Because the Nissan has the lowest initial price, it receives the most favorable judgment. The evidence is found on the price tag. Each car is compared by way of a single criterion: cost.
When we evaluate informally (passing judgments during the course of conversation, for instance), we typically assume that our criteria are self-evident and require no explanation. However, in written evaluation, it is often necessary that we clarify and define our criteria in order to make a persuasive evaluative argument.
Although we frequently find ourselves needing to use abstract criteria like "feasibility" or "effectiveness," we also must avoid using criteria that are overly vague or personal and difficult to support with evidence. As evaluators, we must steer clear of criteria that are matters of taste, belief, or personal preference. For example, the "best" lamp might simply be the one that you think looks prettiest in your home. If you depend on a criterion like "pretty in my home," and neglect to use more common, shared criteria like "brightness," "cost," and "weight," you are probably relying on a criterion that is too specific to your own personal preferences. To make "pretty in my home" an effective criterion, you would need to explain what "pretty in my home" means and how it might relate to other people's value systems. (For example: "Lamp A is attractive because it is an unoffensive style and color that would be appropriate for many people's decorating tastes.")
When you make judgments, it is important that you use criteria that are appropriate to the type of object, person, policy, etc. that you are examining. If you are evaluating Steven Spielburg's film, Schindler's List , for instance, it is unfair to criticize it because it isn't a knee-slapper. Because "Schindler's List" is a drama and not a comedy, using the criterion of "humor" is inappropriate.
Once you have established criteria for your evaluation of a subject, it is necessary to decide which of these criteria are most important. For example, if you are evaluating a Mexican restaurant and you have arrived at several criteria (variety of items on the menu, spiciness of the food, size of the portions, decor, and service), you need to decide which of these criteria are most critical to your evaluation. If the size of the portions is good, but the service is bad, can you give the restaurant a good rating? What about if the decor is attractive, but the food is bland? Once you have placed your criteria in a hierarchy of importance, it is much easier to make decisions like these.
When we evaluate, we must consider the audience we hope to influence with our judgments. This is particularly true when we decide which criteria are informing (and should inform) these judgments.
After establishing some criteria for your evaluation, it is important to ask yourself whether or not your audience is likely to accept those criteria. It is crucial that they do accept the criteria if, in turn, you expect them to accept the supporting judgments and overall claim or judgment built on them.
Related Information: Explaining and Defending Criteria
In deciding which criteria will be effective in your evaluation is determining which criteria your audience considers important. For example, if you are writing a review of a Mexican restaurant to an audience comprised mainly of senior citizens from the midwest, it is unlikely that "large portions" and "fiery green chile" will be the criteria most important to them. They might be more concerned, rather, with "quality of service" or "availability of heart smart menu items." Trying to anticipate and address your audience's values is an indispensable step in writing a persuasive evaluative argument.
Related Information: Understanding Audience Criteria
Laura Thomas - Composition Lecturer Your background experience influences the criteria that you use in evaluation. If you know a lot about something, you will have a good idea of what criteria should govern your judgments. On the other hand, it's hard if you don't know enough about what you're judging. Sometimes you have to research first in order to come up with useful criteria. For example, I recently went shopping for a new pair of skis for the first time in fifteen years. When I began shopping, I realized that I didn't even know what questions to ask anymore. The last time I had bought skis, you judged them according to whether they had a foam core or a wood core. But I had no idea what the important considerations were anymore.
Evidence consists of the specifics you use to reach your conclusion or judgment. For example, if you judge that "La Cocina's green chile is superb" on the basis of the criterion, "Good green chile is so fiery that you can barely eat it," you might offer evidence like the following:
"I drank an entire pitcher of water on my own during the course of the meal."
"Though my friend wouldn't admit that the chile was challenging for him, I saw beads of sweat form on his brow."
Related Information: Example Text
In the following paragraph, evidence appears in italics. Note that the reference to the New York Times backs up the evidence offered in the previous sentence:
Since killer whales have small lymphatic systems, they catch infections more easily when held captive ( Obee 23 ). The orca from the movie "Free Willy," Keiko, developed a skin disorder because the water he was living in was not cold enough. This infection was a result of the combination of tank conditions and the animal's immune system, according to a New York Times article .
Evidence for academic evaluations is usually of two types: concrete detail and analytic detail. Analytic detail comes from critical thinking about abstract elements of the thing being evaluated. It will also include quotations from experts. Concrete detail comes from sense perceptions and measurements--facts about color, speed, size, texture, smell, taste, and so on. Concrete details are more likely to support concrete criteria (as opposed to abstract criteria) used in judging objects. Analytic detail will more often support abstract criteria (as opposed to concrete criteria), like the criterion "feasibility," discussed in the section on criteria. Analytic detail also appears most often in academic evaluations of solutions to problems, although such solutions can also sometimes be evaluated according to concrete criteria.
Good evidence ranges from personal experience to interviews with experts to published sources. The kind of evidence that works best for you will depend on your audience and often on the writing assignment you have been given.
When you choose evidence to support the judgments you are making in an evaluation, it will be important to consider what type of evaluation you are being asked to do. If, for instance, you are being asked to review a play you have attended, your evidence will most likely consist primarily of your own observations. However, if your assignment asks you to compare and contrast two potential national health care policies (toward deciding which is the better one), your evidence will need to be more statistical, more dependent on reputable sources, and more directed toward possible effects or outcomes of your judgment.
Comparison and contrast is the process of positioning an item or concept being evaluated among other like items or concepts. We are all familiar with this technique as it's used in the marketing of products: soft drink "taste tests," comparisons of laundry detergent effectiveness, and the like. It is a way of determining the value of something in relation to comparable things. For example, if you have made the judgment that "La Cocina's green chile is superb" and you have offered evidence of the spiciness and the flavor of the chile, you might also use comparison by giving your audience a scale on which to base judgment: "La Cocina's chile is even more fiery and flavorful than Manuel's, which is by no means a walk in the park."
In this case, the writer compares limestone with wood to show that limestone is a better building material. Although this comparison could be developed much more, it still begins to point out the relative merits of limestone. Concrete is a feasible substitute for wood as a building material. Concrete comes from a rock called limestone. Limestone is found all over the United States. By using limestone instead of wood, the dependence on dwindling forest reserves would decrease. There are more sedimentary rocks than there are forests left in this country, and they are more evenly distributed. For this reason, it is quite possible to switch from wood to concrete as the primary building material for residential construction.
Comparing and contrasting rarely means placing the item or concept being evaluated in relation to another item or concept that is obviously grossly inferior. For instance, if you are attempting to demonstrate the value of a Cannondale mountain bike, it would be foolish to compare it with a Huffy. However, it would be useful to compare it with a Klein, arguably a similar bicycle. In this type of maneuver, you are not comparing good with bad; rather, you are deciding which bike is better and which bike is worse. In order to determine relative worth in this way, you will need to be very careful in defining the criteria you are using to make the comparison.
In order to make comparison and contrast function well in evaluation, it is necessary to be attentive to: 1) focusing on the item or concept under consideration and 2) the use of evidence in comparison and contrast. When using comparison and contrast, writers must remember that they are using comparable items or concepts only as a way of demonstrating the worth of the main item or concept under consideration. It is easy to lose focus when using this technique, because of the temptation to evaluate two (or more) items or concepts rather than just the one under consideration. It is important to remember that judgments made on the basis of comparison and contrast need to be supported with evidence. It is not enough to assert that "La Cocina's chile is even more fiery and flavorful than Manuel's." It will be necessary to support this judgment with evidence, showing in what ways La Cocina's chile is more flavorful: "Manuel's chile relies heavily on a tomato base, giving it an Italian flavor. La Cocina follows a more traditional recipe which uses little tomato and instead flavors the chile with shredded pork, a dash of vinegar, and a bit of red chile to give it a piquant taste."
A variety of writing assignments call for evaluation. Bearing in mind the various approaches that might be demanded by those particular assignments, this section offers some general strategies for formulating a written evaluation.
Sometimes your topic for evaluation will be dictated by the writing assignment you have been given. Other times, though, you will be required to choose your own topic. Common sense tells you that it is best to choose something about which you already have a base knowledge. For instance, if you are a skier, you might want to evaluate a particular model of skis. In addition, it is best to choose something that is tangible, observable, and/or researchable. For example, if you chose a topic like "methods of sustainable management of forests," you would know that there would be research to support your evaluation. Likewise, if you chose to evaluate a film like Pulp Fiction , you could rent the video and watch it several times in order to get the evidence you needed. However, you would have fewer options if you were to choose an abstract concept like "loyalty" or "faith." When evaluating, it is usually best to steer clear of abstractions like these as much as possible.
Once you have chosen a topic, you might begin your evaluation by thinking about what you already know about the topic. In doing this, you will be coming up with possible judgments to include in your evaluation. Begin with a tentative overall judgment or claim. Then decide what supporting judgments you might make to back that claim. Keep in mind that your judgments will likely change as you collect evidence for your evaluation.
Start by making an overall judgment on the topic in question, based on what you already know. For instance, if you were writing an evaluation of sustainable management practices in forestry, your tentative overall judgment might be: "Sustainable management is a viable way of dealing with deforestation in old growth forests."
With a tentative overall judgment in mind, you can begin to brainstorm judgments (or reasons) that could support your overall judgment by asking the question, "Why?" For example, asking "Why?" of the tentative overall judgment "Sustainable management is a viable way of dealing with deforestation in old growth forests" might yield the following supporting judgments:
When brainstorming possible judgments this early in the writing process, it is necessary to keep an open mind as you enter into the stage in which you collect evidence. Once you have done observations, analysis, or research, you might find that you are unable to advance your tentative overall judgment. Or you might find that some of the supporting judgments you came up with are not true or are not supportable. Your findings might also point you toward other judgments you can make in addition to the ones you are already making.
To prepare to organize and write your evaluation, it is important to clearly define the criteria you are using to make your judgments. These criteria govern the direction of the evaluation and provide structure and justification for the judgments you make.
We often work backwards from the judgments we make, discovering what criteria we are using on the basis of what our judgments look like. For instance, our tentative judgments about sustainable management practices are as follows:
If we were to analyze these judgments, asking ourselves why we made them, we would see that we used the following criteria: wellbeing of the logging industry, conservation of resources, wellbeing of the environment, and cost.
Once you have identified the criteria informing your initial judgments, you will want to determine what other criteria should be included in your evaluation. For example, in addition to the criteria you've already come up with (wellbeing of the logging industry, conservation of resources, wellbeing of the environment, and cost), you might include the criterion of preservation of the old growth forests.
In deciding which criteria are most important to include in your evaluation, it is necessary to consider the criteria your audience is likely to find important. Let's say we are directing our evaluation of sustainable management methods toward an audience of loggers. If we look at our list of criteria--wellbeing of the logging industry, conservation of resources, wellbeing of the environment, cost, and preservation of the old growth forests--we might decide that wellbeing of the logging industry and cost are the criteria most important to loggers. At this point, we would also want to identify additional criteria the audience might expect us to address: perhaps feasibility, labor requirements, and efficiency.
Once you have developed a long list of possible criteria for judging your subject (in this case, sustainable management methods), you will need to narrow the list, since it is impractical and ineffective to use of all possible criteria in your essay. To decide which criteria to address, determine which are least dispensable, both to you and to your audience. Your own criteria were: wellbeing of the logging industry, conservation of resources, wellbeing of the environment, cost, and preservation of the old growth forests. Those you anticipated for your audience were: feasibility, labor requirements, and efficiency. In the written evaluation, you might choose to address those criteria most important to your audience, with a couple of your own included. For example, your list of indispensable criteria might look like this: wellbeing of the logging industry, cost, labor requirements, efficiency, conservation of resources, and preservation of the old growth forests.
Stephen Reid, English Professor Warrants (to use a term from argumentation) come on the scene when we ask why a given criterion should be used or should be acceptable in evaluating the particular text, product, or performance in question. When we ask WHY a particular criterion should be important (let's say, strong performance in an automobile engine, quickly moving plot in a murder mystery, outgoing personality in a teacher), we are getting at the assumptions (i.e., the warrant) behind why the data is relevant to the claim of value we are about to make. Strong performance in an automobile engine might be a positive criterion in an urban, industrialized environment, where traveling at highway speeds on American interstates is important. But we might disagree about whether strong performance (accompanied by lower mileage) might be important in a rural European environment where gas costs are several dollars a litre. Similarly, an outgoing personality for a teacher might be an important standard of judgment or criterion in a teacher-centered classroom, but we could imagine another kind of decentered class where interpersonal skills are more important than teacher personality. By QUESTIONING the validity and appropriateness of a given criterion in a particular situation, we are probing for the ASSUMPTIONS or WARRANTS we are making in using that criterion in that particular situation. Thus, criteria are important, but it is often equally important for writers to discuss the assumptions that they are making in choosing the major criteria in their evaluations.
Once you have established the central criteria you will use in our evaluation, you will investigate your subject in terms of these criteria. In order to investigate the subject of sustainable management methods, you would more than likely have to research whether these methods stand up to the criteria you have established: wellbeing of the logging industry, cost, labor requirements, time efficiency, conservation of resources, and preservation of the old growth forests. However, library research is only one of the techniques evaluators use. Depending on the type of evaluation being made, the evaluator might use such methods as observation, field research, and analysis.
The best place to start looking for evidence is with the knowledge you already possess. To do this, you might try brainstorming, clustering, or freewriting ideas.
When you are evaluating policies, issues, or products, you will usually need to conduct library research to find the evidence your evaluation requires. It is always a good idea to check journals, databases, and bibliographies relevant to your subject when you begin research. It is also helpful to speak with a reference librarian about how to get started.
