Evaluation Essay Grading Rubric Criteria Exceeds expectations for college-level writing (90-100%) Meets expectations for college-level writing…

My assignment is to write an evaluation essay, attached is the grading rubic + what I have started writing.  I have never written an evaluation essay before and I want to make sure this is a proper subject, and what changes should be made to align with the rules given.

Check Prior Knowledge

If you are still unsure how to approach this essay, consider something you either recently purchased or want to purchase and read through as many product reviews or critical commentaries about the item that you can find. Some sample search strings to help you narrow your search include:

• "item name" + review –
• "item name" + "customer satisfaction"
• "item name" + review -site:amazon.com (you can replace Amazon with any site you don’t want results from)

Focusing Your LearningLesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. List the characteristics of an evaluation essay.
2. Critically organize, analyze, and evaluate resources.
3. Develop an evaluation essay based upon critical reflection.

This lesson maps to the following course competencies:

• Organize writing to support a central idea through unity, coherence, and logical development appropriate to a specific writing context.
• Use appropriate conventions in writing, including consistent voice, tone, diction, grammar, and mechanics.
• Summarize, paraphrase, and quote from sources to maintain academic integrity and to develop and support one’s own ideas.
• Generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.

InstructionEvaluation’s Many Faces

In the previous lessons, you encountered a number of evaluation situations. From the office worker whose boss requested an evaluation of different products, to the angry customer that wrote an eloquent review online, and the critical comparisons between well-known films. Evaluation is everywhere and can be tricky to write if you’re not sure how to focus your efforts. This lesson will provide a toolkit to help you move from the drafting in Lesson 6 to a full-fledged essay. You will begin by discussing the three most common evaluative techniques and their uses.

Comparison and Contrast

Think back to the guided reading you did in Lesson 6 (Metaphilm: It’s a Wonderful Life). In this essay, the author had two distinct works to evaluate: the film It’s a Wonderful Life, and the classic tale A Christmas Carol. By placing these two distinct works in comparison with each other, the author was able to share new ideas.

To compare means to explain the similarities between two things, and to contrast means to explain their differences. You may decide to write only about the differences, or only about the similarities, or you may decide to write about both. Common organizational models include: whole to whole, similarities to differences , and point-by-point.

Your thesis statement must name both of the subjects you are comparing and/or contrasting as well as your evaluative comment. To illustrate, return to this sample thesis:

There may be yet another factor that has helped [It’s A Wonderful Life] become so firmly lodged in our collective Christmas consciousness, and that is the movie’s close ties to what is perhaps the only other lengthy Christmas narrative that outstrips it in popularity, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The similarities and relationship between the two stories are at once quite close and far from straightforward. It’s not an adaptation of Dickens, it’s not a sequel, nor is it the same plot dressed up in American duds. It’s a very different story that, consciously or unconsciously, echoes the Dickens story in many places. You might call it a "crypto" or "stealth" adaptation, a reworking of the Scrooge tale that nevertheless deserves to be called an original story.

While this thesis appears over a few sentences (normal for an essay of its length), it clearly states the two texts that will be analyzed, gives an overview of how they will be analyzed (one is an adaptation of the other), and, hints that the evaluation will focus on comparison ("echoes the Dickens story").

A comparison might also be helpful when comparing past and present, an older version of something with a newer version, or discussing two brands of an item.

Checklist: Is this type of evaluation right for you?

 You are focusing on similarities and/or differences between items.

 You are focusing on just one element; this will not be as impactful for your readers.

 You are using two distinct things (items, products, points in time) that you want to evaluate.

 You are using your thesis to connect the two items under one distinct focus for the essay.

Evaluation through Illustration

If you haven’t already done so, take a moment and read the following Newsweek article on Internet fame: The Flip Side of Internet Fame. This article was written about the video "Star Wars Kid."

Because this article is written for a magazine audience, the thesis reads less formally than what you’d see in an academic paper, but it’s still present. After telling the story of "The Jedi Kid," Ghyslain Raza, the author states: "Razas of the world take note: among the generation that’s been reared online, stories like this are becoming more and more common. They serve as important reminders of a dark side of instant Internet fame: humiliation."

This article is unique because it evaluates a social phenomenon through illustration, taking examples from sources and using them to show readers why the author’s comment is correct. In so doing, the author evaluates the notion of Internet fame by focusing on its unfortunate byproduct—Internet shame.

Illustration often relies on description to make it work well. In this quotation from a restaurant review by Westword writer, Jason Sheehan (Same Old, Same Old – please note that this review does contain foul language), the level of descriptive detail lends a great deal to his illustration-based evaluation of a bad dining experience:

[It] takes more than chicken broth and a can of chopped clams to make a white clam sauce. It takes heart. It takes skill. If nothing else, it takes an understanding that you can’t use oiled-down linguine with a broth sauce, because nothing will stick to oiled-down linguine. You need fresh pasta — fresh, dry pasta — to make it work. You need to know that fresh herbs are good, dried herbs aren’t, and you need to at least pretend to care about the final product. What I got was a big white bowl of clam scraps and some noodles wadded up in a weak puddle of broth. Eating it was like sucking down a tangle of wet rubber bands with a side of watery clam soup, and I know you’ve probably made this same dish 10,000 times over the last fifty years, but you know what? This was the first time I’d tasted it, and rather than tasting the experience and refinement that comes from 10,000 attempts at the same dish, I tasted only boredom. This was shoemaking — assembly-line cooking — and shoemakers have no business in a good kitchen.

