Tips on how to Create a Compelling Assortment: A Information to Our New ‘My Record’ Contest

Are you collaborating in our new “My Record” Assessment Contest? Given how a lot inventive freedom it gives, we expect it will likely be one of the enjoyable challenges we’re working this 12 months. You may work alone or with others, and might select from 14 classes — together with music, TV, motion pictures, video video games, books, eating places, theater and extra — to make your listing.

That can assist you determine what to put in writing, not solely do we have now the step-by-step instructions beneath, however we even have a associated writing immediate and a re-creation of our Conversations With Journalists characteristic in which you’ll be able to ask Lindsay Zoladz, a Instances pop music journalist, how she makes lists like “6 New Songs You Ought to Hear Now.”

Get pleasure from, and in the event you’re collaborating in our contest, be sure to submit by Feb. 12!

Be aware to academics: All through this information we have now urged that college students each discover their very own lists and take a look at those we’ve linked. Please preview any you assign to ensure they’re applicable in your college students.

First, discover as many as you may within the wild.

Lists of what to look at, take heed to, learn, see and eat are all over the place, and our first piece of recommendation is to begin to develop into acquainted with them. As you scroll social media, flip by way of magazines or surf the web, discover when, the place and the way these lists present up, and begin saving those you want greatest.

Proper now, as a brand new 12 months begins, it’s particularly simple to seek out these collections since media retailers of every kind publish roundups like “The Finest Motion pictures of 2024” or “The Albums We’re Wanting Ahead to in 2025.”

Discover them from as many alternative sources as you may, after which carry just a few to class and share them with others. Have in mind, nevertheless, that you simply’re in search of lists that transcend simply naming objects. For our contest, you’ll additionally want to clarify why every merchandise is in your listing.

Subsequent, use these free hyperlinks to learn some chosen examples from The New York Instances.

Here’s a number of lists which were lately revealed in The Instances. Select just a few that curiosity you and test them out.

21 Motion pictures, Books and Albums With a Theater Focus to Eat Through the Holidays

Now that you simply’ve studied a number of — from The Instances and elsewhere — reply these questions:

• Why do you assume lists like these are so well-liked? What’s efficient, attention-grabbing and entertaining about them?

• What frequent components make up these lists? That’s, what do you look forward to finding? What would you not look forward to finding?

• What do you discover about how these lists are often organized?

• What do you discover about how they communicate to their viewers? For instance, are they informal or extra formal? Do they sound as if a good friend have been speaking to you, or extra as if a professor have been giving a lecture?

• To what extent do these lists presume you might have some background information concerning the subject? Do you assume you may nonetheless get one thing from them even in the event you don’t?

Now select one piece to look at carefully.

• What does the introduction do? How does it clarify what that you must know? How does it enable you to anticipate what you’re about to learn?

• Subsequent, deal with the person objects. How does the creator each present its relationship to the general theme and provide you with particular details about every factor on the listing?

2. Discuss to a Instances journalist who makes lists like this for a dwelling.

“6 New Songs You Ought to Hear Now.” “7 Sizzling Tracks From a New Era of Feminine Rappers.” “9 Nice Songs That Point out Baseball Stars.”

Lindsay Zoladz, a pop music critic at The Instances, is the writer of those lists and plenty of extra, and from Jan. 9 to 22 you’ll have an opportunity to ask her questions.

What might you ask her about her course of — about how she chooses her themes, makes her decisions or creates her descriptions? What are you able to be taught from her that shall be useful in your work?

Discover every part that you must take part right here.

3. Provide you with a spread of concepts in your personal listing.

Listed here are the 14 classes you may select from, however bear in mind you can additionally mix classes in the event you like:

— structure
— artwork
— books
— comedy
— dance
— trend
— motion pictures
— music
— podcasts
— eating places
— expertise
— theater
— TV reveals
— video video games

And listed here are some methods to get began:

• Use the questions we ask in our associated Pupil Opinion discussion board, that are designed to take you thru a brainstorming course of. We hope you’ll each publish a few of your personal solutions and reply to the solutions of others.