When you are asked to evaluate a performance, event, place, object, or person, one of the best methods available is simple observation. What makes observation not so simple is the need to focus on criteria you have developed ahead of time. If, for instance, you are reviewing a student production of Hamlet , you will want to review your list of criteria (perhaps quality of acting, costumes, faithfulness to the text, set design, lighting, and length of time before intermission) before attending the play. During or after the play, you will want to take as many notes as possible, keeping these criteria in mind.
To expand your evaluation beyond your personal perspective or the perspective of your sources, you might conduct your own field research . Typical field research techniques include interviewing, taking a survey, administering a questionnaire, and conducting an experiment. These methods can help you support your judgment and can sometimes help you determine whether or not your judgment is valid.
When you are asked to evaluate a text, analysis is often the technique you will use in collecting evidence. If you are analyzing an argument, you might use the Toulmin Method. Other texts might not require such a structured analysis but might be better addressed by more general critical reading strategies.
After developing a list of indispensable criteria, you will need to "test" the subject according to these criteria. At this point, it will probably be necessary to collect evidence (through research, analysis, or observation) to determine, for example, whether sustainable management methods would hold up to the criteria you have established: wellbeing of the logging industry, cost, labor requirements, efficiency, conservation of resources, and preservation of the old growth forests. One way of recording the results of this "test" is by putting your notes in a three-column log.
One of the best ways to organize your information in preparation for writing is to construct an informal outline of sorts. Outlines might be arranged according to criteria, comparison and contrast, chronological order, or causal analysis. They also might follow what Robert K. Miller and Suzanne S. Webb refer to in their book, Motives for Writing (2nd ed.) as "the pattern of classical oration for evaluations" (286). In addition to deciding on a general structure for your evaluation, it will be necessary to determine the most appropriate placement for your overall claim or judgment.
Writers can state their final position at the beginning or the end of an essay. The same is true of the overall claim or judgment in a written evaluation.
When you place your overall claim or judgment at the end of your written evaluation, you are able to build up to it and to demonstrate how your evaluative argument (evidence, explanation of criteria, etc.) has led to that judgment.
Writers of academic evaluations normally don't need to keep readers in suspense about their judgments. By stating the overall claim or judgment early in the paper, writers help readers both to see the structure of the essay and to accept the evidence as convincing proof of the judgment. (Writers of evaluations should remember, of course, that there is no rule against stating the overall claim or judgment at both the beginning and the end of the essay.)
The following is an example from Stephen Reid's The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers (4th ed.), showing how a writer might arrange an evaluation according to criteria:
Introductory paragraphs: information about the restaurant (location, hours, prices), general description of Chinese restaurants today, and overall claim : The Hunan Dynasty is reliable, a good value, and versatile.
Criterion # 1/Judgment: Good restaurants should have an attractive setting and atmosphere/Hunan Dynasty is attractive.
Criterion # 2/Judgment: Good restaurants should give strong priority to service/ Hunan Dynasty has, despite an occasional glitch, expert service.
Criterion # 3/Judgment: Restaurants that serve modestly priced food should have quality main dishes/ Main dishes at Hunan Dynasty are generally good but not often memorable. (Note: The most important criterion--the quality of the main dishes--is saved for last.)
Concluding paragraphs: Hunan Dynasty is a top-flight neighborhood restaurant (338).
Sometimes comparison and contrast is not merely a strategy used in part [italics] of an evaluation, but is the strategy governing the organization of the entire essay. The following are examples from Stephen Reid's The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers (4th ed.), showing two ways that a writer might organize an evaluation according to comparison and contrast.
Introductory paragraph(s)
Thesis [or overall claim/judgment]: Although several friends recommended the Yakitori, we preferred the Unicorn for its more authentic atmosphere, courteous service, and well-prepared food. [Notice that the criteria are stated in this thesis.]
Authentic atmosphere: Yakitori vs. Unicorn
Courteous service: Yakitori vs. Unicorn
Well-prepared food: Yakitori vs. Unicorn
Concluding paragraph(s) (Reid 339)
The Yakitori : atmosphere, service, and food
The Unicorn : atmosphere, service, and food as compared to the Yakitori
Concluding paragraph(s) (Reid 339).
Writers often follow chronological order when evaluating or reviewing events or performances. This method of organization allows the writer to evaluate portions of the event or performance in the order in which it happens.
When using analysis to evaluate places, objects, events, or policies, writers often focus on causes or effects. The following is an example from Stephen Reid's The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers (4th ed.), showing how one writer organizes an evaluation of a Goya painting by discussing its effects on the viewer.
Criterion #1/Judgment: The iconography, or use of symbols, contributes to the powerful effect of this picture on the viewer.
Evidence : The church as a symbol of hopefulness contrasts with the cruelty of the execution. The spire on the church emphasizes for the viewer how powerless the Church is to save the victims.
Criterion #2/Judgment: The use of light contributes to the powerful effect of the picture on the viewer.
Evidence : The light casts an intense glow on the scene, and its glaring, lurid, and artificial qualities create the same effect on the viewer that modern art sometimes does.
Criterion #3/Judgment: The composition or use of formal devices contributes to the powerful effect of the picture on the viewer.
Evidence : The diagonal lines scissors the picture into spaces that give the viewer a claustrophobic feeling. The corpse is foreshortened, so that it looks as though the dead man is bidding the viewer welcome (Reid 340).
Robert K. Miller and Suzanne S. Webb, in their book, Motives for Writing (2nd ed.) discuss what they call "the pattern of classical oration for evaluations," which incorporates opposing evaluations as well as supporting reasons and judgments. This pattern is as follows:
Present your subject. (This discussion includes any background information, description, acknowledgement of weaknesses, and so forth.)
State your criteria. (If your criteria are controversial, be sure to justify them.)
Make your judgment. (State it as clearly and emphatically as possible.)
Give your reasons. (Be sure to present good evidence for each reason.)
Refute opposing evaluations. (Let your reader know you have given thoughtful consideration to opposing views, since such views exist.)
State your conclusion. (You may restate or summarize your judgment.) (Miller and Webb 286-7)
The following is a portion of an outline for an evaluation, organized by way of supporting judgments or reasons. Notice that this pattern would need to be repeated (using criteria other than the fieriness of the green chile) in order to constitute a complete evaluation proving that "Although La Cocina is not without its faults, it is the best Mexican restaurant in town."
Intro Paragraph Leading to Overall Judgment: "Although La Cocina is not without its faults, it is the best Mexican restaurant in town."
Supporting Judgment: "La Cocina's green chile is superb."
Criterion used to make this judgment: "Good green chile is so fiery that you can barely eat it."
Evidence in support of this judgment: "I drank an entire pitcher of water on my own during the course of the meal" or "Though my friend wouldn't admit that the chile was challenging for him, I saw beads of sweat form on his brow."
Supporting Judgment made by way of Comparison and Contrast: "La Cocina's chile is even more fiery and flavorful than Manuel's, which is by no means a walk in the park itself."
Evidence in support of this judgment: "Manuel's chile relies heavily on a tomato base, giving it an Italian flavor. La Cocina follows a more traditional recipe which uses little tomato, and instead flavors the chile with shredded pork, a dash of vinegar, and a bit of red chile to give it a piquant taste."
If you have an outline to follow, writing a draft of a written evaluation is simple. Stephen Reid, in his Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers , recommends that writers maintain focus on both the audience they are addressing and the central criteria they want to include. Such a focus will help writers remember what their audience expects and values and what is most important in constructing an effective and persuasive evaluation.
In his Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers , 4th ed., Stephen Reid offers some helpful tips for revising written evaluations. These guidelines are reproduced here and grouped as follows:
Criteria are standards of value . They contain categories and judgments, as in "good fuel economy," "good reliability," or "powerful use of light and shade in painting." Some categories, such as "price," have clearly implied judgments ("low price"), but make sure that your criteria refer implicitly or explicitly to a standard of value.
Examine your criteria from your audience's point of view. Which criteria are most important in evaluating your subject? Will your readers agree that the criteria you select are indeed the most important ones? Will changing the order in which you present your criteria make your evaluation more convincing? (Reid 342)
Include both positive and negative evaluations of your subject. If all of your judgments are positive, your evaluation will sound like an advertisement. If all of your judgments are negative, your readers may think you are too critical (Reid 342).
Be sure to include supporting evidence for each criterion. Without any data or support, your evaluation will be just an opinion that will not persuade your reader.
If you need additional evidence to persuade your readers, [go back to the "Collecting" stage of this process] (Reid 343).
Avoid overgeneralizing your claims. If you are evaluating only three software programs, you cannot say that Lotus 1-2-3 is the best business program around. You can say only that it is the best among the group or the best in the particular class that you measured (Reid 343).
Unless your goal is humor or irony, compare subjects that belong in the same class. Comparing a Yugo to a BMW is absurd because they are not similar cars in terms of cost, design, or purpose (Reid 343).
If you are citing other people's data or quoting sources, check to make sure your summaries and data are accurate (Reid 343).
Signal the major divisions in your evaluation to your reader using clear transitions, key words, and paragraph hooks. At the beginning of new paragraphs or sections of your essay, let your reader know where you are going.
Revise sentences for directness and clarity.
Edit your evaluation for correct spelling, appropriate word choice, punctuation, usage, and grammar (343).
Nesbitt, Laurel, Kathy Northcut, & Kate Kiefer. (1997). Academic Evaluations. Writing@CSU . Colorado State University. https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=47
Table of contents
Many students are required to write an evaluation essay during their academic career. While this task is challenging, it provides an opportunity for deeper learning. We believe that every student should understand how to write an evaluation essay to succeed with their coursework.
Examples for Clarity: Finally, we’ll provide examples of successful evaluation essays. These samples will illustrate the principles discussed and offer practical insights into what makes an effective evaluation essay.
Evaluation essays are a type of academic writing that provides value, quality, and effectiveness of a given topic. Every student must follow set criteria and provide evidence supporting their opinion.
Furthermore, an evaluation essay should always present facts and opinions in a clear and formal tone. Of course, any student can buy a custom essay , but every student should know how to plan and write one correctly for success. The first step is to choose a subject.
When it comes to choosing a subject for an evaluation paper, students have many options to choose from.
This includes:
If you’re looking for ideas, consider pulling inspiration from your experiences or interests. You can also get ideas from current events and media.
Moreover, once you begin brainstorming ideas, you should narrow your options to choose the best topic. Ideally, you should choose a subject that’s equally interesting and suitable for evaluation. Start by reviewing topic ideas related to your main area of study.
Compare different ideas that interest you. Start asking questions that your target audience would have on your subject. Narrow your choice to what you believe would be the most interesting to study and write about.
In addition, some examples that would make an interesting evaluation subject include:
Every evaluation essay needs a thesis statement. In this statement, the writer will cover evaluation criteria and an overall judgment. It’s essential that the purpose of the evaluation is clearly stated.
First, be specific by keeping the thesis statement short and sweet. It doesn’t need to be a paragraph filled with real-life information. Instead, it should be a concise sentence encouraging the reader to continue reading. Here are some excellent examples of thesis statements:
An important step of evaluation essays is to gather information and evidence. You will want as much information and relevant examples as possible to support your essay.
In any case, experienced writers will provide as many sources as they can find to support their argument. This helps the writer establish credibility and also helps the reader discover where they can find more information on the topic.
So, you might be wondering what type of sources you can use for crafting an evaluation paper. Students may use any of the following sources to provide evidence for their evaluation:
Every writer must follow set criteria to write an interesting and well-structured essay. As mentioned above, the thesis statement is significant. This is because it’s a clear and descriptive way to present the topic.
Finally, every good evaluation essay must include the following specific criteria:
Another crucial aspect of evaluation criteria is to display a well-structured essay. Before writing an evaluation essay, you should always plan the organization.
The entire outline for the essay should remain focused. Once complete, the final evaluation paper should be organized, developed, and maintained a specific style. Every paper should include the following in a detailed evaluation essay outline:
Conclusion: this is where you can summarize the key points made throughout the evaluation essay and add any other relevant points.
The introduction is the first impression of your essay. Every paragraph of the essay should start with a topic sentence that introduces what the essay will be about. Always aim to write a topic sentence that’s engaging so the reader immediately establishes interest.
Basically, every student should aim to craft an attention-grabbing hook that sparks the reader’s interest. Here are a few good evaluation essay introduction example topic sentences for your evaluative essay:
Evidently, we understand that crafting a good introduction can be intimidating. The intro can make or break the reader’s interest. Some ways to make your introduction effective are by stating an exciting or unknown fact, asking a rhetorical question, or mentioning an interesting story about the subject.
The body paragraphs of your evaluative essay hold the most weight. After all, this is where you will present your opinions and facts. All the information you provide in this section must be relevant to your topic.
Basically, it must be presented in a structured manner. The main body should always include proper sentence structure, have a readable flow, and include all information and examples necessary to support your final judgment. It’s also important to use language that will convey your point formally and professionally.
Anyone can write an evaluated essay. If you want people to take your evaluation essay seriously, you must demonstrate evidence for every point. You can use example quotes from reputable sources or citations to reference where you found the information for your analysis.
Additionally, you must cite sources for evaluation criteria to avoid accusations of plagiarism. An excellent tip for writing essays is to create a body paragraph that’s a block quote.
By directly quoting the author (or source), you avoid any errors that could be mistaken for plagiarism. A direct quote can also give your evaluation more value in the middle of a body paragraph, and also be used to support the writer’s opinion.
