# Practice: Creating Methods

Replace the football program's copied blocks with one method that takes each team's scores as parameters.

Apprentice · C# · Updated November 3, 2026

In *Practice: The Need for Methods* you printed five teams by copying the same block five times. Now you'll make the code **DRY**: one method that prints any team, called once per team.

The method needs every value that changes from team to team: the rank, the name and the four quarter scores. Those become its **parameters**. Everything that stays the same, the printing and the final-score sum, goes in its body.

## Write the method

Open `scores.cs` from the earlier practice, or start a new file, `scores2.cs`. Put this method at the bottom of the file:

```csharp
void DisplayTeamScores(int rank, string teamName, int q1, int q2, int q3, int q4)
{
    int finalScore = q1 + q2 + q3 + q4;

    Console.WriteLine("(" + rank + ") " + teamName);
    Console.WriteLine("Q1: " + q1 + "  Q2: " + q2 + "  Q3: " + q3 + "  Q4: " + q4);
    Console.WriteLine("Final: " + finalScore);
    Console.WriteLine();
}
```

The variable declarations from the old program have moved into the parentheses. Anyone who calls this method **must** give it a value for each one. Notice that the method knows nothing about Georgia or Alabama: it only knows how to print the values it's given.

Run the file now, with the old team blocks deleted and no calls yet. It prints nothing. Writing a method doesn't run it; only a call does.

## Call it

Above the method, call it once for Georgia:

```csharp
// The arguments go in the parameters' order: rank, teamName, q1, q2, q3, q4
DisplayTeamScores(1, "Georgia", 12, 14, 6, 7);

void DisplayTeamScores(int rank, string teamName, int q1, int q2, int q3, int q4)
{
    int finalScore = q1 + q2 + q3 + q4;

    Console.WriteLine("(" + rank + ") " + teamName);
    Console.WriteLine("Q1: " + q1 + "  Q2: " + q2 + "  Q3: " + q3 + "  Q4: " + q4);
    Console.WriteLine("Final: " + finalScore);
    Console.WriteLine();
}
```

```text
(1) Georgia
Q1: 12  Q2: 14  Q3: 6  Q4: 7
Final: 39
```

## Your task

Add a call for each of the other four teams, so the program prints all five:

| Rank | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 12 | 14 | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | Alabama | 14 | 17 | 10 | 14 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 21 | 10 | 14 | 7 |
| 4 | Michigan | 10 | 7 | 0 | 17 |
| 5 | Clemson | 14 | 6 | 8 | 10 |

When you're done, the top of your file is five short lines, one per team. Check the final scores: 39, 55, 52, 34 and 38.

## Then try this

- Change `Final:` to `Final score:`. How many lines did you change this time?
- Call the method with the arguments in the wrong order, such as `DisplayTeamScores("Georgia", 1, 12, 14, 6, 7);`. Read the error: the types don't match, so C# won't build it. Parameters protect you from some mistakes.
- Swap two quarter scores in a call. This time C# can't help: both are `int`. Order matters, so read your calls carefully.

## So what

Five copies became one method and five calls. A fix now happens in one place, and a new team costs one line.

## Key terms

- [Method](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/method-c-sharp)
- [Method Parameter](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/method-parameter-c-sharp)
- [Method Argument](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/method-argument-c-sharp)
- [DRY Principle](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/dry-principle)

## Cheat sheets

- [Practice: Creating Methods](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/introduction-to-methods-practice-creating-methods-cheat-sheet)

## Related

- [Practice: The Need for Methods](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/introduction-to-methods-practice-the-need-for-methods)
- [Organizing Code into Methods](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/introduction-to-methods-organizing-code-into-methods)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/introduction-to-methods-practice-creating-methods