• Get inspiration from the lists you’ve learn up to now. Which have stood out to you? Why? May you tackle a special subject in the same means?

• Ask for solutions from individuals who know you effectively. What would your mates or household say you already know or care essentially the most about? What do you are likely to advocate to them?

• Work together with your class to brainstorm. Share as many listing concepts as you may, each those who you’ve discovered “within the wild” and people you’ve provide you with your self. Let every concept encourage new ones till you might have dozens of potentialities to select from.

• Lastly, ask your self: Which of my concepts can be most enjoyable or attention-grabbing for me to pursue? Which do I care about most? We now have discovered time and again, throughout all of the contests we’ve ever supplied, that college students produce their greatest work on subjects they honestly care about.

4. Play together with your angle.

After you have a basic concept for what you’d like to put in writing about, the actual inventive problem begins.

Let’s say you’re a faithful Swiftie. One simple listing so that you can make is perhaps “My Favourite Taylor Swift Songs.” However contemplating the artist’s recognition, many different college students will in all probability ship lists identical to this, and it will likely be laborious to face out amongst them.

As an alternative, brainstorm some concepts for a extra authentic spin. Remember the fact that no matter you write, it should be applicable for a basic viewers, not simply fellow Swifties.

As an alternative of “The 63 Most Trendy Individuals of 2024,” how about “The 5 Seems Most Widespread at My Faculty”? (Please remember, nevertheless, that for this contest you’re not submitting pictures, so that you’ll have to make use of vivid language to explain the appears to be like!)

As an alternative of “What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries in January,” how a couple of listing of the perfect artwork to see at no cost in your space?

As an alternative of “Questlove Made You an Power Playlist,” why not a themed playlist of music for when you’re doing homework or are on the way in which to a monitor meet?

Make a listing that gives extra context about one thing you’re an skilled on.

Possibly you’re a sneakerhead and need extra of your fellow fans understood the position of the Air Jordan in sneaker historical past. Attempt making a listing that explains that in a means that’s attention-grabbing for others, as this Instances listing does for motion pictures about Bob Dylan.

That’s additionally how a bit like “Digging Into Kendrick Lamar’s Samples” works. In it, Ms. Zoladz, the Instances pop music critic we wrote about above, describes how, by way of using samples, “GNX” is “an album in deep dialog with the previous and current sounds of West Coast rap.” The listing goes by way of among the most notable sonic references on the album and explains how the artist and his producers “flip them into one thing new.”

What historical past or context might you provide readers to assist them higher perceive one thing you’re keen on? How might you clarify it in such a means that a median reader would admire it?

Attempt making a detrimental listing as an alternative of a constructive one.

Not each listing has to deal with “the perfect.” As an alternative, perhaps you’d wish to warn folks away from one thing. “5 TV Exhibits That Have Completely Unrealistic Teenage Characters”? “Three Overrated Broadway Musicals”? “The Ugliest Buildings in [Your Town]”?

Work with associates:

Pool your information! Instances critics do that usually, each for broad appears to be like at tradition like “What Our Critics Are Wanting Ahead to in 2025” and for spotlighting their particular pursuits, as in“25 Soar Scares That Nonetheless Make Us Soar.”

Take into consideration how a lot enjoyable you might have collectively sampling the perfect French fries in your neighborhood or debating essentially the most memorable film {couples} in rom-com historical past.

5. Write an environment friendly and interesting introduction.

Now that you’ve got an incredible concept for a listing, it’s time to begin writing. However for this contest, you might have solely 600 phrases, so your introduction wants to make use of each one in every of them effectively.

The excellent news is that you simply don’t want a number of room to set your readers up. Check out this primary paragraph:

The ground creaks, the music turns ominous and an uneasy quiet units in. Then BAM! It’s the traditional bounce scare. This staple of horror motion pictures, when accomplished effectively, is immediately memorable. With Instances movie writers, filmmakers and stars weighing in, we ranked the 25 bounce scares that also get us each time.

What did this introduction handle to do in simply 52 phrases? Does it make you need to preserve studying (and watching)? How does it get you in the best temper? How does it clarify why a listing like that is price making? How does it provide you with mandatory details about what you’re about to learn?