An evaluation essay is different from an argumentative essay . When you’re writing an evaluation essay, you will not be required to include counterarguments in the evaluative thesis of the essay. However, it is a good idea for students to acknowledge different perspectives or criticisms of their topic.
In any case, one of the best ways to approach a counterargument is to provide an example of a common critic. Then, explain why that perspective is or isn’t valid to the opinion the student covered in their essay.
The conclusion is the final area of the evaluation essay, where students can summarize their analysis and provide additional facts supporting their judgment.
Every good evaluation argument essay will answer all the reader’s questions on the subject before they reach the final sentence. The best way to do this is to make the conclusion restate the main ideas by presenting the key takeaways and wrapping the concluding paragraph with a secure closure on the research subject.
Once you have completed the evaluative writing process, you must revise and edit it before submitting it. This is how you can ensure your paper is of good quality and your opinion is clearly stated and backed up.
But before you review your work, it’s always good to give yourself a break. If you review the paper immediately after writing it, your brain might not pick up on typos and mistakes. By giving yourself a break, you can return and proofread it in a clear frame of mind.
When you proofread the evaluation essay, there are a few aspects that are critical for revision. You should always review the sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and punctuation usage in your essay. You should also check to ensure you used appropriate font, and headers and the essay is double-spaced.
These subjects will encourage college and high school students, as well as professional writers, to critically evaluate present culture. These themes not only teach students important critical thinking skills, but also demonstrate how students influence and contribute to general knowledge.
Here is a list of handpicked good literature topics that will ignite your curiosity and engage your critical thinking skills. These easy topics cover a wide range of subjects and are just a few clicks away from inspiring your next masterpiece.
There are several historical evaluation essay ideas to consider. They vary from major events that affected our global culture to examining the historical veracity of “saving private Ryan.” These topics will intrigue you and give plenty of writing possibilities:
These topics cover the key characteristics of how we interact with society and the law. They also explore government and law by examining political marketing strategies on how some particular laws affect social behavior.
As we delve into technological evaluation essay topics, you can choose to examine the merits, drawbacks, and overall impact of technological advancements. From artificial intelligence to social media, we have a plethora of ideas to explore.
This covers everything you need to know about writing an evaluation essay. The format we discussed today can help students create a detailed analysis of the subject they’re researching while providing an educated opinion. Following proper instructions for evaluation essay criteria can help you write a detailed paper that will impress your instructor (and yourself).
Additionally, if you’re not 100% sure how to start or finish your paper, look at an evaluation argument essay example online. Don’t copy the examples, but use them for inspiration to get your thoughts flowing.
Just fill out the form, press the button, and have no worries!
We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy.
Evaluative arguments center around the question of quality. Is something good? Bad? Honest? Dishonest? Evaluative judgments are also about values—what the writer thinks is important. Sometimes the writer’s values are not the same as his/her readers’ values, so he/she has to bridge the gap by showing respect for the audience’s opinions and clarifying the points that they do and don’t agree upon.
An important first step in writing an evaluation is to consider the appropriate standards/criteria for evaluating the subject. If a writer is evaluating a car, for example, the writer might consider standard criteria like fuel economy, price, crash ratings. But the writer also might consider style, warranty, color, special options, like sound systems. Even though all people might not base their choice of a car on these secondary criteria, they are still considered acceptable or standard criteria.
To be taken seriously, a writer must have valid reasons for his evaluation. These reasons are based on criteria. Imagine choosing your attire for a job interview at a very prestigious law firm. You look at the jeans and t-shirts in your closet and immediately decide to go shopping. Why? Because the clothes in your closet don’t meet the criteria for the interview.
Writers evaluate arguments in order to present an informed and well-reasoned judgment about a subject. While the evaluation will be based on their opinion, it should not seem opinionated. Instead, it should aim to be reasonable and unbiased. This is achieved through developing a solid judgment, selecting appropriate criteria to evaluate the subject, and providing clear evidence to support the criteria.
Evaluation is a type of writing that has many real-world applications. Anything can be evaluated. For example, evaluations of movies, restaurants, books, and technology ourselves are all real-world evaluations.
by Dr. Karen Palmer
Presenting the subject is an often misunderstood aspect of an evaluative essay. Either writers give too little information or too much. Presenting the subject occurs in two different places in the essay.
First, the writer should give a brief introduction of the subject in the introduction of the evaluation. This introduction occurs in the second part of the introduction–the intro to the topic. At this point, the writer should simply name the subject and give a very brief description. For example, a restaurant review should include at a minimum the name and location of the restaurant. An evaluation of a vehicle might include the make, model, and year of the vehicle and any important features.
Second, the writer should give a more detailed description of the subject following the introduction in the background section of the paper. Here the writer could give a more detailed overview of the restaurant (the type of decor, type of food, owners, history), describe the vehicle in detail, etc. Striking a balance between giving the reader the necessary information to understand the evaluation and telling readers everything is important. The amount of detail necessary depends on the topic. If you are reviewing a brand new technology or a machine, specific to your line of work, for example, you will need to give readers more information than if you are simply reviewing a restaurant or a doctor’s office.
The language used in your description can be evaluative. For example, a writer can use descriptive adjectives and adverbs to convey a certain impression of the subject, even before the claim is made.
The main point/thesis should be located at the end of the paper’s introduction. It should be definitive—certain, clear, and decisive. Asking a question does not pose a definitive claim. Giving several different perspectives also does not give a definitive claim. It is ok to balance your claim, though, acknowledging weaknesses (or strengths) even as you evaluate a subject positively: “While the Suburban is a gas guzzler, it is the perfect car for a large family….”
Providing a map of your reasons/criteria within the thesis is a great technique for creating organization and focus for your essay. For example, “While the Suburban is a gas guzzler, it is the perfect car for a large family because it can seat up to 9, it has a high safety rating, and it has the best in class towing capacity.” Not only does this example give a clear, balanced claim, but it also lays out the writer’s reasons upfront, creating a map in the reader’s mind that will help him follow the reasoning in the essay.
After presenting the subject and providing readers with a clear claim, the writer must explain and justify his/her evaluation using reasons that are recognized by readers as appropriate. This occurs in the argument section of the paper and should be the most extensive part of the paper. Reasons should reflect values or standards typical for the subject. If a writer uses criteria that is not typical for the subject, he/she must be prepared to defend that decision in the essay. For example, “Buying local may not always be at the forefront of a buyer’s mind when shopping for eggs, but…” Each reason should be clearly stated as a topic sentence that both states the reason and refers back to the main claim. Going back to the suburban example, a body paragraph/section might begin with the following topic sentence: “One of the obvious reasons a suburban is great for large families is its capacity for holding that large family and all of their necessary traveling items.”
Following the topic sentence, a writer must include relevant examples, quotes, facts, statistics, or personal anecdotes to support the reason. Depending on what the subject is, the support might be different. To support a claim about a book/film, for example, a writer might include a description of a pivotal scene or quotes from the book/film. In contrast, to support a claim about gas mileage, a writer would probably simply give the information from the vehicle specifications. Support can come from a writer’s own knowledge and experience, or from published sources.
Counterarguing means responding to readers’ objections and questions. In order to effectively counterargue, a writer must have a clear conception of his/her audience. What does the audience already know or believe about the subject? Effective counterarguing builds credibility in the eyes of the audience because it creates a sense that the writer is listening to the reader’s questions and concerns.
Counterarguments can occur at the end of the essay, after the writer has made his/her point, or throughout the essay as the writer anticipates questions or objections. Writers can respond to readers’ objections in two ways. First, a writer can acknowledge an objection and immediately provide a counter-argument, explaining why the objection is not valid. Second, a writer can concede the point, and allow that, the subject does have a flaw. In either case, it is important to be respectful of opposing positions, while still remaining firm to the original claim.
A writer’s credibility and authority lead to readers’ confidence in your judgment and their willingness to recognize and acknowledge that credibility and authority. An author can gain credibility by showing that he/she knows a lot about the subject. In addition, the writer shows that his/her judgment is based on valid values and standards.
The writer’s authority is in large part based upon the background of the author—education, etc. Is the author qualified to make a judgment? For some subjects, like a film review, simply watching the film might be enough. In other instances, like evaluating the quality of newly constructed cabinets or the engine of a new car, more experience might be necessary.
Evaluation essays are structured as follows.
First, the essay will present the subject . What is being evaluated? Why? The essay begins with the writer giving any details needed about the subject.
Next, the essay needs to provide a judgment about a subject. This is the thesis of the essay, and it states whether the subject is good or bad based on how it meets the stated criteria.
The body of the essay will contain the criteria used to evaluate the subject. In an evaluation essay, the criteria must be appropriate for evaluating the subject under consideration. Appropriate criteria will help to keep the essay from seeming biased or unreasonable. If authors evaluated the quality of a movie based on the snacks sold at the snack bar, that would make them seem unreasonable, and their evaluation may be disregarded because of it.
The evidence of an evaluation essay consists of the supporting details authors provide based on their judgment of the criteria.
For example, if the subject of an evaluation is a restaurant, a judgment could be “Kay’s Bistro provides an unrivaled experience in fine dining.” Some authors evaluate fine dining restaurants by identifying appropriate criteria in order to rate the establishment’s food quality, service, and atmosphere. The examples are evidence.
Another example of evaluation is literary analysis; judgments may be made about a character in the story based on the character’s actions, characteristics, and past history within the story. The scenes in the story are evidence for why readers have a certain opinion of the character.
Job applications and interviews are more examples of evaluations. Based on certain criteria, management and hiring committees determine which applicants will be considered for an interview and which applicant will be hired.
Example Outline
Thesis: McAdoo’s is a fantastic family restaurant, offering young and old alike a great atmosphere, wonderful customer service, and a fantastic menu.
Possible “Get Started” Idea
In this essay, you will evaluate potential obstacles to learning. Think about the health and wellness of a college student during an international pandemic. What do you need to be successful? Do you have access to resources? Are the GCC resources adequate to support the community and its students during the pandemic?
You will evaluate at least three campus resources. Your recommendation should clearly state which of the resources should be maintained, which should be improved, and which might be eliminated, if any.
Purpose: This assignment will demonstrate the understanding of how to do a thorough evaluation of an approved topic. Students will review the complex elements of the topic they have chosen. Evaluative essays call for the writer to assess a subject in light of specific and explicit criteria and to make a judgment based on the assessment.
Task: This assignment evaluates a campus resource.
Write an Evaluation Essay. For this essay, you will choose a clear topic, give a reason for the evaluation, use description and categorization, create evaluation criteria, use concrete evidence and demonstrate the “why” of your position.
Some topics to consider are listed here:
English 101: Journey Into Open Copyright © 2021 by Christine Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Writing an evaluation essay is an opportunity to express your critical thinking skills and provide an informed judgment on a specific subject or topic. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the concept of evaluation essays , understand what evaluation means within this context, delve into the essential components of an evaluation essay outline, and learn how to write a compelling evaluation essay that meets the necessary requirements.
An evaluation essay is a type of academic writing where the writer assesses and analyzes a particular subject, product, service, or idea. The primary objective is to form a well-founded opinion and provide evidence-based reasoning to support the evaluation. In essence, an evaluation essay seeks to answer the question: “Is this good or bad, effective or ineffective, successful or unsuccessful?”
In the context of an essay, evaluation refers to the process of critically analyzing and assessing the chosen subject matter. It requires the writer to present a balanced judgment based on specific criteria, evidence, and supporting details. The evaluation should be objective, fair, and grounded in solid evidence to make the argument convincing to the reader.
Creating a well-organized evaluation essay is essential for presenting a coherent and persuasive argument. Here is a typical outline structure:
I. Introduction:
II. Criteria for Evaluation:
III. Evaluation Body Paragraphs:
IV. Counterarguments (Optional):
V. Conclusion:
Writing a compelling evaluation essay requires adherence to specific requirements to ensure a well-structured and well-reasoned piece. Consider the following key requirements:
Writing an evaluation essay can be simplified into the following steps:
Avoid these common pitfalls when writing an evaluation essay:
To better understand the elements of an evaluation essay, consider this example:
Here are some thought-provoking evaluation essay topics to spark your creativity:
The information presented in this comprehensive guide is thoroughly researched and collected from reputable sources, including academic journals, writing manuals, and educational websites. All sources have been meticulously evaluated for credibility and relevance to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided.
In conclusion, mastering the art of writing an evaluation essay opens the door to developing critical thinking skills and effectively presenting well-informed judgments. By following the outlined steps and adhering to the essential requirements, aspiring writers can craft compelling and persuasive evaluation essays that resonate with their readers. So, go forth and embrace the power of evaluation essays to convey your insights and opinions with clarity and conviction. Happy writing!
Note: Please ensure that you cite the appropriate sources as per your academic requirements when using information from this guide. The sources mentioned here are used as examples and may not be suitable for direct citation.
Call/Text/Whatsapp:
+1 (888-687-4420)
24/7/365 Available
Assignments
Evaluation Essay
13 min read
People also read
Learn How to Write an Editorial on Any Topic
Best Tips on How to Avoid Plagiarism
How to Write a Movie Review - Guide & Examples
A Complete Guide on How to Write a Summary for Students
Write Opinion Essay Like a Pro: A Detailed Guide
How to Write a Thematic Statement - Tips & Examples
How to Write a Bio - Quick Tips, Structure & Examples
How to Write a Synopsis – A Simple Format & Guide
How to Write a Comparative Essay – A Complete Guide
Visual Analysis Essay - A Writing Guide with Format & Sample
List of Common Social Issues Around the World
Writing Character Analysis - Outline, Steps, and Examples
11 Common Types of Plagiarism Explained Through Examples
Article Review Writing: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide with Examples
A Detailed Guide on How to Write a Poem Step by Step
Detailed Guide on Appendix Writing: With Tips and Examples
Are you unsure about what it takes to evaluate things from your perspective in an evaluation essay?
