Reconsider Your Evidence

Good criteria and reasonable judgments are the heart of an effective evaluative essay, but they are seldom sufficient to convince readers to accept your point of view. Presenting an evaluation — even a careful one — that lacks well-chosen evidence is like telling your readers, “Look. I’m really smart, and I’m making good judgments. Trust me.” Few readers, of course, give their trust so easily. As you review your essay, ask whether you’ve provided enough evidence to support your judgments. Then ask whether you’ve chosen the right evidence. As you conduct your review, make sure that you haven’t relied so heavily on a single source of evidence that it appears as though you’re simply borrowing someone else’s evaluation. Try to draw evidence from multiple sources, such as published documents and personal experience.