Learning by Writing

The Assignment: Writing an Evaluation

Pick a subject to evaluate—one you have personal experience with and feel competent to evaluate. This subject might be a movie, a TV program, a piece of music, a work of art, a new product, a government agency, a campus facility or policy, an essay or a reading, or anything else you can think of. Then, in a thoughtful essay, analyze your subject and evaluate it. You will need to determine specific criteria for evaluation and make them clear to your readers. In writing your evaluation, you will have a twofold purpose: (1) to set forth your assessment of the quality of your subject and (2) to convince your readers that your judgment is reasonable.

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These three students wrote lively evaluations:

A music major evaluated works by American composer Aaron Copland, finding him trivial and imitative, “without a tenth of the talent or inventiveness that George Gershwin or Duke Ellington had in his little finger.”

A student planning a career in business management evaluated a software firm in which he had worked one summer. His criteria were efficiency, productivity, appeal to new customers, and employee satisfaction.

A student from Brazil, who had seen firsthand the effects of industrial development in the Amazon rain forest, evaluated the efforts of the U.S. government to protect forests and wetlands, comparing them with efforts in her own country.

Facing the Challenge Evaluating and Reviewing

The major challenge writers face when writing evaluations is to make clear to their readers the criteria they have used to arrive at an opinion. When reviewing a movie, you may begin by simply summarizing its story and saying whether you like it or not. However, for readers who wonder whether to see the movie, you need to go further. For example, you might find its special effects, exotic sets, and unpredictable plot effective but wish that the characters had seemed more believable. Based on these criteria, your thesis might maintain that the movie is not realistic but is entertaining and well worth seeing.

Once you’ve chosen a topic, clarify your standards for evaluating it:

  • What features or aspects will you use as criteria for evaluating?

  • How could you briefly explain each of the criteria for a reader?

  • What judgment or evaluation about your topic do the criteria support?

After identifying your criteria, you can examine each in turn. Explaining your criteria will ensure that you move beyond a summary to an opinion or judgment that you can justify to your readers.

Generating Ideas

For more strategies for generating ideas, see Ch. 19.

Find Something to Evaluate. Try brainstorming or mapping to identify as many possible topics as you can. Test your understanding of each possible topic by concisely describing or summarizing it.

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Consider Sources of Support. You’ll want to spend time finding material to help you develop a judgment. You might watch a television program on your subject or read an article about it. Perhaps you’ll want to review several examples of your subject: watching several films or campus plays, listening to several albums, examining several works of art, testing several products, or interviewing several spectators.

Establish Your Criteria. Jot down criteria, standards to apply to your subject based on the features of the subject worth considering. How well, for example, does a popular entertainer score on musicianship, rapport with the audience, selection of material, originality? In evaluating Portland as a home for a young careerist, you might ask: Does it offer ample entry-level positions in growth firms? Any criterion for evaluation has to fit your subject, audience, and purpose. After all, ample entry-level jobs might not matter to an audience of retirees.

For more on comparing and contrasting, see Ch. 7.

Try Comparing and Contrasting.Often you can readily size up the worth of a thing by setting it next to another of its kind. (When you compare, you point to similarities; when you contrast, you note differences.) To be comparable, of course, your two subjects need to have plenty in common. The quality of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle might be judged by contrasting it with a Honda but not with a school bus.

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Set for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), in which a man investigates the murder of his friend in a mountain village.
Photofest.

For example, if you are writing a paper for a film history course, you might compare and contrast the classic German horror movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with the classic Hollywood movie Frankenstein, concluding that Caligari is more artistic. Then try listing characteristics of each film, point by point:

Caligari Frankenstein
Sets

Dreamlike

Sets deliberately angular and distorted

Realistic, but with heavy Gothic atmosphere

Gothic sets

Lighting Deep shadows that throw figures into relief Torches highlighting monster’s face in night scene

By jotting down each point and each bit of evidence side by side, you can outline your comparison and contrast with great efficiency. Once you have listed them, decide on a possible order for the points.