If you’re having a hard time understanding how to present a balanced assessment of the subject, worry not! We are here to help you get through the evaluation essay writing process.
In this blog, you will learn all about evaluation essays. From the definition, writing process, topics, tips, and a lot more, you’ll learn how to write an evaluation essay effortlessly!
Continue reading to get a better idea.
Let’s first understand the evaluation essay meaning, here is the standard definition:
An evaluation essay offers a value judgment or an opinion of something. It presents an overall view of a particular subject’s quality. Moreover, it provides a critical analysis and a complete evaluation of something.
The main purpose of an evaluation essay is to present an opinion and evaluate a topic critically. This type of writing determines the condition, worth, or significance by careful appraisal and study.
This essay features the writer’s opinion, but when done correctly, it does not sound opinionated. Instead, it provides the facts and evidence to justify the opinions about the essay’s subject.
To write a good evaluation essay, you need to master critical evaluation and present the evaluation in an unbiased manner. You may also discuss both the pros and cons of the subject.
Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job
The four different ways to format and organize the evaluation essay are as follows.
1. Chronological Structure
It is a sequential organization that could be used for evaluating historical or current events. It tells how something works and assesses the effectiveness of a mechanism, procedure, or process.
2. Spatial Structure
The spatial organization structure is used for evaluating or describing art or architecture. Here, you will define one element of the artifact and spatially move to the next.
3. Compare and Contrast Structure
The compare and contrast structure is used to evaluate or review the culinary or music genre. Here the writer evaluates a subject by comprising and contrasting it with the known subject.
4. Point-by-Point Structure
The point-by-point structure is also used for culinary and music reviews. But, in this structure, you describe one element and then evaluate it, describe the second element and evaluate it, and so on.
After setting the criteria and collecting evidence for strengthening your judgment, you’ll start your evaluation essay. Let’s see what are the steps involved in starting an evaluation essay.
When you start writing an evaluation essay, grabbing the reader’s attention is essential. For this, hook the reader from the beginning until the end to ensure that your essay’s opening follows an engaging tone.
Deciding the topic and evaluation essay criteria is important. Make sure it's not just compelling and interesting, but also informative so that you can find enough material for a detailed evaluation.
For an evaluation essay, you have to set the criteria for evaluation first. Criteria are the standards or measures by which someone assesses the quality or value of the subject.
Some key points to establish the criteria are:
The author’s judgment of the subject states whether the subject is good or bad. It is an overall assessment or the opinion supported by the evidence. The judgment corresponds to the benchmarks set by the author in the essay criteria.
The evidence is a combination of supporting data and facts. Using the evidence, the author demonstrates how well the subject meets the judgment. The evidence serves as the foundation of your evaluation.
Without providing strong and accurate evidence, you will not be able to convince the readers of your judgment.
After that, decide on the structure that you want to follow. It can be a chronological or point-by-point structure
When you create an essay outline , evaluate what should be added and removed. If you skip this step before writing, you may lose track of what to include in your essay while you write.
So, writing an outline for your evaluation essay is a critical step that eases your writing journey.
Here is a sample evaluation essay outline:
|
For an evaluation essay that keeps the reader hooked from the start, opt for a catchy thesis statement . The thesis should state the main point of the evaluation.
In the thesis statement, you should always express your stance on the subject clearly. In doing so, the readers will have a clear idea about the purpose and direction of your essay.
Now, understand how to write an evaluation essay by following the detailed procedure mentioned below.
Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!
Here is a step-by-step guide for you to write an evaluation essay.
The introduction is the first impression your readers will have of you, so it's crucial to make a good one. It should capture attention and excite readers, drawing them into what you have to say about this topic.
The following are the elements that you should consider while writing the introduction:
Read this evaluation essay introduction example, and you’ll understand exactly what to pen down in yours:
|
The body of the essay consists of three paragraphs. Each paragraph holds different ideas related to one another and flows smoothly from start to finish, just like how a good story should be told.
Here are the important points that must be included in the body paragraphs.
It is the final chance to convince your reader to agree with your point of view. You’re supposed to summarize and conclude the essay. In the conclusion , you present your final evaluation of the essay.
Keep in mind the following aspects while writing a closing paragraph of an evaluation essay.
The final step is proofreading and editing. Always spend enough time reading your essay carefully. It will help you catch the unintentional mistakes you have made and recover them. If needed, you can also revise your essay 2–3 times.
For formatting your evaluation essay, follow the standard academic writing guidelines. You can opt for different formatting styles like APA, MLA, or Chicago.
In general, you should stick to the below formatting guidelines:
Font and Size:
Citations (if applicable):
Counterargument (if included):
References or Works Cited Page (if applicable):
Well, the time has come to look at some great evaluation essay examples. Getting help from sample essays is always a great way to perfect your evaluation papers.
Evaluation can be written on any topic, i.e., book, movie, music, etc. Below, we have given some evaluation essay examples for students:
Evaluation Essay Sample PDF
Movie Evaluation Essay Example
Critical evaluation Essay Example PDF
Product Evaluation Essay PDF
Source Evaluation Essay Example PDF
Employee Self-Evaluation Essay Example
How to Start A Self-Evaluation Essay Example PDF
For writing an amazing evaluation essay, the first thing that you require is an essay topic. Here are some incredible topic ideas for college students. You can use or mold them according to your preference.
At first glance, an evaluation essay might look like a review. But, there are some notable differences between them. See this table to see how both pieces of writing differ from each other.
|
|
|
| Assess and judge based on criteria. | Inform and express personal opinions. |
| Analysis, assessment, and judgment. | Personal opinions and subjective responses. |
| Formal and objective. | Informal and subjective. |
| Specific criteria for assessment. | May include personal preferences. |
| Concrete evidence and examples. | Personal anecdotes and impressions. |
| Structured with clear organization. | Can be more flexible. |
| Persuade based on objective analysis. | Persuade through personal opinions. |
| Summarize key points and overall judgment. | Summarize opinions and recommendations. |
| May include academic sources. | Primarily reflects personal experiences. |
| Varies based on subject complexity. | Varies, from short to longer, based on the platform. |
To conclude,
After reading the step-by-step guide and examples, you must have learned the art of writing a good evaluation essay. We’re confident that you’re now able to provide a balanced and effective evaluation of the topics you choose for your essay.
But writing a perfect essay is not that simple; you require a lot of practice and experience to become a good writer. That's why you should trust us to ' do my essay ' as perfectly as possible!
MyPerfectWords.com is a writing service that offers help for all academic writing assignments. We have a team of professional writers who are experts in writing all types of essays and evaluation papers.
1. what are the four components of an evaluation essay.
The four components of an evaluation essay are:
The four types of evaluation are:
Write Essay Within 60 Seconds!
Dr. Barbara is a highly experienced writer and author who holds a Ph.D. degree in public health from an Ivy League school. She has worked in the medical field for many years, conducting extensive research on various health topics. Her writing has been featured in several top-tier publications.
Paper Due? Why Suffer? That’s our Job!
Table of contents
Use our free Readability checker
Are you wondering how to write an evaluation essay? We are here to inspire and let you know all the essential steps to get started. This blog post will describe what is an evaluative essay, including its purpose and elements. In addition, you will be enlightened on how to actually write evaluations - all the necessary factors and steps will be elaborated on. These steps are: deciding what to appraise, what criteria to apply, and how to develop arguments and outlines. Toward the end, you will be provided with evaluation essay samples that will enable you to put theoretical guidelines into practice. Strictly follow this blog post from our essay writer services to the end.
The starting point of being well-versed in this from of writing is understanding its definition and purpose, as it will lay a good foundation for further work. Evaluation essay is a paper that offers evidence that helps to justify writer's opinion on different subjects by providing enough facts to convince readers. Such type of writing requires critical thinking skills when analyzing, synthesizing, and assessing given topics to avoid misleading your audience. The main purpose of this type of paper is to provide objective criticism oт various subjects and make conclusions about them. As a result, the latter helps readers to take a stance about a topic. In addition, there is an exhaustive review of fundamental characteristics, styles, and quality of subjects under discussion. The value of a particular topic is obtained through supportive and factual evidence provided. Finally, this paper helps present well-reasoned and informed judgment on particular standards, hence clearing concerning issues about a given subject.
Preparing evaluative essay is a broad topic, and you need to be well-organized, or else the text will quickly lose meaning and purpose. There are various abstract categories and exact things that you can assess in writing. When you write evaluations, ensure you deeply understand your topic of discussion. Reading through an evaluation example will help you know what to do. Some evaluation essay topics and objects suitable for assessment include:
Understanding all components of evaluation papers - three in total - is important during writing. They include:
There are two factors to put into consideration before writing evaluations. One of them is ensuring that evaluation argument remains objective. Objectivity is achieved by not including personal opinions in disputes. Besides, one remains objective by supporting claims with relevant facts. Also, included references need to fully support your stand. You should know that a discourse must be balanced and fair. Secondly, deciding on evaluative standards is another important factor to consider. You need to have a deeper understanding of subjects before deciding on measures to use during this analysis. Chosen standards must adequately and appropriately represent particular subjects' features, qualities, and values. Besides, when deciding on evaluation essay criteria, ensure that you focus on defending your stated thesis. In addition, have enough evidence and details to support the chosen criterion. Finally, appropriately organize your facts and make sure you have imperative and unbiased information concerning your subjects of discussion.
A clear outline provides a map of organizing ideas when you write evaluation essay. An evaluation essay outline covers at least five structured paragraphs. The first is an introductory paragraph followed by three or more body paragraphs, and finally, an essay conclusion . Below is an evaluation paper outline example under the topic of practicing vaping.
Introduction
Here’s how your evaluation essay outline look:
Introductory paragraph
Body part
Concluding paragraph
There are various steps that one can follow when writing an evaluation essay. These steps include:
Several steps exist that one can follow during evaluative writing. The first step in how to write an evaluation is to decide on a particular subject you wish to assess, followed by coming up with criteria you will use. Besides, develop solid arguments backed up with evidence. Also, create an outline, and start writing. Once you complete your writing, proofread your work. The steps below describe the chronological order of writing your essay.
The first step when writing this essay is deciding on a topic you will assess. During writing to evaluate, choose a subject you understand better so that you have enough facts to support or oppose it. The chosen issue needs to be engaging to your readers, otherwise yo may lose your audience. Besides, when selecting a theme, ensure it is interesting in general to avoid boredom. Also, a chosen subject needs to be relevant to keep the readers informed about current trends and new developments. The majority of your audience must be aware of the concept. Always ensure that chosen topics are specific and not generic.
Once you discuss a subject, you must come up with criteria for essay evaluation. At this point, turn your opinions into assessments to help you define a chosen subject. You may use different ways to find criteria on how to do an evaluation paper. For instance, you can focus on a chosen characteristics of a topic to help you develop standards. Besides, you might assess the relevance of that topic and decide whether it is good or bad for your readers. Also, focusing on the impacts of subjects helps find standards when evaluating. Researching positive or negative impacts of the topic helps in mastering what and how to evaluate in an essay. Also, you may find criteria by focusing on the effectiveness of that subject, whether it is successful or not. Apart from that, one may focus on the morals or aesthetic standards of a particular subject to develop measures to discuss.
Reader understands your decision by following the argument. Evaluative arguments refer to claims concerning the quality of particular subjects being assessed. This argument will always rate subjects as either negative or positive. With this rating, one can think of subjects as harmful or helpful, bad or good. An argument in evaluation essay defines and supports criteria. A judgment always elaborates and explains reasons for choosing particular standards despite controversy. Evaluation argument essay assesses subjects depending on chosen measures. Considered factors include practicability, aesthetics, and ethics. Make sure to determine which standards will convince your audience. Effective development of arguments starts by creating an evaluative thesis statement: take position, develop criteria, and find out if topic meets standards. For instance, when evaluating meal’s quality, you may say:
Meal’s strength depended on its presentation, it was enticing, and its outlook was appropriate.
Another example could be:
Meal’s weakness was in overcooking, as its flavor became less pronounced.
Additionally, another example of a subject could be practicing vaping. In such case, an evaluation argument example will be:
Vaping is safe, inexpensive, and highly practical when compared to cigarette smoking, and due to these reasons, it is a recommendable practice for traditional smokers who wish to break old habits.
After choosing a discussion topic, one can create an outline for essay . Outlines start with the development of thesis statements, followed by a list of main ideas and a conclusion. For this essay type, outlines require a minimum of five paragraphs. The first paragraph of the evaluation in writing is introduction that ends with a thesis statement. An introduction is followed by at least three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Outlines are important as they form a basis for thoughtfully constructing ideas. Also, they help in organizing your points sequentially for them to remain orderly. In addition, they are useful in picking relevant information, providing steady foundation when starting to write. Thus, it is worth noting that outlines form a crucial part of these essays, and they give a sketch of writing.
When you write evaluative papers, ensure you follow everything stated in your outline. The sections discussed below will help you understand how to write evaluation:
When you complete your evaluation writing, the last step is proofreading and revising your work. Reading through your work helps improve your paper's quality and remove mistakes. Besides, it enables you to locate and correct inconsistencies in your text. Also, when you edit your work, you ensure that the ideas of your paper are well-defined. Revising your work helps in assessing if the content was appropriately conveyed. Also, it guarantees that sentences are grammatically appropriate by correcting typing and spelling errors to avoid readers’ confusion. Finally, you should read through your work critically and develop better ways of improving clarity, good structure of sentences, and entire effectiveness.