Let’s take a look at just a few extra. Right here’s the intro to “Finest Comedy of 2024”:

Joe Rogan jumped to the entrance of the conservative media institution. Netflix went in deeper on stay comedy, whereas Disney entered the stand-up market. Katt Williams beefed much more than Kendrick Lamar and Drake. John Mulaney and Taylor Tomlinson turned speak present hosts. It was an eventful 12 months in comedy. Listed here are some highlights.

How does this intro provide each a broad overview of the state of the trade in 2024 and a few vital particulars — all to again up the assertion that “it was an eventful 12 months in comedy”?

What if you wish to create a listing that appears at artwork or tradition by way of a special lens than simply “better of”? Right here’s how “8 Comics to Learn This Delight Month” did that in simply 41 phrases final June:

This assortment of comics and graphic novels, a mixture of nonfiction and fiction tales, has settings as disparate as a cabin within the woods and a 24-hour comfort retailer. What unites them is that all of them star L.G.B.T.Q. protagonists. Glad Delight!

Lastly, right here’s the opening to a listing that you simply may not have identified you wanted till you noticed it: “Household and Associates in City? Right here’s What to Watch Primarily based on the Temper.” It begins this manner:

“What do you all need to watch?”

This query has torpedoed many get-togethers, leaving the poor soul wielding the distant at a Thanksgiving gathering to go looking and scroll by way of seemingly infinite streaming choices till everyone seems to be cross-eyed and over it. Let’s skip that half, we could? Listed here are a handful of picks which may match the invoice for some frequent vacation dynamics.

How does the author set a scene we will all relate to and entice you to learn on?

6. Ensure every merchandise in your listing sticks to your theme.

The novel “James” by Percival Everett appeared on many lists of Finest Books of 2024, and was one in every of The Instances’s prime 10 picks. It additionally seems on The Instances’s greatest audiobooks listing. Right here is how the e book is described in it:

A number of occasions all through this retelling of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the attitude of the titular enslaved man (Twain’s Jim), a white character notices James’s normal English cadence with shock and asks: “Why are you speaking like that?” With spectacular comedic timing and vocal agility, Hoffman skips nimbly between James’s pure eloquence and the “slave filter” he makes use of to cover it from white folks, deepening a undertaking that hinges on vernacular as each signifier and gear of liberation.

How does the primary line shortly summarize the e book’s subject for many who may not know? How does the remainder of the outline deal with what makes the novel a superb audiobook? What can we be taught concerning the e book by way of its narration by a proficient actor?

One other instance? “6 Podcasts for Reflection and Restoration” was revealed on the finish of 2021, simply because the Omicron variant was inflicting new waves of Covid-19 infections through the holidays. Because the introduction says, “in their very own methods, these six podcasts may help you to take a breath, refill your emotional cup and get some relaxation forward of the New Yr.”

Right here is one entry. How does the author make it match her theme?

‘99% Invisible’

When the world feels hectic, meditation means that we deal with our speedy environment: that constructing, these bushes, the bottom beneath our ft. Although the long-running podcast “99% Invisible” shouldn’t be designed to be meditative, its sound-rich explorations of the bodily world make it excellent listening materials for fraught occasions. For greater than a decade, ever since its origins on public radio, the present has delved into the unseen designs, patterns and choices that form our lives. Although it’s primarily about design and structure, many episodes transcend that remit — one memorable installment final 12 months delved into the weird origin story of the Baha Males tune “Who Let the Canine Out.” There’s a again catalog of greater than 400 episodes to select from, and irrespective of which one you begin with, you’ll come away together with your view of the world barely modified.