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For more on defining, see Defining in Ch. 22.

Try Defining Your Subject. Another technique for evaluating is to define your subject, indicating its nature so clearly that your readers can easily distinguish it from others of its kind. Defining helps readers understand your subject—its structure, habitat, functions. In evaluating a classic television show such as Roseanne, you might want to include an extended definition of sitcoms over the years, their techniques, views of women, effects on the audience. Unlike a short definition, as in a dictionary, an extended definition is intended not simply to explain but to judge: What is the nature of my subject? What qualities make it unique, unlike others of its sort?

Develop a Judgment That You Can Explain to Your Audience. In the end, you will have to come to a decision: Is your subject good, worthwhile, significant, exemplary, preferable—or not? Most writers come to a judgment gradually as they explore their subjects and develop criteria.

DISCOVERY CHECKLIST

  • What criteria do you plan to use in making your evaluation? Are they clear and reasonably easy to apply?

  • What evidence can back up your judgments?

  • Would comparing or contrasting help in evaluating your subject? If so, with what might you compare or contrast your subject?

  • What qualities define your subject, setting it apart from the rest of its class?

Learning by Doing Developing Criteria

Learning by Doingimage Developing Criteria

With a small group of classmates, meeting in person or online, discuss the subjects each of you plan to evaluate. Make a detailed report about what you’re evaluating. If possible, pass around a product, show a photograph of artwork, play a song, or read aloud a short literary work or an idea expressed in a reading. Ask your classmates to explain the reasons for their own evaluations. Maybe they’ll suggest criteria or evidence that hadn’t occurred to you.

Planning, Drafting, and Developing

For more on stating a thesis, see Stating and Using a Thesis in Ch. 20.

Start with a Thesis. Reflect a moment: What is your purpose? What is your main point? Try writing a paragraph that sums up the purpose of your evaluation or stating a thesis that summarizes your main point.

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TOPIC + JUDGMENT Campus revival of South Pacific—liked the performers featured in it plus the problems the revival raised
WORKING THESIS Chosen to showcase the achievements of graduating seniors, the campus revival of South Pacific also brings up societal problems.

In reviews of books, movies, and other forms of entertainment, thesis may grow out of how the subject conforms—or doesn’t conform—to certain goals or standards. This is the approach that Scott Tobias used in his review of The Hunger Games. (His thesis is underlined.)

When the goal is simply to be as faithful as possible to the material . . . the best result is a skillful abridgment, one that hits all the important marks without losing anything egregious. And as abridgments go, they don’t get much more skillful than this one.

Learning by Doing Stating Your Overall Judgment

Learning by Doingimage Stating Your Overall Judgment

Build your criteria into your working thesis statement by filling in this sentence:

This subject is ____________ because it __________.

This subject is your judgment because it_ your criteria

With a classmate or small group, compare sentences and share ideas about improving your statement of your judgment and criteria. Use this advice to rework and sharpen your working thesis.

Consider Your Criteria. Many writers find that a list of specific criteria gives them confidence and generates ideas. Consider filling in a chart with three columns—criteria, evidence, judgment—to focus your thinking.

Develop an Organization. You may want to begin with a direct statement of your judgment: Based on durability, cost, and comfort, the Classic 7 is an ideal campus backpack. On the other hand, you may want to reserve judgment by opening with a question about your subject: How good a film is Mad Max: Fury Road? Each approach suggests a different organization:

Thesis or main point Supporting evidence Return to thesis
Opening question Supporting evidence Overall judgment

Either way, you’ll supply lots of evidence—details, examples, maybe comparisons or contrasts—to make your case compelling. You’ll also cluster your evidence around your points or criteria for judgment so that readers know how and why you reach your judgment. You might try both patterns of organization to see which works better for your subject and purpose.

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Most writers find that an outline—even a rough list—helps them keep track of points to make. If you compare and contrast your subject with something else, one way to arrange the points is subject by subject: discuss subject A, and then discuss subject B. For a longer comparison, a better way to organize is point by point, applying each point first to one subject and then the other. If approved by your instructor, you also might include a sketch, photograph, or other illustration of your subject or develop a comparative table summarizing the features of similar items you have compared.