There are various examples of evaluation essays format. These formats include:
There are millions of evaluative essays samples posted online. These examples offer impressive descriptions of evaluative essays with all the key steps to follow and will help you polish your skills when writing this paper. However, not all of the examples posted online are reliable. Therefore, the only preferred evaluation essay sample that students can use must come from peer-reviewed sources. Essay types from scholarly sites are written by reputable authors who meet all required standards; moreover, you can easily find an excellent book on this subject with appropriate examples. Attached are evaluation essays samples from credible writers.
For one to write perfect essays, there are some helpful tips you may follow. Following these points will help you produce impressive evaluation and your readers will enjoy. Some of those tips when writing an evaluation essay include:
Understanding the text’s definition and purpose is your first step toward knowing how to write a good evaluation. Thereafter, list categories and respective things you will assess during your writing. Master the three elements of an evaluative essay and use them effectively. Your argument must be objective and help clearly decide on what criteria to use. Besides, you need to understand all sections of an outline, how to start evaluative essay, and then, follow essential steps. In addition, get acquainted with the four types of essay structure. Remember that you always can increase your experience by reading some good evaluative writing examples. Keep all these tips in mind to ensure you write a proper essay.
Contact Studycrumb and order essays online from professional writers. From topic research to writing and formatting, our experts can do everything from A to Z.
1. what are the four components of an evaluation essay.
There are numerous things that one can consider during essay evaluations. Evaluation writing examples and their respective criteria include:
Despite similarities existing between an evaluation essay and a review, the two differ. An evaluative essay focuses on deeper research and analysis of certain subjects, while a review provides a general outlook of particular subjects. Evaluative essays must have criteria that judge specific subjects, and reviews do not need criteria. In addition, under certain conditions, it is mandatory to cite sources used in writing evaluative essays, while reviews do not require references.
A good evaluative thesis must inform readers what to expect and its impact and determine an essay’s focus. Also, a strong thesis must state evaluative arguments. Here is a proper evaluation essay thesis example: Vaping is highly practical, inexpensive, and safe compared to cigarette smoking, and following these reasons, it is a recommendable practice for traditional smokers wishing to leave old habits.
Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.
Search suggestions update instantly to match the search query.
Explore what different task words mean and how they apply to your assignments
Task words are the words or phrases in a brief that tell you what to do. Common examples of task words are 'discuss', 'evaluate', 'compare and contrast', and 'critically analyse'. These words are used in assessment marking criteria and will showcase how well you've answered the question.
None of these words have a fixed meaning. Your lecturers may have specific definitions for your subject or task so you should make sure you have a good idea of what these terms mean in your field. You can check this by speaking to your lecturer, checking your course handbook and reading your marking criteria carefully.
Download this page as a PDF for your essay writing revision notes.
Explore our top tips for writing clear sentences and download our help sheet.
Everything held constant; you will learn to write an evaluation essay in simple steps. Have that in mind as you read through this ultimate evaluative writing guide.
You have probably been assigned to shorter writing assignments that evaluate a single topic. These could have been easier. However, as many students observe, progressing to a four to eight-page evaluation paper that considers more than one subject can be challenging.
An evaluation essay is a critical component of developing high-order thinking skills in students and later in the workplace and general life. It entails making careful judgments backed by evidence and using specific criteria or standards.
Evaluating is synonymous with appraising, judging, estimating, analyzing, weighing, assessing, rate, or valuing.
An evaluative essay is an essay where you present an overall point of view or value judgment that is based on a selective set of criteria about a subject ('thing,' phenomenon, or person) or body of work . It is also known as a critical evaluation essay, evaluative essay, or evaluative writing.
While writing it, you provide evidence to justify your opinions about the subject.
In an evaluation essay, your general objective is to validate the quality or lack of a specific item, product, service, program, person, book, movie, process, etc. And although you are giving your point of view, it is not to be opinionated. Rather, it should be as objective as can be.
Students are asked to evaluate some of the common things, including movies, books, items, products, tools, events, speeches, vehicles, and anything else.
When writing an evaluative essay, you should review something, a place, a phenomenon, or an issue, then objectively give your opinion on the value.
Although an evaluation essay is similar to a persuasive essay, it provides a more balanced argument. You need to provide a judgment that is asserted through a clear thesis statement.
You need to understand three core elements of an evaluation essay as you set out to write one. These elements include criteria, judgments, and evidence. So, let's have a closer look at each in-depth.
This refers to the reasons you made your opinion. The criteria you select must establish the ideal of the product, place, or person that you are evaluating. For instance, it could be the characteristics, character, age, perceptions, etc. When choosing a criterion or criteria, you are setting a point of the benchmark where you can evaluate other similar products, people, or places based on the same criteria. The criteria or standards help you assess or measure how well a subject meets or falls short of the ideal.
The judgment aspect of an evaluation essay is your overall opinion that is underpinned by the criteria you selected. It means a more profound analysis as to whether the selected criteria are being met or not. For example, suppose you would judge a cruise ship based on the services and destinations. In that case, you will analyze whether the specific cruise ship you are evaluating meets this benchmark compared to other cruise ships.
Evidence refers to the information that you use to support the judgment. It answers the question "why?" elaborately. To avoid being subjective, you must provide strong clues or evidence for your judgments. For example, if your judgment is about quality workmanship, elaborate on what comprises quality workmanship and how the product you are evaluating demonstrates the same. It offers a basis upon which you can draw objective conclusions.
Now that you understand the three parts of an evaluative essay, you should ensure that each paragraph deals with a different criterion. For example, if you are writing a 5-paragraph essay, ensure that your three body paragraphs each explain a criterion, make a relevant judgment, and offer credible and reliable evidence to support the judgments.
We tasked our essay writers with coming up with some steps a student can take when writing an evaluation essay. Given that they have written thousands of evaluative essays and coached students in writing them altogether, they came up with these eight steps, which you can follow to write a well-structured, researched, and organized evaluative essay paper.
We will forever insist on the first step of any given assignment being reading the instructions. Most students who fail to read and comprehend the instructions eventually notice mistakes that are otherwise avoidable at their advanced stages of writing.
To avoid going astray, it is important to read the instructions. They provide information about the length and scope of the essay. Additionally, some professors will let you choose a topic or suggest a range of topics you can select.
After reading the instructions, you need to select a topic, just like you do with an essay. Sometimes, it could be that your professor or instructor allocated a topic. If you are asked to choose a topic, you are comfortable writing about, select one that is neither too narrow nor too broad.
Consider the subject from an in-depth point of view and ask yourself whether there is a set of criteria or standards that you can use to make judgments on its value.
It is advisable to select a subject or topic relating to a subject you have adequate knowledge of. That way, you can maneuver through research and write an evaluation essay with ease.
After choosing your topic, do some light research to establish a judgment asserted thesis statement. The thesis is the overarching purpose of the evaluation.
The thesis must include the criteria of evaluation used to judge the value of the subject. It is called a preliminary thesis because it undergoes revisions as your evaluation essay takes shape.
Even though you have stated the criteria or standards in the thesis, that's not the end of it. You must consider various points or benchmarks that you will use to evaluate your subject.
In most cases, the criteria vary depending on the subject. For instance, when evaluating a phone, you will use different standards, same as when you are evaluating social media. And with the criteria of evaluation, develop your main argument, as we show later in this article.
You need to write an outline with the evaluation criteria and potential judgments developed. An essay outline or plan helps you superficially organize your essay to make writing easy.
A successfully written evaluation essay has each opinion backed up with relevant evidence. For instance, if you evaluate the impact of technology on education during the pandemic period, consider examples of the use of technology in education. You can also use online class statistics, a quote from experts talking about e-learning during the pandemic, and check related studies.
You can only find credible evidence by reading from credible scholarly articles . Using scholarly evidence helps you present a balanced, unbiased, and objective argument, making it convincing.
Therefore, it is imperative to research, read through, and select the best sources to use when drafting the paper. As you research, you can manage your sources using online citation organizers. You should also take notes that can further help you fine-tune the thesis or the criteria.
As you now have everything you will need, write your first draft. The first draft should be just that, a first draft. Focus on writing first and editing later. With everything in place, write your body paragraphs first, the introduction, and finalize with the conclusion.
Ensure that each body paragraph focuses on a single criterion, judgment, and has a set of evidence to support the points you make. Develop your body paragraphs chronologically, ensuring you have adequate transition words for adequate flow.
After developing the body paragraphs and possibly revising the thesis, write the introduction paragraph. Finalize the draft by writing a solid conclusion . Your conclusion should entail your final evaluative argument that offers the overall assessment. As you conclude the essay, link your final paragraph to the opening statement. You can achieve this by restating the main point you established but in other words.
The climax of writing your evaluation essay is turning the first draft into the final draft. Therefore, it is recommended that you polish your essay after taking some breaks. The break is necessary for you to break the monotony of writing and to dawn an objective mind.
When doing this, read through the first draft and make necessary changes. For example, you can trim your essay to make it shorter, lengthen your evaluation essay , or rewrite some parts to make it flow and meet the criteria highlighted in the rubric. Then, if your final draft is okay, you can turn it in for marking.
After developing your criteria and potentially brainstorming about the judgments of the values of your subject, you need to come up with an evaluative argument. It is the argument that shows your overall stance on the subject.
The ultimate goal of your evaluative essay is to show your final evaluative argument backed by evidence and objective analysis. Therefore, you need to use a phased approach to maintain some order.
If, for instance, you are evaluating a social media like TikTok, you might want to consider:
After looking at these strengths and weaknesses and considering the number of users, reach, and quality of information as your criteria points, you need to develop a final argument. It could read:
Ultimately, TikTok is a new social media platform that kept people going through the COVID-19 pandemic and now dominates other social media. But, especially since it has become a top website other than YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, its creators should consider formal communication aspects that it can enable.
When writing your overall or final evaluation, consider using terms such as:
Although often confused as synonymous, an evaluation essay is not the same as a review essay. Although both papers have similarities, they have glaring differences that further set them apart. Let's look at these differences in the form of a table.
You can access various examples of evaluation essays by searching the internet. For example, while looking for credible sources, we came across these two:
You can access millions of sample essays online. Alternatively, you can also find evaluative essay samples written by our experts. The beauty of this approach is that we will write model evaluation essays based on your instructions and topic. This means that you will learn how to research, write, and polish an evaluation essay based on the samples.
Below are also some great samples that you can learn a thing or two as you set out to write your essay.
Adopted from Purdue.edu
Before you submit your final copy of an evaluation essay, there are a few things that you should consider doing. Here are some tips to help you write your essay better:
Now that you understand the steps it takes to write an outstanding evaluation essay, let's look at the topics you can write your essay about.
These topics are a great starting point for getting evaluation essay title ideas. Then, you can quickly develop standards or criteria of evaluation and compose your essay.
We have further categorized the topics for easier navigation.
If you are a high school, college, or university student, the chances are that you will write several evaluation essays. It is a common assignment.
Related Articles
To get excellent grades and marks, you should prove your prowess in writing. You must come up with a standard or criterion to judge the value of your subject. And as you conclude your essay, you should make your audience understand your final evaluation analysis statement.
As it is an essay with a balanced argument, you need not be biased. Instead, you must support your judgment using relevant evidence. Your evaluation should be objective and well-balanced.
We have provided an evaluation outline or template that can guide you as you settle to write your paper. Besides, the tips we have suggested here will make you write a top evaluation essay. Consider the instructions from class and advise. If you need someone to help you, you can also ask us.
We wish you good luck with writing your evaluation essay.
Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.
by Admin | Oct 4, 2021 | Critical thinking , Writing
a basic definition of all three terms:.
Description: To give a clear and detailed picture of something.
Analysis: T o make a methodical and detailed examination.
Evaluation: To make judgements about the value of information.
Academic description, analysis and evaluation video.
If you can’t access this YouTube video in your country, go here
Pdf lesson download.
Academic description, analysis & evaluation
This lesson helps to improve students’ awareness and understanding of the difference between description, analysis and evaluation. It includes paragraph analysis, a detailed language review reference sheet and graph and sentence level quotation analysis. – see worksheet example. Time: 120mins. Level *** ** [ [B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Exercise 1: sentence analysis.
2. Bioengineering is the application of engineering knowledge to the fields of medicine and biology for the enhancement of human health. [ ]
3. The main issue with carbon capture and storage under the ocean is that CO2 reacts with water and causes the oceans to become too acidic for marine life. [ ] 1. One suggestion proposed in this paper is that the only way to control AI is to ensure that its values are our values. [E] Evaluation
2.Bioengineering is the application of engineering knowledge to the fields of medicine and biology for the enhancement of human health. [D] Description
Look at this paragraph and highlight the sections of: description, analysis, evaluation.
Smart home technology
Smart home technology can take many forms, from controlling the lighting and temperature of a room to monitoring the contents of a fridge. As most current smart homes rely on retro-fitting, which is the process of adding home automation features to an existing property and can lead to considerable costs for the homeowner, newer homes are being built with the additional sensors and systems already installed. However, as the amount of smart home devices and applications continues to grow rapidly, it has given rise to compatibility and connectivity issues. As a result, the focus should now shift to standardising the technology’s protocols.
*Description * Analysis * Evaluation
1, What does the graph show?
2, Which country is the chart referring to?
3. Which year was the data collected?
1.Which findings are the most significant?
