You will need a ton of evidence, and it needs to be specific, active, and interesting. Don’t make it sound like a paper for English class. Let your personality break through the writing! Get excited, as though you just saw the best movie or heard the best song or met the most interesting person and can’t wait to tell a friend. Use active verbs, precise nouns, and interesting adjectives and adverbs. Scatter some poetic language throughout the list. Mix it up so that each entry sounds different. Most importantly, discriminate between each item on the list. I don’t care if your list has ten comedies by the same actor or ten songs by the same band, you need to explain how each item is different than the other items on the list. Remember to keep in mind the mood, tone, voice, style, and primary mode that you planned in your audience, style, and introduction reflections!
Organization
Make sure your paper is organized, structured, and has an obvious and appropriate flow. While you don’t necessarily need a traditional topic sentence for each entry, you do need to make sure you are making connections between the items on the list. Do more than simply describe each item. The reader needs to be aware of what you are doing and how to read your paper. It shouldn’t say, “#3 Best Restaurant. Great food. A meal for less than $8. Good atmosphere. Lots of big tables for friends at lunch. Never get rude or kick us out.” This needs a controlling topic sentence or a concluding bit of analysis like, “Unlike the hectic, unclean, overpriced buffets previously described, the combination of a good deal, a relaxed atmosphere, and a convenient location makes Teppanyaki Grill the third best restaurant in town.” Note: You will need to formally identify this organization in the final draft! See the scoring guide for instructions.
Literary Elements
Take the time to stylize your list items and to use some of the literary techniques we have studied in class. You will need to incorporate ten of these techniques into your writing and be able to identify where they are used. Note: That’s ten different techniques—not the same one again and again—and some of the obvious or difficult-to-identify techniques (e.g., setting, plot, theme) may be excluded. Note: You will need to formally identify these elements in the final draft! See the scoring guide for instructions.
Grammar, Spelling, Mechanics
While the tone of your writing may be informal, and while you may incorporate slang, the overall feel must be that the paper was carefully crafted. Take the time to make it right! The paper must be free of major errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage.
TOP TEN LIST
Humans seem to love using the end of the year as an excuse to state their opinions. We get the Top Ten Songs of the Year, the Year’s Best Movies, People’s List of the Ten Most Fascinating Faces of the Year. Television broadcasts the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the MTV Music Awards, and the People’s Choice Awards. Time chooses a man or woman of the year. Athletes fight for the Heisman, the ESPN Play of the Year, or any number of trophies and honors. These are, however, only opinions, so we have just as much of a right to create our own top ten lists!
Choose a subject that interests you and about which you know a lot. Your list can cover almost anything—sports, entertainment, politics, religion, school, etc. Who were your ten best friends of last year? Which ten historical figures would you most like to meet? What were your ten favorite sayings? What were the ten best television shows? You may also choose to discuss the worst of the year, and your list may cover any span of time. As an example, if you choose music you can create the Best Songs of Last Year, Worst Songs Ever, Most Overplayed Songs of the Decade, or Favorite TV Theme Songs.
You must include the following elements in your typed final draft:
Audience, Style, and Introductions Reflections
Explore and explain the stylistic choices you made—what you did and why you did it. Who is your target audience? What are their interests? What is their attitude or knowledge of your topic? What style of writing do they prefer? Why did you start the paper the way you did? How did this introduction influence the reader? This is the metacognitive, reflective portion of the assignment. Prove that you are completely aware of the effect your stylistic choices have on your audience.
Introduction
Craft a paragraph-length introduction that fulfills all the requirements of an effective introduction: 1. Grab the attention of the audience. You may pretend that you are writing for a specific audience or for a specific publication, 2. Introduce the topic that you will explore. 3. Begin adding depth to your topic. With a formal essay, this might be a thesis statement that specifically mentions the main points you will use to support your thesis. For the Top Ten List, you should explain the specific criteria used in selecting your list. For example, if you chose your favorite movies of the year, explain what you meant by “favorite movies.” Movies that you enjoyed most with your friends? Movies that you were able to watch again and again? Movies with impressive cinematography? Movies with the hottest actors and/or actresses? Your detailed criteria should explain the thinking behind your choices. 4. Begin to set the mood, tone, voice, style, and primary mode of your paper. Remember that an introduction exposes how you want the reader to respond to your writing. Uncertainty can lead to discomfort!
List with Detailed Support
Develop a list of at least eight items and no more than twelve items. Each item must be between fifty and one-hundred words in length. You will need to carefully explain each item and make it clear why it fits where it does on your list. You will need a ton of evidence, and it needs to be specific, active, and interesting. Don’t make it sound like a paper for English class. Let your personality break through the writing! Get excited, as though you just saw the best movie or heard the best song or met the most interesting person and can’t wait to tell a friend. Use active verbs, precise nouns, and interesting adjectives and adverbs. Scatter some poetic language throughout the list. Mix it up so that each entry sounds different. Most importantly, discriminate between each item on the list. I don’t care if your list has ten comedies by the same actor or ten songs by the same band, you need to explain how each item is different than the other items on the list. Remember to keep in mind the mood, tone, voice, style, and primary mode that you planned in your audience, style, and introduction reflections!
Organization
Make sure your paper is organized, structured, and has an obvious and appropriate flow. While you don’t necessarily need a traditional topic sentence for each entry, you do need to make sure you are making connections between the items on the list. Do more than simply describe each item. The reader needs to be aware of what you are doing and how to read your paper. It shouldn’t say, “#3 Best Restaurant. Great food. A meal for less than $8. Good atmosphere. Lots of big tables for friends at lunch. Never get rude or kick us out.” This needs a controlling topic sentence or a concluding bit of analysis like, “Unlike the hectic, unclean, overpriced buffets previously described, the combination of a good deal, a relaxed atmosphere, and a convenient location makes Teppanyaki Grill the third best restaurant in town.” Note: You will need to formally identify this organization in the final draft! See the scoring guide for instructions.
Literary Elements
Take the time to stylize your list items and to use some of the literary techniques we have studied in class. You will need to incorporate ten of these techniques into your writing and be able to identify where they are used. Note: That’s ten different techniques—not the same one again and again—and some of the obvious or difficult-to-identify techniques (e.g., setting, plot, theme) may be excluded. Note: You will need to formally identify these elements in the final draft! See the scoring guide for instructions.
Grammar, Spelling, Mechanics
While the tone of your writing may be informal, and while you may incorporate slang, the overall feel must be that the paper was carefully crafted. Take the time to make it right! The paper must be free of major errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage.
