Need this by tomorrow 6/15/2021
reesespieces12
Articulateessaysample1.pptx
Much More About Evaluating
Many student struggle with developing their essays (coming up with or elaborating on ideas).
Don’t rush through this PowerPoint. Also, take notes.
Evaluating:
When you’re evaluating, you’re making a judgment, which means giving your opinion.
Example of a positive judgment: School of Rock is a great movie.
Supporting ideas I might use: touching scenes, funny scenes, creative performances
Negative Evaluation/Judgment
Example: School of Rock is a bad movie.
Possible supporting ideas: Jack Black’s overacting, unrealistic plot and ending
(I don’t agree with this judgment. I adore School of Rock.)
Explaining Vs. Evaluating
If you are mostly explaining what a work (for instance, a song, article, or photo) means in your essays, you aren’t following the instructions.
Example of explaining instead of evaluating:
The photo shows a family celebrating Dia de Los Muertos. Some believe the marigolds guide spirits to the memorials their families have created. The sugar skills represent the loved ones who are buried at the site. Delicate paper decorations represent life’s fragility.
(Note: The passage is explaining the meaning of parts of Day of the Dead rituals instead of saying why the author believes the photo is powerful.)
Why You Don’t Usually Need First Person (“I,” “my,” etc., to explain your opinions:
We all give our opinions without saying “I” (opinion parts are in bold):
Examples:
This photo powerfully captures the many emotions that be connected to grief.
This photo’s unique perspective effectively conveys the terrifying situation the soldiers are entering.
More About Explaining
It’s not always bad to explain ideas from an article or other work. Some classes have students write summaries that just explain ideas in an article, for instance. Even in essays in my class, you must explain some ideas, so they’ll make sense. For instance, if you evaluating Tim Urban’s blog post, “Taming the Mammoth,” you have to explain what the mammoth represents. Otherwise, your reader will be lost.
However,
The main purpose of English 1301’s essays is to evaluate through analyzing, so your main focus has to be presenting/supporting your own judgments.
Why using topic sentences can be helpful and samples
A “topic sentence” states the main idea of a paragraph that the rest of a paragraph supports. I often use them. They can help the writer stay focused on supporting their ideas, and the reader follow ideas more easily.
Sample topic sentences for an evaluation essay:
1. Various elements create an eerie tone that fits the photo’s grim subject.
2. The photo beautifully conveys the boy and his dog’s comfort with each other.
The topic sentence is just the beginning of stating your opinion
Sometimes students will start with a good topic sentence but then don’t support it well.
Example of a topic sentence that could work well:
Jason Howard effectively argues that the media and the country’s leaders didn’t pay enough attention to the fires in Appalachia.
However, if the rest of the paragraph just explains Howard’s ideas without explaining what’s effective about his argument, the paragraph isn’t evaluating.
Notice how after the topic sentence I’m mostly just restating what Howard says in his article
Jason Howard effectively argues that the media and the country’s leaders didn’t pay enough attention to the fires in Appalachia or were mean about them. (topic sentence that could work) He says that the national media has paid little attention to the fire, with two national shows offering “only a few combined minutes of anemic coverage.” Also, the White House and president-elect Trump hadn’t even made a statement by the time the article had been published. Howard believes that if expensive homes like the ones in California had been damaged, the media would have paid more attention. Finally, Howard notes that social media commentators have made hateful statements about the suffering Appalachians because many people in Tennessee voted for Trump. He’s angry about the lack of concern.
(Again, the support for this topic sentence is not strong.)
A necessarily short version of a topic sentence followed by evaluation instead of just restatements
Howard effectively argues that the media and the country’s leaders didn’t pay enough attention to the fires in Appalachia or were mean about them. (same topic sentence) Howard notes that 14,000 people had to evacuate from Gatlinburg alone, and this extremely high number does seem to warrant heavy media coverage. (example that supports my opinion with reasoning) However, Howard points out that CNN and “Good Morning America” devoted “only a few combined minutes of anemic coverage” to the tragedy. “Anemic” is an effective word to describe the coverage because it literally refers to a condition in which people don’t have enough healthy red blood cells. A common symptom is weakness, so the word is a more vivid way to signify the media’s response, which seemed to lack energy. (example that supports my opinion along with my reasoning) Also, it’s hard to think of a good reason why neither President Obama and president-elect Trump wouldn’t have commented on such a huge, heartbreaking disaster. It’s sad to think that neither one of them sent public condolences even if they were planning to send emergency help. (example along with reasoning)
(Just to be extra clear, this would be a much better body paragraph for the article analysis essay you just finished.)
Let’s Review Another Example of Evaluation Using Fred Rogers
Thesis statement of essay: Fred Rogers argues brilliantly for public television funding by creating common ground with his audience and conveying both wisdom and passion.
Body paragraph beginning: Fred Rogers is smart to create common ground with Senator Pastore. (topic sentence) For instance, he tells Pastore, “I’m very much concerned, as I know you are, with what’s being delivered to our children in this country.” (example from speech) Pastore is more inclined to listen to Rogers’s ideas patiently since Rogers has put them both on the “same team,” especially since Pastore was already irritable. If Rogers’s statements had positioned himself and Pastore as adversaries instead of allies, this would have set up a “win/lose” situation. Instead, Rogers has wisely set up a “win/win” setting. (my reasoning)
The Big Picture
It can be helpful to state your overall opinion for a body paragraph in a topic sentence
Fill the rest of the paragraph with development for your overall opinion (topic sentence) in the form of examples and reasoning
Let’s examine one more example of evaluation using this famous photo that shows the Kennedy family at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral procession (1963)
Study the photo.
Then go to the next
slides to read ideas
and a sample body
paragraph.
Possible body paragraph topics for a short essay over this photo
The looks and body language of the adults in the photo (Mrs. Kennedy and two of the dead president’s brothers) show great grief, making the photo more powerful
The youth and innocence of the president’s two children, especially his little boy, also make the photo more effective
Example of evaluation (judgment) of a body paragraph draft about the children in the photo
The two Kennedy children, especially “John John,” convey a heartbreaking sense of innocence, which gives the photograph more power. (topic sentence) Both children may be too small to comprehend fully that they’ve lost their father. Caroline is looking down at a book, perhaps the funeral program, with what seems like a neutral expression. “John-John,” the son, is barely past the toddler stage of development; he’s not even old enough to wear long pants to a funeral. Yet, the little boy is saluting his father’s casket as it passes. If he were a teenager, his face would probably show grief and/or formality, but he probably doesn’t even know what a salute represents. Seeing such a young child make this adult, military sign of respect to his deceased father rends the heart of the viewer. Unlike the innocent children, the viewer fully comprehends the horror that has just happened to the Kennedy family and the country. (examples from the photo about each child and development for why their innocence is heartbreaking under the circumstance)
Notes about the previous examples:
What I really want you to see is that stating and then supporting your opinions should be the focus of your body paragraphs.
Reminder as you work on the photo evaluation essay: I’ve given you some context for all of the four photos you may choose from, but don’t use additional research. Again, this is not a research paper.
Finally…
If you have not been focusing on evaluating in your essays but instead just explaining, study this PowerPoint more than once and take notes from it.
Take enough time to study all of the materials in the “Photo Evaluation” section before you begin writing and while you are writing. Rushing the prep work for writing gets in the way in doing the assignment correctly.
Feel free to make a phone or video appointment to talk to me about your draft, so we can talk about your specific essay (you can’t just email the draft to me, unfortunately).