2.How do the findings compare?
PayPal & credit/debit cards.
PayPal at 49%, cards at 37%, Google, Apple, Amazon at 8%.
3.What is the reason for the trends?
1. Will the findings change in the future?
2. How will the findings change in the future?
YES, definitely
Google, Amazon and Apple pay will take more of the market share as their systems become more well-known and secure. PayPal could lose some of its market share as other payment systems enter the market and offer better rates.
3. What’s your rationale for the changes you mentioned?
Analyse and evaluate these quotes:
Quote: “The problems that await the world in the next five to ten years because of climate change are greater than the coronavirus pandemic”.
Example answer
Quote: “Given how beneficial these Smartphone breathalyser devices could be to public health, our findings suggest that oversight or regulation would be valuable”. Example answer
Graph and chart lessons, describing graphs – the basics [updated 2023].
This lesson begins by labelling the key features of a graph and naming different graph / chart types. It then provides practice in describing a range of different lines (peak, plummet, etc..). This is followed by a fun activity where in pairs students describe and plot the lines on four graphs. Example . Level: ** * ** [B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
£5.00 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
This lesson begins with describing basic graphs and suggesting what they could represent. it then provides the language necessary for describing, analysing and evaluating. this is followed by students researching and analysing graphs/charts/tables from the office of national statistics (ons) and giving a short presentation on their findings. example. level: ** * ** [b1/b2/c1] teacher membership / institutional membership, describing results (questionnaire data) [new 2023].
This lesson teaches students how to describe the results from a questionnaire. It provides language for describing quantities, group sizes, specific features and reporting verbs. It includes model answers and a range of practice activities. Example Level: ** *** [B1/B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Memberships (Teacher / Institutional)
Full access to everything - £100 / £200 / £550
Join today * x
Dictogloss: critical thinking.
The basic history of critical thinking, the main words associated with it and its importance.Key Language: Verb + noun collocations / critical thinking terminology . Level: ** ** * [C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
This lecture focuses on critical thinking at university. it includes a definition, alternative thinking styles, bloom’s taxonomy and how to apply analysing and evaluation questions to reading and writing. it includes a video, test questions, tapescript and ppt ( example ). level *** ** [b2/c1] / ppt link in download / video [10.00] teacher membership / institutional membership.
£6.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
A great lesson for developing and practising critical thinking skills. It is a 400-word text on ‘going to university’ with over 15 possible problems. Students use the higher level thinking skills of analysis and evaluation to examine, question and critique the text . Example. Level: ** ** * [B1/B2/C1]
TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP £6.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
A great lesson for highlighting facts over opinions . This lesson asks students to discuss 8 questions based around a variety of topics. The lesson is based on research by Hans Rosling a UN advisor, professor of international health and medical physician, who argues many people have an over-dramatic world view that its not based on facts. The lesson includes factual data from the World Bank and UN to support all answers. Example. Level: ***** [C1 – High level] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
£5.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
Amazing value – five lessons in one book. introduction, definition, text analysis reading, lecture listening test, and speaking discussion. example . teacher membership / institutional membership.
£14.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
This short video provides a brief overview of Bloom’s taxonomy: classification of learning levels. It discusses each level but pays particular attention to the higher levels of analysing, evaluating and creating. It is a nice introduction to the theory of critical thinking. Example. Level: ** ** * [B2/C1] / Video [3.51] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
£4.50 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
This information sheet provides a set of cue questions for each level of the taxonomy. A very helpful resource to accompany the theory of Bloom’s classification of thinking levels. TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Free Download
TED TALK: This lecture discusses briefly what is critical thinking and five key strategies to apply to improve critical thinking. It is a good listening as an introduction to criticality. Example. Level: ** ** * [B1/B2/C1] / Video [4:16] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
£4.00 – Add to cart Checkout Added to cart
TED TALK: This lecture discusses an ethical dilemma called ‘The Trolley Problem’ devised by Philippa Foot (1967). It highlights why this type of ethical analysis is important in contemporary society. Example. Level: ** ** * [B1/B2/C1] / Video [4:35] / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
This information sheet provides a range of questions that should be applied when reading any academic text. The answers to these questions should be then applied in writing. TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
This is a simple infographic offering questions that work to develop critical thinking on any given topic. Whenever your students discover or talk about new information, encourage them to use these questions for sparking debate and the sharing of opinions and insights among each other. TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
This information sheet shows the development of an argument: from description to analysis and evaluation. It sets out a linear model of guiding questions that lead into each level of thinking (Plymouth University). TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
This information sheet uses a range of socratic question under the topics of: clarifying, challenging, using evidence, exploring evidence, considering consequences and questioning the question (TES). TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Academic phrases, academic style [1], academic style [2], academic style [3], academic style [4], academic word list , writing websites, error correction, hedging [1], hedging [2], nominalisation, noun phrases [1], noun phrases [2], the syllabus, referencing, in-text referencing, harvard ref. [1], harvard ref. [2], apa ref [1], apa ref [2], ref. generators, reference lists, reporting verbs, credible sources, evaluating sources, academic integrity, 'me' in writing, writer's voice , writing skills, paraphrasing [1], paraphrasing [2], paraphrase (quotes), summary writing , summary language, critical thinking, analysis & evaluation, fact vs opinion, argument essays, spse essays, sentence str. [1], sentence str. [2], sentence str. [3], punctuation, academic posters, structure , essay structure, introductions, thesis statements, paragraphing, paragraphs: quotes, topic sentences [1], topic sentences [2], definitions, exemplification , conclusions, linking words, parallelism, marking criteria, more blog posts….
Evaluation Essay
17 min read
Published on: Mar 24, 2023
Last updated on: Jul 24, 2024
People also read
Extensive Guide on Appendix Writing For Graduating Students
A Step-by-Step Guide to Write an Effective Opinion Essay
How to Write a Poem Step by Step - Beginners Guide
How to Conduct a Great Character Analysis - Tips and Examples
Different Types of Plagiarism and How to Avoid Them
10 Essay Writing Mistakes That Are Holding You Back
Tips by an Essay Writer to Avoid Plagiarism
How to Write Poetry: A Beginner's Guide
A Complete Writing Guide of Article Review for Beginners
Complete Visual Analysis Essay Writing Guide by Experts
Complete Guide on How to Write a Summary with Examples
Share this article
Writing an evaluation essay can be a daunting task. It's not easy to summarize your thoughts and feelings about a book, movie, or product into a cohesive, well-written paper.
Even if you're a great writer, the thought of writing an evaluation essay can be intimidating. You want to make sure that you say everything you want to say in a clear and concise way.
We've written this detailed guide on how to write an evaluation essay. By following our tips and tricks, you'll be able to write a great paper that will show off your critical thinking skills.
So continue reading to learn what an evaluation essay is and how you can master the art of of writing yourself!
Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!
On This Page On This Page -->
Looking for evaluation essay meaning? Here is an easy meaning for you.
An evaluation essay is a type of writing which involves providing an opinion on a particular subject. This can be done in different ways and differs from all other types of essays as it requires the writer to pass judgment on their topic rather than give a fact-based report or dissertation.
The most common types of evaluation essays are critical analysis and interpretive essays. In both types, the writer evaluates a particular subject based on their own opinion or perspective and then explains why they feel that way.
The goal of an evaluation essay is to present both sides of an issue objectively and provide readers with enough information so that they can form their own opinions.
Evaluations are meant to be unbiased and should not contain any opinionated statements. They must instead only focus on facts because this will help ensure that they won't come off as personally biased, which would make them unreliable for the intended audience.
Why are evaluative essays assigned to the students?
The purpose of evaluating essays is to determine the quality and effectiveness of a student's writing. Evaluation helps instructors determine if students have achieved mastery level
Additionally, evaluation allows teachers to assess a student's ability to organize and present their thoughts in an effective and meaningful way.
How can you write the best evaluation essay? To do this you must be aware of its characteristics.
There are five characteristics of an evaluative essay:
Before beginning to learn how to write an evaluation essay, it is must to get educated about its elements. So the four elements of evaluation essay are mentioned below along with a brief details...
An evaluation essay should start by clearly establishing the subject that is being evaluated. This could be a product, service, person, experience, or even an event. It is also important to explain why you have chosen this particular subject and what purpose it serves.
Consider these questions and make sure to provide clear answers.
The criteria you use in your evaluation will depend on what you are evaluating and for whom you are writing the evaluation. It is best to provide clear and specific criteria that you can use to judge the quality of the item or service being evaluated.
This is usually based on certain factors such as quality, effectiveness, value, and/or suitability. It is important to provide a clear definition of these criteria so that readers are able to follow your analysis.
Now it is the time to judge whether or not the standards have been achieved. Returning to our hotel example, you might start by assessing whether or not the establishment offers excellent accommodations. Is it sufficient? Or does it fall short of your high expectations? You may then move on to the other criteria.
In order to effectively evaluate the subject, it is important to gather evidence in support of your evaluation. The evidence gathered should help to explain why the criteria are relevant and why the subject is being evaluated in a certain way.
If you reach the conclusion that the quality of food does not meet expectations, be ready to provide proof for why this is so.
It's common for each paragraph in an essay to address a different topic. In that paragraph, you should thoroughly explain the criterion, make relevant judgments, and provide supporting evidence.
Some students have a misconception about how to write an evaluation paper. They think that it is the same as writing a review, but in reality, there are many differences between the two types of papers.
Although these two types of papers do have some similarities, there are also a number of differences between them that set them apart.
Below are the key differences between these two.
|
| |
| The topic is thoroughly analyzed and in depth. | The topic is discussed generally and without any depth. |
| For the most part, it is unbiased. | It could be based on the writer's personal opinion. |
| The writer must use pre-defined criteria. | The writer does not need any set criteria. |
| The essay must have substantial evidence to back the claims. | It is a personal view and does not need any evidence. |
| Citing and referencing the sources are important. | No references are generally required. |
Understanding the evaluation essay format and creating an outline is important.
The essay format is based on the 5-paragraph structure that contains one introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and one conclusion paragraph.
Here is how to make an outline of your evaluation essay.
Each paragraph will follow the following structure.
It is important that you add all these things into your essay so that your evaluation presents and explains a complete idea.
This outline will be helpful for you when you write your evaluation essay. Follow it carefully, and you will have your essay done in no time.
If you need more help, check out this outline template.
Evaluation Essay Outline Template
Here are the essential steps to start your evaluation essay.
1. Choose the Essay Topic Idea
When you have to write an evaluation essay, the topic must be something that will give your opinion credibility and allow for a thorough analysis of what it is about.
When choosing topics for critical evaluation essays, one should be familiar with the subject matter. Also, the quality of writing skills necessary when composing evaluative essays about particular subjects.
Therefore, choose a topic that is engaging for both you and your readers.
2. Develop the Thesis Statement
The thesis statement is a crucial element of an evaluative essay and should make it easy to evaluate the paper's arguments.
It must provide clear direction for where your evaluation stands on specific criteria so that you can distinguish between examples with differing levels of quality.
You need to be careful in citing only relevant information while supporting your points.
3. Think about the Criteria for Your Essay
Once you have chosen the topic of your evaluation essay, it is important to consider what criteria will be used to evaluate the subject.
How easy or difficult is it to explain your chosen topic or theme? If it is difficult, then you should divide it into multiple points that would help make this step easier.
Criteria should be objective and relevant. They must also be measurable so that the right kind of evidence can be collected.
4. Research and Gather Supporting Evidence
Your opinion on a topic is not valid unless you have the support of physical or logical evidence.
You need to be able to back up your statements with facts that will allow people who read them to make their own assumptions about what they are reading and come to an independent conclusion.
Research the strengths and weaknesses of the chosen idea or topic and give a clear idea about it to your readers.
Otherwise, there's no point in arguing because nobody can agree if both sides don't provide any information.
Once you have worked through these steps, you can move forward to writing the essay.
Here are the steps to write an evaluation essay.
1. Create an Outline of the Essay
After choosing the topic and researching it, make an outline for your essay. Follow the outline given above and create an outline for your evaluation essay.
Make it detailed and add everything you want to discuss in your essay for a more helpful outline.
2. Write a Strong Introduction
The first paragraph of an essay should be engaging not only to keep your readers engaged. However, also to establish what you're going to tell about and why they need this information. To do so requires a hook that captures their attention, like something important or less known statement, for them to continue reading the rest of it.
3. Add a Thesis Statement
Evaluation essay thesis statement follows the introduction paragraph. It informs readers of what to expect from reading this essay and how it could affect your thinking about a certain matter.
4. Draft the Main Body of the Essay
The main body of an essay is the lengthiest part of the essay. It contains three paragraphs, but you can add more paragraphs if you feel that three paragraphs are not enough.
Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that tells the readers about one of the writer's opinions about the topic.
However, make sure that you stay relevant and strong. If required, use compares and contrast techniques and make the reader agree with your point of view.
Add criteria, judgment, evidence, and opposing point of view for each idea. Make sure that you explain everything properly.
5. Write a Good Conclusion
The end of your evaluation essay is the conclusion part. It should be an opportunity to summarize what you have said or emphasize the most important points. You can also use this space as closure and reflection on everything discussed so far. Don't forget to restate your thesis statement and how you proved it right.
6. Edit, Revise, and Proofread
Once you are done with the writing, proofread and revise it thoroughly. Do not submit anything without proper editing and proofreading.
This final step is important if you do not want to lose your score because you did not add a 'the' at the beginning of the sentence.
All of these steps are important for writing a good evaluation essay. Follow them carefully and craft a winning essay.
