EVALUATIVE ESSAY: Requirements: • All papers must have a title, and they must be typed and double spaced with Times New Roman 12 pt. font. • All pages must be numbered. • All papers must be stapled together. • All papers must be no less than 3 FULL pages and no more than 5 pages. Targeted Due Dates: • First Essay Draft (Partial Draft for Peer Review): Tues. 2/13 • Final Essay Draft (To be turned in on Blackboard): Tues 2/27 Description: An evaluation is NOT a critique. It is an analysis/assessment of a given topic. The discussion is framed around your own personal observations and tastes, whether positive or negative. The evaluation essay demonstrates the quality (or lack thereof) of a given product, athlete, musical artist, etc. To decipher your evaluation from a critique, you will need to provide the following information: criteria, judgment, and evidence. Procedure: Select a topic for your essay. Here are a few examples of topics you might want to consider: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • evaluating a recent movie you saw evaluating a particular political figure evaluating a television program or series evaluating health care reform evaluating a particular college where you would like to transfer (in comparison with other colleges you have considered) after Harper evaluating new music you downloaded and/or purchased evaluating certain advertisement slogans and how they influence consumers evaluating social media’s role in your life or in society overall evaluating a book you recently read evaluating a video game evaluating NFL running backs to decide who are the top 10 in the league and why evaluating the cuisine of another city or country you visited evaluating Common Core’s effects on this country’s education system evaluating how COVID has affected small businesses, the restaurant industry, people’s attitudes, or something else that concerns you • Directions: To use film as an example, the evaluation of a film (or a film review) is NOT a summary of the plot. It should go deeper into analysis and reaction. It should discuss the issues raised by the film, address the film’s purpose, state reactions to the content and quality of the film, and connect it to ideas and material presented in class. It should be a minimum of 4 pages and include some the following guidelines: Criteria The criteria involves demonstrating the expected outcome. For example, if you intend to sign up for a wireless phone contract, there are specific standards you expect from the phone based on what the company states the phone can do, and there are specific standards you expect from the service the company is offering. For example, Verizon Wireless boasts the largest 4G LTE network, and they have a large customer base. This large customer base would not stay with the company if their service failed, and many people do end up switching phone companies due to issues with their service. Using the wireless phone example, there are specific criteria you could mention in your essay. Regarding the service, you could summarize the company’s promotional pamphlet: quality of cell signal, customer service, price, services and items available to give greater ease of use, etc. You can do the same with the wireless phone you purchase using the company’s information about that particular phone: ease of use, battery life, price, technical support available, etc. You would describe this criteria in your evaluation essay so that your reader knows the expectations of the service and product involved. Without it, your reader has no idea what was expected of these items and therefore cannot evaluate anything from what you write. Judgment The judgment describes whether or not the criteria are met. Using the example of the wireless phone service, if you can’t get a signal in your home, it may show a discrepancy in the wireless provider’s network. If you call customer service in an attempt to clear up the problems, but instead you are met with sarcasm and scorn, then their negative attitude would also show that criteria are not being met. However, you might receive excellent customer service in which the person is able to clear up your problem, and it would reveal a meeting of criteria. Evidence Without evidence, your evaluation essay becomes nothing more than your opinion about a product, service, or program. Evidence is what you use to support your judgment. If you’re going to say that a wireless carrier’s service is terrible, you’re going to have to explain why. Were your calls being dropped a lot? Did text messages not get sent? What exactly happened to make you decide that the wireless carrier had poor service? What does the research on the product have to say about the service? Do studies and statistics show that others experienced similar problems?