Learning by Doing Reflecting on Product Reviews

Learning by Doingimage Reflecting on Product Reviews

Locate and examine three reviews of a specific car model in consumer information sources such as Kelley Blue Book, Car and Driver, Consumer Reports, J.D. Power, or edmunds.com. Which review appears most reliable and why? Least reliable and why? What evidence did the reviewers use to persuade or dissuade potential car buyers? Reflect on specific content (such as language, pictures, or graphics) that influenced your opinion about whether your chosen car model is worth purchasing.

Revising and Editing

Focus on Your Thesis. Make your thesis as precise and clear as possible.

For more revising and editing strategies, see Ch. 23.

WORKING THESIS Chosen to showcase the achievements of graduating seniors, the campus revival of South Pacific also brings up societal problems.
REVISED THESIS The senior showcase, the musical South Pacific, spotlights outstanding performers and raises timely societal issues such as prejudice.

THESIS CHECKLIST

  • Does thesis make clear your judgment of your topic?

  • Can you see ways to make your thesis more precise or detailed?

  • Could you make thesis more persuasive or specific based on information that you gathered while planning, drafting, or developing your essay?

Be Fair. Make your judgments reasonable, not extreme. A reviewer can find fault with a film and still conclude that it is worth seeing. There’s nothing wrong, of course, with a fervent judgment (“This play is the trashiest excuse for a drama I have ever suffered through”), but consider your readers and their likely reactions. Read some reviews in your local newspaper or online, or watch some movie critics on television to see how they balance their judgments. Because readers will have more confidence in your opinions if you seem fair and reasonable, revise your tone where needed. For example, one writer revised his opening after he realized that he was criticizing the audience rather than evaluating the performance.

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For general questions for a peer editor, see Re-viewing and Revising in Ch. 23.

Peer Response Evaluating and Reviewing

Peer Responseimage Evaluating and Reviewing

Enlist the advice of a classmate or friend as you determine your criteria for evaluation and your judgment. Ask your peer editor to answer questions like these about your evaluation:

  • What is your overall reaction to this essay? Does the writer persuade you to agree with his or her evaluation?

  • When you finish the essay, can you tell exactly what the writer thinks of the subject? Where does the writer express this opinion?

  • How do you know what criteria the writer is using for evaluation?

  • Does the writer give you sufficient evidence for his or her judgment? Put stars wherever more or better evidence is needed.

  • What audience does the writer seem to have in mind?

  • Would you recommend any changes in the essay’s organization?

  • If this paper were yours, what is the one thing you would be sure to work on before handing it in?

REVISION CHECKLIST

  • Is the judgment you pass on your subject unmistakably clear?

  • Have you given your readers evidence to support each point you make?

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  • Have you been fair? If you are championing something, have you deliberately skipped over its disadvantages or faults? If you are condemning your subject, have you omitted its admirable traits?

  • Have you anticipated and answered readers’ possible objections?

  • If you compare two things, do you look at the same points in both?

For more on comparison and contrast, see Ch. 7.

For more on editing and proofreading strategies, see Editing and Proofreading in Ch. 23.

For more help, find the relevant checklist sections in the Quick Editing Guide. Also see to the Quick Format Guide.

After you have revised your evaluation, edit and proofread it. Carefully check the grammar, word choice, punctuation, and mechanics—and then correct any problems you find. Make sentences in which you describe the subject of your evaluation as precise and useful as possible. If you have used comparisons or contrasts, make sure these are clear: don’t lose your readers in a fog of vague pronouns or confusing references.

EDITING CHECKLIST

  • A6Is it clear what each pronoun refers to? Does each pronoun agree with (match) its antecedent?

  • B1Is it clear what each modifier in a sentence modifies? Have you created any dangling or misplaced modifiers, especially in descriptions of your subject?

  • B2Have you used parallel structure wherever needed, especially in lists or comparisons?