Here is an evaluation essay sample;
"The Shining" is one of the most obscure works by Stanley Kubrick, a horror film that recounts the tale of a family who has moved into a hotel called the Overlook and becomes terrorized by ghosts. The Torrance family's story centers on Jack, Wendy, and Danny throughout the movie. The original book, which Kubrick based the film on, was written by Steven King. The literary basis is quite thrilling and intriguing, and the film may be considered in much the same way. |
Here are some evaluation essay examples for students. These will help you in writing a good evaluation essay.
Evaluation Essay Example
Evaluation Essay on a Movie
Employee Self Evaluation Essay Example
Evaluation Essay Example PDF
Critical Evaluation Essay Example
Source Evaluation Essay Example
Here are some interesting evaluation essay topics that will help you write a good essay in no time.
Understanding the key grading considerations of a grading rubric is essential for evaluation essays.
Here are some important factors that instructors typically consider when grading evaluation essays.
|- Read the essay thoroughly |
Here are some helpful and easy-to-follow tips for writing a perfect evaluation essay.
We hope you now understand what an evaluation essay is and how to write a critical evaluation essay.
To sum up,
An evaluation essay is different from other essays. It requires you provide opinion on the subject instead of factual information or simply reporting findings.
By reading our helpful guide, we hope that you have gained an understanding of the basics of evaluation essays and how to create them. So get started with your writing!
Although, if you're looking for someone who can help write an evaluative essay, visit out evaluation essay writing service now.
We specialize in providing authentic and custom writing assistance to everyone. With us, your essay comes with an A+ guarantee.
Every essay is written to meet the requirements of individual customers. Our custom essay service strives to offer our customers high-quality service at reasonable prices.
For a quick fix to your essay writing worries, visit out AI essay writing tool now.
What is the purpose of an evaluation.
An evaluation is a systematic method that gives insight into the effectiveness of programs, practices, or initiatives. The information gathered can be used to make adjustments for these things to work better and achieve their goals.
Here are the four types of evaluation:
Caleb S. (Literature, Marketing)
Caleb S. has extensive experience in writing and holds a Masters from Oxford University. He takes great satisfaction in helping students exceed their academic goals. Caleb always puts the needs of his clients first and is dedicated to providing quality service.
Paper Due? Why Suffer? That’s our Job!
Legal & Policies
Disclaimer: All client orders are completed by our team of highly qualified human writers. The essays and papers provided by us are not to be used for submission but rather as learning models only.
(Last updated: 13 May 2021)
We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.
What does it mean to critically evaluate something or to provide a critical review? We won’t lie – these terms are complicated. But the following paragraph, and the rest of this blog post below, may help your understanding:
Typically, the word “critical” has a negative connotation. Think of words like “critique” and “criticise” and you see why. However, with essay writing, being asked to write “critically” does not necessarily mean you need to be negative. Instead, you are voicing your opinion in a logical and coherent way that is based upon evidence and evaluation.
When faced with the task to “critically evaluate” or to provide a “critical review”, it is important to remember that there is going to be some element of description. But you need to be able to build on that description to further justify your point. Let’s go through some examples.
Descriptive writing really focuses on answering the four ‘w’ questions – what, where, who, when. In descriptive writing you are going to need to focus on the following:
Who | What | Where | When |
---|---|---|---|
Who is the author? | What is this about? | Where does this take place? | When does this occur? |
Who is affected? | What is the context? | ||
Who is involved? | What is the main point? |
As you can see from the table above, all of the ‘w’ questions are really important and are essential components to writing a good essay . The purpose of these components is to let the reader get the essential information they need to understand the main idea. Yet if you stop here, you only end up with a descriptive essay, which does not meet the requirements of criticality that are requested by the professor or TA.
Critical writing gives you the opportunity to go beyond the descriptive, so when you critically evaluate or critically review something, you are moving toward analysis and evaluation. This type of critical writing asks you to assess the how, why, what if, so what and what next questions. As you will begin to notice, these questions require much more explanation that the ‘w’ questions (each of which you could likely answer in 10 words or less). Let’s look at some of these questions below:
How | Why | What if | So what | What next |
---|---|---|---|---|
How does this occur? | Why did this occur? | What if we are wrong? | What does this mean? | Is it transferable? |
How does it work? | Why was that done? | What if there was a problem? | Why is this significant? | What can we learn from it? |
How do the parts fit into the whole? | Why this argument / solution? | What if a certain factors were changed/ altered/ removed? | Is this convincing? Why? Why not? | What needs doing now? |
Anyone who has done a lot of writing or who has seen many students’ writing will tell you that there are plenty of ways to write an essay . Yet while there are many strategies, when writing in English, there are certain expectations that the reader has when working through a paragraph or larger piece of writing. Therefore, in order to satisfy the reader that you have successfully completed a critical review or evaluation, you need to make sure that the reader gets what they are expecting.
The first step is to carefully read the article/piece of work that you are going to be critically assessing. Often, students feel like, just because something has been published in an academic journal, that it is an excellent piece of writing that cannot be questioned. But this isn’t necessarily true. The author of that article made certain decisions during the research and writing processes. It is your job to evaluate and analyse what they have done and whether the author has presented any evidence that you can draw conclusions from or make links between areas of knowledge.
In an academic journal article, there are often two places where you will be able to find the easiest opportunities to critically evaluate the work: the methodology and the discussion. In the methodology, the author has made certain decisions about how they are going to answer the research question presented. They have usually (in empirical research) identified a sample, context, and certain instruments (e.g. questionnaire, interviews, observations, etc.). Perhaps one of the easiest ways you can critically evaluate this information is to determine whether or not the sample size is big enough or whether the context applies globally or only to the region where the research took place. For example, a sample of 250 undergraduate students might seem like a lot, but if they are all from a remote area of Pakistan, their situation may not be applicable to undergraduate students who are studying in the UK. Highlighting this issue is one of the more basic forms of criticality because you are applying your own judgements to a situation.
Another area where you might be able to critically evaluate a paper is in the discussion section. It’s in this section where the author expresses their point of view and how their findings relate to other aspects of research. In some articles, you might find that the author has made claims . So if we consider the same group of 250 undergraduate students in Pakistan, the author might find that of the 250 students 225 felt that learning English was important for job security in the future. Therefore, the author might claim that students should learn English if they want to secure a good job in the future. With this argument you could evaluate whether this statement is actually true. We already know that 250 is not representative globally, but we can also assume that students in a remote area of Pakistan may not have access to the same opportunities as students in Beijing. These students may come to a different conclusion about English (potentially).
The point of a critical evaluation is to demonstrate that you can think beyond what you are being told. By taking steps to question what is being written and presented to you, you may be better able to write a critical review and to reflect on how and why the author took the position they did. No research study is perfect and it is your job to determine what could have been modified or changed to fit a different situation.
Focus on directive essay words: “summarise”, focus on directive essay words: “elaborate”.
Cryptocurrency payments.
Subscribe to academic & employability skills.
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address
Posted in: essay-writing
Instruction or command words indicate what your tutor wants you to do in your written assignment. It's vital that you understand exactly what these instruction words mean so you can answer all parts of the essay question and provide a complete response.
Here's a list of some of the most common instruction/command words you'll see in essay questions (and examination questions as well), together with an explanation of what they mean.
Describe: Give a detailed account of…
Outline: Give the main features/general principles; don't include minor details.
Explain, account for, interpret: Describe the facts but also give causes and reasons for them. Depending on the context, these words may also suggest that you need to make the possible implications clear as well. For example: 'Explain X and its importance for Y'.
Comment on, criticise, evaluate, critically evaluate, assess: Judge the value of something. But first, analyse, describe and explain. Then go through the arguments for and against, laying out the arguments neutrally until the section where you make your judgement clear. Judgements should be backed by reasons and evidence.
Discuss, consider: The least specific of the instruction words. Decide, first of all, what the main issues are. Then follow the same procedures for Comment on, Criticise, Evaluate, Critically Evaluate and Assess.
Analyse: Break down into component parts. Examine critically or closely.
How far, how true, to what extent: These suggest there are various views on and various aspects to the subject. Outline some of them, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, explore alternatives and then give your judgement.
Justify: Explain, with evidence, why something is the case, answering the main objections to your view as you go along.
Refute: Give evidence to prove why something is not the case.
Compare, contrast, distinguish, differentiate, relate: All require that you discuss how things are related to each other. Compare suggests you concentrate on similarities, which may lead to a stated preference, the justification of which should be made clear. These words suggest that two situations or ideas can be compared in a number of different ways, or from a variety of viewpoints. Contrast suggests you concentrate on differences.
Define: Write down the precise meaning of a word or phrase. Sometimes several co-existing definitions may be used and, possibly, evaluated.
Illustrate: Make clear and explicit; usually requires the use of carefully chosen examples.
State: Give a concise, clear explanation or account of…
Summarise: Give a concise, clear explanation or account of… presenting the main factors and excluding minor detail or examples (see also Outline).
Trace: Outline or follow the development of something from its initiation or point of origin.
Devise: Think up, work out a plan, solve a problem etc.
Apply (to): Put something to use, show how something can be used in a particular situation.
Identify: Put a name to, list something.
Indicate: Point out. This does not usually involve giving too much detail.
List: Make a list of a number of things. This usually involves simply remembering or finding out a number of things and putting them down one after the other.
Plan: Think about how something is to be done, made, organised, etc.
Report on: Describe what you have seen or done.
Review: Write a report on something.
Specify: Give the details of something.
Work out: Find a solution to a problem.
Adapted from: Coles, M. (1995), A Student’s Guide to Coursework Writing, University of Stirling, Stirling
Click here to cancel reply.
Write a response
So wonderful can anyone get the information
Thanks Josphat!
This is a life saver, do you have a youtube channel where you talk about all this stuff? If so I would love to know about it 🙂 Rachelle
Thanks for your comment. We don't have a YouTube channel but stay tuned for more posts. You will also find additional self-directed learning resources in MySkills .
Quite helpful. I would definitely check this before my next essay.
Thank you, Dan.
Very helpful now I understand how construct my assignments and how to answer exam questions
I have understood it clearly;)
it is very useful for us to understand many instruction word and what we need to write down
There are some define of some words,and I find that there do have many common things for some words,but not all the same.Such as compare, contrast, distinguish, differentiate, relate,they all need people to compare but foucs on different ways.
Very helpful. Listed most of the words that might be misunderstood by foreign students. Now I know why my score of writing IELTS test is always 6, I even didn't get the point of what I was supposed to write!
I have already read all of this. And it gave me a brief instruction.
There are varied instruction words in essay questions. It's a good chance for me to have a overview of these main command words because I could response to requirements of questions precisely and without the risk of wandering off the topic.
When i encounter with an essay title with these instruction words above,I should understand exactly what these words mean so that i could know what my tutor would like me to do in the assignments.Also,these words may help me make an outline and read academic articles with percific purposes.
These words are accurate and appropriate. It is really helpful for me to response some assignment questions and I can know the orientation of my answers . I can also use these words to make an outline of my essay. However, in my view, for some instruction words which are confusing and hard to understand, it is better to give an example to help us understand.
It's the first time for me to recognise these instruction words , some of them are really similar with each other.
it is very helpful to my future study. it will be better to have some examples with it.
As the University embraces the power of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), we've taken proactive steps to equip you with the knowledge and skills to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape. Over the last month, using the University of Bath Instagram account...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, and new Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Elicit, Perplexity, Bard and Bing are now easily accessible online. As university students, how can you incorporate these emerging technologies into your studies and campus...
Whether you’re writing an assignment or revising for exams, getting started can be hard. Fortunately, there’s lots you can do to turn procrastination into action.
In academic writing we have to show that we do not accept without questioning the ideas or concepts in the texts we read, but that we evaluate points or ideas in these texts.
Evaluation in academic writing requires us to analyse the points, ideas or topics in academic texts and to discuss their relevance, effectiveness or application to the topic/s we are writing about. Evaluation is key to critical writing because it allows us to show that we question, understand and analyse what we read.
We can evaluate an issue or idea by interpreting it and commenting on its relevance, effectiveness, significance, limitations, implications, etc.
On this page you will find;
We can evaluate the effectiveness of an argument or intervention using phrases such as:
“Truth is demoted to current understandings of the world, based on the available evidence and resources we possess. This view, which problematises uncritical acceptance of truths and current understandings, is helpful when we consider the impact of changes to social life.”
“Also relevant to changing student populations is Harris and Brampton’s (2003) suggestion that postmodern paradigms are important for an understanding of the debates about language, ethnicity and race because they highlight tensions in the way different people experience the world.”
We can show how strongly our views are aligned with or against an idea using phrases such as:
“In his analysis of students in French HE institutions, Bourdieu (1997) convincingly argued that working-class students were less successful (Thomas 2002) not because they were of inferior intelligence or not gifted, but because the curriculum was `biased in favour of those things with which middle-class students were already familiar’ (Robbins 1993, p. 153).”
“One of the most serious effects of deficit thinking is that it strengthens stereotypes in the minds and thought of educators, policy makers and students themselves.”
“In essence, deficit thinking allows generalisations about student ability to be made, and supports a laziness to grapple with the complex issues around student difficulties. In the process, people who are already disenfranchised are labelled and further stigmatised.”
“In highlighting the political meaning and historical relevance of absences or silences, Cooper offers an astute revision of historical memory and an insightful analysis of France’s fundamental political and philosophical paradoxes.”
