Evaluation Essays

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Evaluation Essays
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• Evaluative essays seek to prompt readers to
  examine their own values and to perhaps accept
  the view of the writer.
• In this sense, evaluation shares characteristics
  with argumentation.
• Evaluation can be used in book and movie reviews,
  to describe a work process, or to describe just
  about anything about which we can make an overall
  judgment.

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Features of Evaluations

• An adequately described subject.
• An overall judgment
• A convincing argument reasons and support
• Anticipates objections and alternative judgments

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What Characterizes an Adequately Described
Subject?

• The writer should describe the subject of the
  essay in some detail, according to what he or she
  thinks the reader should know. For example, if
  you are going to evaluate a book, you must inform
  the reader about the name of the author, date of
  publication, subject matter, and etc.
• Writers usually provide only enough information
  to allow their readers to accept their judgment.
• The emphasis, therefore, is placed on the
  authoritative voice of the writer.

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Making an Overall Judgment

• The writers viewpoint must be asserted through a
  definitive judgment.
• This judgment should be the writer's thesis
  statement.
• The body of the essay should seek to prove the
  thesis, even if a writer must give a balanced
  appraisal by anticipating objections.

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Constructing a Convincing Argument

• Present an argument based on reasonable criteria.
  Reasonable criteria means using standards that
  are generally used to describe something.
• Writers should also provide evidence to support
  their argument.
• Evidence might include description, examples,
  facts, statistics, appropriate quotations,
  interviews, and testimony of others.
• A writer may also choose to make comparisons when
  writing an evaluation. For instance, the mystery
  novel could be compared to an Agatha Christie
  novel to help clarify its strengths and
  weaknesses.

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Anticipating objections and alternative judgments
in writingAssume some readers will judge your
subject differently from you, and try to respond
to their opposing views

• The writers response might consist of a simple
  acknowledgement of the disagreements
• Or, the writer might elect to accommodate
  readers views by conceding certain points to the
  opposing side
• OR the writer might choose to refute readers
  arguments as uninformed or mistaken.