Choosing a style and design
Evaluations can be composed in any style, from high to low — depending, as always, on aim and audience. (define your style) Look for opportunities to present evaluations visually too. They can simplify your task.
Use a high or formal style. Technical reviews tend to be formal and impersonal: They may be almost indistinguishable from reports, describing their findings in plain, unemotional language. Such a style gives the impression of scientific objectivity, even though the work may reflect someone’s agenda. For instance, here’s a paragraph in formal style from the National Assessment of Educational Progress summarizing the performance of American students in science:
Of all the racial/ethnic groups reported, Asian/Pacific Islander students had the highest percentage of fourth-
— Nation’s Report Card, 2013 Mathematics and Reading Assessment (http:/
Use a middle style. When a writer has a more direct stake in the work — as is typical in book or movie reviews, for example — the style moves more decisively toward the middle. You sense a person behind the writing, making judgments and offering opinions. That’s certainly the case in these two paragraphs by Clive Crook, written shortly after the death of noted economist John Kenneth Galbraith: Words, phrases, and even sentence fragments that humanize the assessment are highlighted, while a contrast to economist Milton Friedman also sharpens the portrait.
Galbraith, despite the Harvard professorship, was never really an economist in the ordinary sense in the first place. In one of countless well-
Friedman, in contrast, devoted his career to grinding out top-
— “John Kenneth Galbraith, Revisited,” National Journal, May 15, 2006
Use a low style. Many reviewers get personal with readers, some so direct that they verge on rudeness. Consider the product reviews on Amazon.com or almost any comment section online. In contrast, the evaluations you write for academic or work assignments should be (relatively) polite and low-
Present evaluations visually. Evaluations work especially well when their claims can be supported by tables, charts, graphs, or other visual elements. These allow readers to see relationships that could not be conveyed quite as efficiently in words alone. (display data) And sometimes the images simply have more impact. Consider your response to images of real fast-
Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality Each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort. It is an accurate representation in every case. Shiny, neon-
Here are several of the images the site presented of products purchased from well-
All you need to do is recall the carefully crafted professional photographs of these items you’ve seen posted in the fast-