Evaluation Essay
Purpose: This assignment will give you practice in composing a more formal version of a sort of argument that we tend to make countless times in our daily lives: evaluation. Evaluations are among the most common types of arguments we make as we all have opinions and often like to share them and argue on their behalf, whether they be about popular culture and entertainment (our favorite books or films or actors or singers) or politics (we evaluate one candidate as more well-suited than another, a policy choice as the right or wrong move) or other issues relevant to our lives (the best professor to take a stats class from, the best place to get food near campus, whether universal voter registration is a good idea). Being able to compose coherent and persuasive evaluation arguments can make us more influential to the people and world around us as well as help us to understand (and at times shift) our own values.
Assignment: Write an evaluative argument that is both interesting and relevant to you and your life as well as engaging for the reader. Depending on the context and audience you have in mind, make careful decisions about how much you must focus your attention on justifying your criteria of evaluation vs. providing evidence to show the match. If your evaluation is more exploratory in nature (interrogating the criteria of evaluation we tend to share for a particular category), your thesis may be less explicit, but your stance should nevertheless be clear.
Audience: You are welcome to use a default audience of “college students” or “my professor,” but you are also welcome to consider a more unusual, or specific audience. Perhaps you’d like to write an evaluative argument to a particular someone who needs to hear it (a particular friend, a family member, people preparing to make an important decision with which you believe your insight can help, etc.). If you do choose a particular intended audience, please make note of it somewhere on your draft so that I (and your peer reviewers) can consider the choices you’ve made in that context.
Minimum Requirements:
-1000-1200 words.
-2 outside sources, minimum.
-MLA format. 12 point font, Times New Roman, 1” margins, etc. (See the Purdue OWL for help with MLA).
-A creative title that hints at the subject matter.
-A coherent thesis and clear criteria.
-Effective organization and thorough support avoiding fallacious argumentation.
-Clear and precise language.