An illustration approach to evaluation would be helpful if you only have one item to analyze. It tends to work best to evaluate experiences and manifestations, more so than texts like films or books. The challenge is to not lose your evaluative focus; your reader should understand that you are using description and your sources as a tool toward your evaluation.

Checklist: Is this type of evaluation right for you?

 You are focusing on experiences, manifestations, or other less concrete topics in building your thesis.

 You are focusing on more than one element, taking away from your focused consideration of an issue.

 You are focusing on sources that tend to be very descriptive in their approach to the subject; your thesis lends towards description in order to convey its ideas to the reader.

 You are envisioning your final product as a picture; something that illustrates a concept and evaluates the picture in a new way.

Evaluation through Definition

Closely related with comparison and illustration is evaluation through definition. If you’re focusing on a term or a concept that has a conflicting meaning, you can craft an evaluation that focuses on that conflict.

If you haven’t already done so, read The Wife-Beater, which evaluates the use of the phrase "Wife Beater" in reference to a kind of sleeveless shirt.

In the sample, notice how the writer contrasts her view of the definition with her sources’ views. Also notice how she clearly illustrates the problems with the phenomena of casually using this phrase.

Evaluations through definition can be useful if your goal is to make an experience concrete. For example, you might use a particular film to define what makes a strong adaptation. You might find a word that sparks debate and evaluate its use by comparing existing definitions.

Checklist: Is this type of evaluation right for you?

 You are focusing on concrete ideas such as key words or concepts.

 You are seeing comparisons between your evaluation and the work of others’, but do not want to spend your whole paper comparing or contrasting.

 You are illustrating a new approach to a concept as a goal of your evaluation, but you want to focus on objective, as opposed to subjective, description.

 You are envisioning your final product as a new approach. A reader will understand a concept or key term better as a result of your evaluation of its use.

Now that you better understand the different types of description, take a look at your exercise from Lesson 6. Did your instructor recommend an approach? Can you see an approach emerging based on your preliminary thesis?

Getting Started

No matter what approach works for you, the following tips will help you get started with writing the final product.

•  Gather your sources. Begin this process by organizing the information you already have. You will want to include the article from Lesson 6 and your primary source. Since this essay requires the use of TWO secondary sources, use the Rio Library or the Internet to find an appropriate article to add to your approach.

•  Organize your information. As you review the materials you have gathered, begin to organize them by theme. What are the common elements? Are there clear areas of similarity or difference that you can use to organize your essay?

•  Analyze and evaluate your information. Once you’ve identified some common themes, or some other strategy for organizing your resources, it is time to think critically about them.

• First, you will want toanalyzeyour sources. How are the elements of the sources working to make their main points?
• Next, you’ll want toevaluateyour sources. How effective are the different sources in making their main points? Do some do a better job than others? What elements are especially effective or ineffective?
• Lastly, you’ll want toconnectthese sources with other information you already know. This critical thinking strategy is calledinference. What can you logically infer about this topic from these sources?

As you write, it can be tempting to rely heavily on your source material. Creating a mosaic of quotes, paraphrases, and summaries with very little original contribution from you can seem like a good way to approach this assignment, but it is not. You are the author of this evaluation. It is your ideas that are valuable and important. A big part of your grade for this assignment rests upon your ability to think critically about your research and present your reasoning to your audience. Think of your sources as your backup vocalists. They add a dimension to your work, but you are the lead singer. Don’t let your backup singers steal the show! Use your resource material to exemplify your points.

That being said, remember your audience. You are appealing to a general, academic audience, so the third person is preferred. As such, think twice before using the first person unless it is vital to explaining elements of your evaluation (such as direct, firsthand experiences). Do avoid direct address (you, your). If you need a review of these terms, visit: First, Second, and Third Person. You may want to listen to the podcast of this presentation located at this site.

Important! You need only two or three quotes, a paraphrase, and a summary in your entire essay. You will want to carefully choose your specific sources. Review your use of source material to make sure that you aren’t over-doing it, and cite the information correctly both in-text and on your works cited page.

•  Revising, editing, and proofreading. The final three: How often do you take the time to revise, edit, and proofread? When you have a final draft of your work, consider your options for revising, editing, and proofreading.

• On your own:Reading your essay aloud is an effective strategy because you use different parts of the brain to read and to speak. You will hear errors in grammar, ineffective or illogical development, and gaps in information more readily than you would see them.
• With a little help:Rio Salado offers the Smarthinking service which puts you in touch with tutors who can help review writing and offer revision suggestions.