Lastly, right here is an entry in a set of flicks and TV reveals titled “In a Yr of Anxiousness Onscreen, Right here’s Who Portrayed It Finest”:

‘The Bear’

“The Bear” is extensively accepted as the anxiety-inducing present on TV proper now, and for good purpose. The restaurant world is already fast-paced and hectic with out all of the stress Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) locations on himself and his co-workers within the opening weeks of his restaurant’s rebrand and glow-up. And although Carmy’s anxiousness is commonly on the forefront of the drama, the ultimate episode of Season 3 reveals Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) assembly her restrict as effectively. Agonizing over a call to develop into a companion of the Bear with Carmy the management freak or take a head chef place at one other restaurant with higher advantages and (probably) much less drama, Sydney breaks down in the midst of a celebration at her new dwelling. She steps outdoors and has an anxiousness assault; she hunches over, hyperventilating, overwhelmed by the choice she has to make.

What do you discover about how the author retains the deal with her theme? What particular person phrases are used right here to hammer dwelling the anxiety-producing nature of this present?

7. Compel us together with your opinions.

For a few years, we ran a Pupil Assessment Contest that was the precursor to this one. To assist college students perceive how a evaluate is an argument and the way sturdy descriptive language may help make it, we created a number of lesson plans. To enter higher depth on these expertise, you may go to this useful resource and this one.

However for the My Record contest, college students should current opinions on not only one work, however a number of. How do you make a case for one thing in only a paragraph or so? Listed here are some examples.

“8 Video Video games to Play Subsequent” is a listing that options contributions from Instances avid gamers across the newsroom. Every entry is brief and to the purpose — however discover how, in entries like these, every phrase is fastidiously chosen:

Bleak Religion: Forsaken

You’re a lone warrior misplaced within the depths of the Omnistructure, an enormous city sprawl that has grown past purpose. The handful of individuals left are scrambling to outlive and maintain onto their sanity. Count on robust enemies, unforgiving fight and dramatic boss battles.

Play in the event you appreciated: Any Soulslike sport, however are able to forgive some tough edges.

What to know: Bleak Religion is an unbiased title produced by three folks, so count on a good quantity of jank. However the sport nails its ambiance, which blends grimdark fantasy and cyberpunk.

How does the author put you in the midst of the sport? What phrases or phrases are most evocative? Do you be taught sufficient in simply 93 phrases to kind an opinion of your personal about whether or not or not you’d need to play? How do the headings on the finish in daring assist (“Play in the event you appreciated:” and “What to know:”)? May you utilize headings like this in your listing?

Subsequent, contemplate this entry from “22 of the Finest Bakeries Throughout the U.S. Proper Now”:

Comadre Panadería

Austin, Texas

Mariela Camacho’s pastries are the stuff of Barbie-fueled, masa-laden desires. Her conchas are ethereal with a crackly shell, and vibrant with flavors like berries or matcha. The pínguína de maracuya, a chocolate-dipped cake crammed with passion-fruit cream, is one in every of a number of choices that style like higher variations of a nostalgic deal with. The showstopper is the pink cake: toasty with corn, tart with a prickly pear buttercream and pleasant with sprinkles. Regardless of their saccharine appearances, not one of many desserts is overly cloying, and even the espresso drinks (Texas pecan horchata! Cranberry vanilla agua fresca!) strike the playful tone of the pastries.

For our contest, you aren’t allowed to submit pictures — however in the event you can write descriptions this vivid, you received’t want them! What are you imagining these desserts appear like? What phrases are particularly evocative right here? How will you describe the objects in your listing so clearly that your readers can image them of their heads?

8. Ensure all of it works collectively and … submit!

Now it’s time to learn the entire thing over and guarantee that it holds collectively and that each facet of it really works. You may ask your self:

• Does the title of my listing precisely replicate what’s inside it?

• Is my theme or focus one thing that others shall be taken with?

• Does my introduction assist readers perceive the subject and put together for the listing to come back?

• Have I thoughtfully chosen three to 5 works which might be clearly related to my theme?

• Do I present how the person objects on my listing relate to that theme?

• Do I state my opinions in a means that’s persuasive and compelling?

• Do I provide particulars to help these opinions?

• Does the voice within the piece sound like me? Is it participating to learn?

• Are my language and tone applicable for the subject I’ve chosen?

• Have I written the listing in such a means that a median reader might perceive it and get one thing attention-grabbing from it?

• Is it 600 phrases or fewer, not counting the title?

• Have I adopted the contest rubric?

Good luck and thanks for collaborating!