We can evaluate limitations or weaknesses in the evidence or arguments using phrases such as:
“Media coverage of this phenomenon, readers’ heated responses to media coverage, and existing research literature around Chinese students’ experiences tend to centre around challenges students face in the USA without adequate exploration of how external sociocultural contexts and histories shaped students’ experiences (Abelmann and Kang 2014). This creates an incomplete understanding of Chinese students’ experiences in the USA and inadvertently perpetuates a stereotype that the students are incompetent and deficient.”
“One problem with this binary view of good-bad language or good-bad writing is that a variety of ‘problems’ within an educational setting are sometimes misdiagnosed as language problems, whereas I found issues affecting the practice of writing to be more complex.”
“This deficit position tends to view literacy practices as neutral and objective, and one further consequence of this perspective is that there has been a focus on what is referred to as "strong text" conceptions of literacy characteristics (Meacham 2000, p.181) which rarely acknowledge a reliance on culture or diversity in terms of sociolinguistic, historical or political context.”
We can evaluate the significance of the evidence or argument by using phrases such as:
“In seeking to use crisis as a term of analysis, Hay (1999, p.318) argued for the concept to be re-defined, indeed more closely defined, in order to differentiate between ‘a punctuated or step-wise periodisation’ in accounting for socio-political change and the ‘more incremental and evolutionary understandings of the process’ (ibid.). This understanding is critical; for in setting the conceptual parameters for the periodisation of crisis it thus becomes possible to define the opening and closing of the crisis period, and to contain the analysis of federal dynamics within a time frame."
“E. H. Carr profoundly adds to the debate on the immanence of crisis in International Relations theory at the world analysis level, and also reflects his knowledge and understanding of the Marxist approach to International Political Economy in his analysis of the sources of crisis and conflict.”
“In the seminal ‘Twenty years’ Crisis’, Carr challenges the utopian direction of International Relations in the interwar years from a realist perspective, grounded in critical thought.”
“Of more direct salience to the thesis’s conceptualising of crisis is their link of the ‘scope and nature of the crisis’ (ibid.p.18) and their focus on ‘accountability and learning processes’ (ibid.).”
We can evaluate and compare different arguments or pieces of evidence using phrases such as:
“Our conceptualisation of racial macroaggressions is different from many other scholars who define racial macroaggressions as the overt, ‘large scale’ (i.e. state) acts of racism experienced by People of Color (Gildersleeve, Croom, and Vasquez 2011; Smith et al., 2007a).” “We argue that the terms ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ should not define acts of racism as subtle or blatant. In fact, Pierce (1974) makes a similar argument about the limitations of terminology when he stated, ‘[t]hese problems are only micro in name, since their very number requires a total effort that is incalculable’.”
“We concur with Pierce that we are limited by the terms we use to describe the complexities of racism and the harm they can cause. We certainly do not intend to depreciate everyday racism by using the term micro. To the contrary, we would agree with scholars like Dumas (2014) who argue that microaggressions are in fact a form of ‘everyday suffering’ that have become socially and systemically normalised and effectively minimised.”
“National cultural labels are sometimes applied less critically by some from the field of intercultural communication and management (see Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars 1993; Hofstede 1980). Indeed, for this reason, Norton (2000) prefers to avoid definitions of cultural identity framed by a sense of a shared group or language because of the tendency for this to become fixed and the potential for it to become essentialist. This is an important point and Norton concedes the term can and ought to be understood in a more flexible way.”
We can show our position towards ideas discussed in our writing by replacing the over-used ‘according to’ in our writing with a range of evaluative adjectives and adverbs that indicate what we think of other writers’ views.
Example 1: “Atkinson is misguided when he inaccurately claims that students need . . .”
We can show our position with regard to the points of view or evidence that we have presented by using a combination of precise verbs, hedging and other evaluative language .
Example 2: “Furthermore, it appears that Friedman may have overlooked some key data when he raises the possibility that . . .”
We can show how confident – or not – we are with regard to our position through the use of hedging / cautious language , such as may, might or could
Example 3: “The investigations to date may indicate a fundamental flaw in this approach."
You can be more confident through the use of intensifying language as certainly, definitely or must.
Example 4: “The findings certainly show a need for more research on this topic . . .”
Evaluation in academic writing allows us to show our voice (our view on the topic). Voice can be expressed through:
➔ About the Library
➔ Meet the Team
➔ Customer Service Charter
➔ Library Policies & Regulations
➔ Privacy & Data Protection
➔ A-Z of eResources
➔ Frequently Asked Questions
➔Discover the Library
➔Referencing Help
➔ Print & Copy Services
➔ Service Updates
Library & Learning Services, University of Suffolk, Library Building, Long Street, Ipswich, IP4 1QJ
✉ Email Us: [email protected]
✆ Call Us: +44 (0)1473 3 38700
As you were browsing something about your browser made us think you were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:
To regain access, please make sure that cookies and JavaScript are enabled before reloading the page.
Katherine milligan.
Please note that these four categories are interdependent. For example, if your evidence is weak, this will almost certainly affect the quality of your argument and organization. Likewise, if you have difficulty with syntax, it is to be expected that your transitions will suffer. In revision, therefore, take a holistic approach to improving your essay, rather than focussing exclusively on one aspect.
An excellent paper:
Argument: The paper knows what it wants to say and why it wants to say it. It goes beyond pointing out comparisons to using them to change the reader?s vision. Organization: Every paragraph supports the main argument in a coherent way, and clear transitions point out why each new paragraph follows the previous one. Evidence: Concrete examples from texts support general points about how those texts work. The paper provides the source and significance of each piece of evidence. Mechanics: The paper uses correct spelling and punctuation. In short, it generally exhibits a good command of academic prose.
A mediocre paper:
Argument: The paper replaces an argument with a topic, giving a series of related observations without suggesting a logic for their presentation or a reason for presenting them. Organization: The observations of the paper are listed rather than organized. Often, this is a symptom of a problem in argument, as the framing of the paper has not provided a path for evidence to follow. Evidence: The paper offers very little concrete evidence, instead relying on plot summary or generalities to talk about a text. If concrete evidence is present, its origin or significance is not clear. Mechanics: The paper contains frequent errors in syntax, agreement, pronoun reference, and/or punctuation.
An appallingly bad paper:
Argument: The paper lacks even a consistent topic, providing a series of largely unrelated observations. Organization: The observations are listed rather than organized, and some of them do not appear to belong in the paper at all. Both paper and paragraphs lack coherence. Evidence: The paper offers no concrete evidence from the texts or misuses a little evidence. Mechanics: The paper contains constant and glaring errors in syntax, agreement, reference, spelling, and/or punctuation.
transitive verb
estimate , appraise , evaluate , value , rate , assess mean to judge something with respect to its worth or significance.
estimate implies a judgment, considered or casual, that precedes or takes the place of actual measuring or counting or testing out.
appraise commonly implies the fixing by an expert of the monetary worth of a thing, but it may be used of any critical judgment.
evaluate suggests an attempt to determine relative or intrinsic worth in terms other than monetary.
value equals appraise but without implying expertness of judgment.
rate adds to estimate the notion of placing a thing according to a scale of values.
assess implies a critical appraisal for the purpose of understanding or interpreting, or as a guide in taking action.
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'evaluate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
back-formation from evaluation , from French évaluation , from Middle French evaluacion , from esvaluer to evaluate, from e- + value value
1842, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Cite this entry.
“Evaluate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evaluate. Accessed 27 Sep. 2024.
Kids definition of evaluate, more from merriam-webster on evaluate.
Nglish: Translation of evaluate for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of evaluate for Arabic Speakers
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!
Word of the day.
See Definitions and Examples »
Get Word of the Day daily email!
Plural and possessive names: a guide, every letter is silent, sometimes: a-z list of examples, the difference between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.', more commonly misspelled words, absent letters that are heard anyway, popular in wordplay, weird words for autumn time, 10 words from taylor swift songs (merriam's version), 9 superb owl words, 15 words that used to mean something different, 10 words for lesser-known games and sports, games & quizzes.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
How to write an Evaluation Essay. There are two secrets to writing a strong evaluation essay. The first is to aim for objective analysis before forming an opinion. The second is to use an evaluation criteria. Aim to Appear Objective before giving an Evaluation Argument. Your evaluation will eventually need an argument.
An evaluation essay is a type of writing that assesses and critiques a particular subject, such as a movie, book, restaurant, or product. It requires the writer to analyze the subject and provide a judgment based on defined criteria. ... Clearly define the criteria that you will use to evaluate the subject. Make sure your criteria are specific ...
Use clear and concise language: Clarity is vital in an evaluation essay. Use clear and concise language to express your thoughts and ideas, avoiding unnecessary jargon or complex vocabulary. Your essay should be accessible to a wide audience and easy to understand, allowing your evaluation to be conveyed effectively. 6.
An evaluation essay is a composition that offers value judgments about a particular subject according to a set of criteria. Also called evaluative writing, evaluative essay or report, and critical evaluation essay. An evaluation essay or report is a type of argument that provides evidence to justify a writer's opinions about a subject.
Academic Evaluations. In our daily lives, we are continually evaluating objects, people, and ideas in our immediate environments. We pass judgments in conversation, while reading, while shopping, while eating, and while watching television or movies, often being unaware that we are doing so. Evaluation is an equally fundamental writing process ...
Table of contents. 1 Defining Evaluation Essays. 2 Choose a Subject for Evaluation. 3 Develop a Clear Thesis Statement. 4 Gather Information and Evidence. 5 Establish Evaluation Criteria. 6 Organize Your Essay. 7 Write the Introduction. 8 Write the Body of The Essay.
Next, the essay needs to provide a judgment about a subject. This is the thesis of the essay, and it states whether the subject is good or bad based on how it meets the stated criteria. Criteria. The body of the essay will contain the criteria used to evaluate the subject. In an evaluation essay, the criteria must be appropriate for evaluating ...
An evaluation essay is a type of academic writing where the writer assesses and analyzes a particular subject, product, service, or idea. The primary objective is to form a well-founded opinion and provide evidence-based reasoning to support the evaluation. In essence, an evaluation essay seeks to answer the question: "Is this good or bad ...
An evaluation essay is a type of essay that requires you to judge the quality of a subject based on some ideal criteria that act as a point of comparison. We guide you through writing one with examples. ... Once you define that, you can compare the subject to that criterion and use evidence to support your judgment.
An evaluation essay is written by first making an overall judgment about the topic in the introduction and previewing the main points. The body of the essay lists the criteria that led to the ...
When you start writing an evaluation essay, grabbing the reader's attention is essential. For this, hook the reader from the beginning until the end to ensure that your essay's opening follows an engaging tone. Step 1. Choose an Interesting Topic. Deciding the topic and evaluation essay criteria is important.
Definition of Question Words with Examples. Words such as 'explain', 'evaluate' or 'analyse' - typical question words used in essay titles - provide a useful indication of how your essay should be structured. They often require varying degrees of critical responses. Sometimes, they may simply require a descriptive answer.
The first step in how to write an evaluation is to decide on a particular subject you wish to assess, followed by coming up with criteria you will use. Besides, develop solid arguments backed up with evidence. Also, create an outline, and start writing. Once you complete your writing, proofread your work.
The purpose of an evaluation essay is to present an opinion or viewpoint on a subject or body of work. It should firstly provide a summary of the article in question, then using a thorough, well structured argument the writer presents a point-of-view supported with examples and evidence. By nature this essay bears many similarities to the ...
Critically evaluate: As with 'evaluate', but showing how judgments vary from different perspectives and how some judgments are stronger than others. This often means creating an objective, reasoned argument for your overall case, based on the evaluation from different perspectives. Define: Present a precise meaning.
7. Draft you essay. As you now have everything you will need, write your first draft. The first draft should be just that, a first draft. Focus on writing first and editing later. With everything in place, write your body paragraphs first, the introduction, and finalize with the conclusion.
A basic definition of all three terms: Description: To give a clear and detailed picture of something. Analysis: To make a methodical and detailed examination. Evaluation: To make judgements about the value of information.
1. Create an Outline of the Essay. After choosing the topic and researching it, make an outline for your essay. Follow the outline given above and create an outline for your evaluation essay. Make it detailed and add everything you want to discuss in your essay for a more helpful outline. 2.
Typically, the word "critical" has a negative connotation. Think of words like "critique" and "criticise" and you see why. However, with essay writing, being asked to write "critically" does not necessarily mean you need to be negative. Instead, you are voicing your opinion in a logical and coherent way that is based upon ...
Here's a list of some of the most common instruction/command words you'll see in essay questions (and examination questions as well), together with an explanation of what they mean. Describe: Give a detailed account of…. Outline: Give the main features/general principles; don't include minor details. Explain, account for, interpret: Describe ...
Evaluation in academic writing requires us to analyse the points, ideas or topics in academic texts and to discuss their relevance, effectiveness or application to the topic/s we are writing about. ... "Our conceptualisation of racial macroaggressions is different from many other scholars who define racial macroaggressions as the overt ...
1.3.8 Write: Prepare an Evaluation Writing Guide English 11 Name: Zian Hou Date: January 10, 2023 Word Definition hook The sentence in an essay that captures the reader's attention. claim Argument that has yet to be proven. evidence Information that contributes to the support of a claim, thesis, or primary concept. transition A word or set of words in literature that assists a reader in moving ...
Organization: The observations are listed rather than organized, and some of them do not appear to belong in the paper at all. Both paper and paragraphs lack coherence. Evidence: The paper offers no concrete evidence from the texts or misuses a little evidence. Mechanics: The paper contains constant and glaring errors in syntax, agreement ...
Synonym Discussion of Evaluate. to determine or fix the value of; to determine the significance, worth, or condition of usually by careful appraisal and study… See the full definition