Respond: Formulating Criteria
RESPOND •
Local news and entertainment magazines often publish “best of” issues or articles that catalog their readers’ and editors’ favorites in such categories as “best place to go on a first date,” “best ice cream sundae,” and “best dentist.” Sometimes the categories are specific: “best places to say ‘I was retro before retro was cool’” or “best movie theater seats.” Imagine that you’re the editor of your own local magazine and that you want to put out a “best of” issue tailored to your hometown. Develop ten categories for evaluation. For each category, list the evaluative criteria that you would use to make your judgment. Next, consider that because your criteria are warrants, they’re especially tied to audience. (The criteria for “best dentist,” for example, might be tailored to people whose major concern is avoiding pain, to those whose children will be regular patients, or to those who want the cheapest possible dental care.) For several of the evaluative categories, imagine that you have to justify your judgments to a completely different audience. Write a new set of criteria for that audience.