english homework

Evaluation Essay 4

How to approach the assignment

Your Evaluation Essay is a paper evaluating a subject of your choice: a website, computer program, restaurant, movie, product, article, etc. For the purposes of this assignment, please do not evaluate an abstraction: an issue, an idea, a political party, a policy. You should try to be as objective as possible here, but do offer a definitive opinion.

It's best not to choose something that you absolutely love and tell us all the reasons you might love it or something you loathe and tell us all the reasons it stinks. Instead, consider reviewing something with which you are unfamiliar and try to look at it fairly. Base your essay on personal experience, not research. (Remember that research sources include class lectures, coursework, newspaper and magazine articles, radio programs, TV news shows, and websites, as well as books.) If you do draw on research in your essay, your rough or final draft will be returned, ungraded, for your revision.

The paper should be:

· 3-4 pages in length (which is 750 to 1,000 words)

· 12-point font in Times New Roman or Arial

· double spaced

All of the papers you write for this class should be entirely your own work. The penalty for taking part or all of your ideas or words from someone else's work is a zero for the assignment -- and possibly, depending on the seriousness of the plagiarism, an "F" for the course. Your academic honesty is necessary for this course to be fair, effective, and worthwhile.

Tips for Choosing a Subject

What do you look for in a good _______________? Fill the blank: magazine, movie, concert, club, etc. We all know what we like, but for this assignment, you have to consider why you like it.

Brainstorm a long list completing a sentence like "A good video game needs ...," "When I go to a movie, I look for ..." Fill a screen with ideas. Now, consider which of these things are personal preferences and which are objective measures of quality. For example, The Notebook may be your favorite movie of all time, but it is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. Sure, it's romantic, has attractive leading actors, and is a tear jerker, but it's also predictable, formulaic, and (some might even say,) corny. So, choose objective criteria. The movie might be great for a girls' night out since it's romantic and satisfying, but may not be worthy of critical acclaim due to its lack of originality and artistry.

It is much easier to write about something about which you have not yet formed an opinion so you can view it with "fresh" eyes. Visit a website you've never seen before or play that new video game you've heard about. It's also helpful to choose something on which you're somewhat of an "expert," or something that might be useful to you. A photography major might evaluate a camera she/he was considering purchasing. If you're an art major, write about a painting or exhibit. Don't write about a video game if you rarely play them; instead, choose something with which you feel comfortable.

One pitfall of the evaluation paper is that there's a big temptation to summarize or describe, rather than make judgments. Movie evaluations should not just tell the reader what happened in the movie (in fact, movie reviews that do this can really spoil things for the prospective moviegoer!) They might discuss the acting, directing, photography, and dialogue. Be very careful not to simply summarize the plot if you choose to work on a book or movie review. Focus on the criteria you used to make your judgment instead.

It is equally difficult to evaluate an abstraction: a political policy, a candidate, etc. because these papers tend to verge on arguing about an issue, which is the subject for the next paper. So, choose something you can see, touch, or experience, and write about that. Evaluate a restaurant based on its atmosphere, menu, service and price, or evaluate a website based on its graphics, ease of navigation, etc.

Once you've chosen a topic, try clustering to come up with criteria, and then find examples to support each one. For example, if you're evaluating an album or song, one of your criteria might be lyrics. Find examples of lyrics that are particularly interesting or horrible to support the judgment you're making about the lyrics. Proceed in this way with each criterion, and you'll have the beginnings of your paper.

Evaluation Essay – Rough Draft

Your paper should have a thesis statement -- a sentence which summarizes the main idea. In this case, your thesis will be a judgment, and establish criteria. You might, for example, state that a particular book is undeserving of the attention it's receiving, based on its poor writing and plot loopholes, or that a particular band is worth a listen based on its original lyrics and fabulous guitar playing. Readers need to know what you look for in a good book or band and then how a particular book or band meets (or doesn't meet) that criteria.

Thesis Statement

Many writers choose to grab readers' attention in the first paragraph and then end that introduction with a thesis statement. A paper about a restaurant, for example, might begin with a description of the atmosphere that greeted you when you walked in the door and then move on to a thesis statement that states that the first impression was misleading and that the restaurant was a disappointment.

A paper about a video game might begin by establishing what makes for a quality game, transition into a bit of gaming action to get our attention, and then move on to discuss how good the game is based on that established criteria.

Body Paragraphs

The body of your paper should be organized around the criteria you established. If you're evaluating a magazine, you might first include a paragraph or two about the graphics and layout; then move on to discuss the variety of articles for a few paragraphs, then move on to the other criteria, etc.

You may include personal opinion in this essay, but the focus in this paper should not be on you, as it was in the last paper. The focus should be on the subject you are evaluating and the judgment you are making. You should keep personal information to a minimum, but you might spend a sentence or at least part of a sentence explaining why you chose to evaluate this particular subject or possibly why you are an expert on it.

Conclusion

Generally avoid using "you" in an academic essay unless you are referring to the reader specifically. Once again, you should end your essay with a satisfying conclusion.

· Consider referring back to that opening attention getter, or offering a final judgment: "Even with all of its flaws, this game is a great way to spend an hour or two."

· Restate your thesis now that you have established credibility with your audience. Is this worth our time to read the book, buy the song, or play the video game?

· Answer your readers' questions, and tie up all loose ends. You might like to summarize or offer some final comments about your subject.

· Don't just stop writing when you’ve run out of things to say; your reader needs to feel that the paper is finished.

When grading your evaluation essay, I'll be looking for the following:

Ideas:

· Interesting, specific, and concrete subject that engages the reader

· Makes a judgment based on specific criteria or standards, rather than just describing/summarizing

· Thesis statement makes your topic and your judgment clear

· Shows awareness of audience and potential counterarguments

· Readers clearly understand merits/shortcomings of the subject

Details:

· Specific examples support your judgment

· Avoids summary

· Readers feel that you are well-qualified to evaluate the subject

· All description/detail is relevant to the thesis

· Uses your own ideas and reasons to back up your judgment - nothing lifted from outside sources

Style:

· Interesting and correct word choice

· Good sentence variety

· Punctuation, grammar, and spelling are correct

· Writing is clear and concise

Organization:

· Thesis is clearly presented early enough in essay to guide criteria/structure

· Stays focused on specific criteria.

· Introduction gets reader's attention and makes him/her want to keep reading

· Paragraphs are focused and unified, with clear transitions between criteria.

· Conclusion ties up loose ends and closes effectively