a novice style question regarding effects in FCPX

effects layering order : where should my sharpening effect go in an effects layering order. should i always have it on top or does it even make a difference? thanks in advance

Stacking order makes a huge difference because the effects are rendered in the order in which they are stacked. You've got to determine why you want them processed in a certain order. Sharpening before applying a censor effect would be interesting but the other way around would be silly.

Here's the section from the FCPX Help system:

Change clip effect order
You can apply multiple clip effects to a Timeline clip. The order that you apply them can affect the final output. For example, applying the Artifacts effect, which by default adds random white circles to the video, before the Aged Paper effect results in the white circles also being aged; applying it after Aged Paper results in the circles remaining white.
You can easily change the order of the clip effects in the Video inspector, Audio inspector, Video Animation Editor, or Audio Animation Editor.
To ensure the highest-quality results, the Balance Color and Match Color effects appear at the top of the Effects list in the Video inspector by default.
Note: You cannot change the order of the built-in effects.