Define Your Criteria

Criteria are the factors on which your judgments about a subject are based. In many written conversations, criteria are well established. Movie reviewers, for example, typically base their judgments on plot, characterization, cinematography, editing, and directing, while restaurant reviewers tend to use criteria such as the taste and presentation of the food, the attentiveness and courteousness of the waitstaff, the cleanliness and attractiveness of the restaurant, and the cost of a meal. Similarly, writers of progress reports tend to focus on a fairly consistent set of criteria, most often results, responses to unexpected challenges, and cost-effectiveness.

Even when evaluating well-established subjects, however, writers often depart from the norm. A movie reviewer might focus on the use of product placement in a film, while a music reviewer might draw criteria from poetry or drama to evaluate a new rap album.

Often, you will have the option of choosing among a wide range of evaluative criteria. Consider, for example, the criteria you might use to evaluate competing health plans for employees at a small company:

If you chose all these criteria, your evaluation would be quite lengthy. To keep the evaluation brief and to the point — and, of course, useful for readers — you would focus on fewer criteria. If you were creating a brief overview of competing health care plans for managers, you might focus on overall cost to the company, employee costs, coverage, required paperwork, and access to plan administrators. If you were creating a report for employees, on the other hand, criteria might include employee costs, deductibles, coverage, choice of health care providers, ease of access to plan information, and speed of reimbursement. The key is to choose those criteria most relevant to your subject, your purpose, and the needs, interests, and backgrounds of your readers.