The purpose of an evaluation essay
The purpose of an evaluation essay is to demonstrate the overall quality (or lack thereof) of a particular product, business, place, literary work, movie, service, or program. While any evaluation involves injecting some form of opinion, if an evaluation is done properly, it should not come across as opinionated. Instead, the evaluation should seem reasoned and unbiased. The key to making this happen, and therefore the key to a good investigative essay, is establishing clear and fair criteria, judgments, and evidence. Criteria (the plural of criterion) means establishing what the ideal for the product/place/service/etc. should be. In other words, it means demonstrating what one should expect as the ideal outcome. Having clear criteria is what keeps an evaluation from feeling less like an opinion. For example, if I am evaluating a restaurant, I want to establish the criteria (quality of food, service, price, cleanliness, etc.) that any good restaurant will adhere to; this criteria can then be applied to the specific restaurant I am evaluating. The judgment is the establishment of whether or not the criterion is met. In other words, the judgment is what actually is. Using the example from above, if the first criterion for evaluating a restaurant is the quality of the food, the judgment states whether or not the particular restaurant offers food that meets or exceeds this stated quality. The evidence is the details offered to support the judgment. If my judgment is that a particular restaurant does not consistently offer quality food, I need to support this with a variety of evidence to show how the judgment was reached. Caution: Do not make this an informative, research paper. Your sources are merely used to back up or refute what your evaluation asserts. Assignment: Two Choices 1. Write a review of the comedy ″The Invention of Lying″ that includes a close analysis of the cinematic techniques used in at least one important scene. Pay attention to camera angles, movements of characters and other elements that make or break a movie. Or 2. Choose a subject that you have need to evaluate in order to make the right choice when purchasing. It could be a TV, the building of a garage, a new phone or the purchase of a certain brand of shoe. The field is wide. But the need for personal knowledge and need concerning the subject must be obvious. Your principal aim or purpose is to convince your readers that your evaluation of this subject is informed and reasonable, and is based on criteria that are generally accepted as appropriate for judging this kind of subject. Engage, paint pictures. Think of your choice carefully. Make sure it is one that you know something about, care about, and want to learn more about. Three outside, diverse sources are required to back up or refute your stand. Use of internal and external documentation must follow MLA Documentation rules. Reader Response: Student Choice from essays in textbook again. . Decide on what you want to evaluate and pick one model essay from the Evaluation Chapter of the textbook that will help you learn how best to evaluate a topic. Read, write and upload in a timely fashion. An example essay with use of proper internal documentation and a Works Cited list is found on Page 279 of your textbook. MLA rules are quite specific. Be sure you adhere to them. • Length: 4-6 Pages (Works Cited list may be included in this page count) • Audience: An interested reader who believes the opposite of you about this subject • Use calendar for due dates for peer review process • Minimum of three outside, diverse sources required • Due Date of full Evaluation Project: On calendar Objectives: 1. Present the subject in enough detail so that readers know what is being judged 2. Support an overall judgment based on appropriate criteria with credible evidence 3. Respond to objections and alternative judgments readers might prefer 4. Organize the evaluation in a way that will be clear and logical to readers 5. Process demonstrates a thorough, timely peer review process 6. Paper is documented correctly internally and externally, using MLA rules 7. Proofread for spelling, grammar and syntax errors