evaluation argument paper.
fadooEvaluation Argument Paper Guidelines
(minimum of 4 full pages)
Corresponding Reading: Chapter on evaluation arguments in Good Reasons, along with the chapter on MLA format.
Overview: The general assignment is to evaluate something (film, restaurant, appliance, program, policy, a law . . . ?) by applying certain criteria (aesthetic/artistic, practical, functional, societal, intellectual, moral, etc.). This could be mostly a defense or criticism but will likely be a combination of both.
Steps:
(1) observe, use, visit, etc. your topic/subject and take notes and make
observations as you do so
(2) sort/categorize your notes—find patterns and threads, make connections,
consider criteria
(3) do some basic internet research to get a feel for opinions on your topic
(4) anticipate, acknowledge, and consider major alternate viewpoints related to your
criteria
(5) brainstorm for unified ideas—find some tracks and flirt with thesis statements
(6) write the draft
(7) rewrite and revise the draft.
Guidelines & Advice: Make sure you have a focus (which comes about by choosing a target audience and laying out specific intent and criteria for evaluation)—in its final stages, this evaluation should sound as little like a rant or an “I’m big fan!” cheerleading exercise as possible. As in any type of argumentative writing, demonstrating knowledge of other points of view will only make your writing stronger—and a test for your topic/thesis, anyhow, is to make sure there is room for disagreement.
Work on developing your own style, your own voice, in this assignment. Approach the writing as being informal, but . . . even though I call this an “informal” assignment, the content and ideas should be well developed and organized coherently, and the writing should be mechanically sound (aside from any voice-related inconsistencies, such as fragments for emphasis or run-ons for “poetic” use . . .). In other words, experiment with language, structure and voice, but don’t try to convince me that laziness equals style. Again, write to reach a specific target audience.
Topics: They have to be specific. By this I mean that we're not looking at an issue (abortion, pro sports salaries, health care reform, etc.), but we're looking at a smaller, more specific subject, or object. You couldn't evaluate abortion, but you could evaluate a Planned Parenthood Center, a specific one. You couldn't evaluate steroid use in Major League Baseball, but you could evaluate baseball's policy (if you could access the document) on steroid use. If you wanted to say WSU's housing policy is discriminatory against a certain group, get a copy of the housing policy, and use fairness as a criterion. It, your topic, has to be something you have access to. If you want to do Disneyland, visit Disneyland this quarter, in other words.
Please try to avoid gadgets (phones, computers, etc.). These have made for problematic papers in the past. We want to work on writing prose arguments, and the more tech talk there is the harder this seems to be to do.
We're looking at something specific and how well it works or doesn't work and the "why" behind it. This comes with defining criteria. If you want to evaluate a Sunbeam 12-cup coffee maker, decide what's important in a coffee maker (criteria). You have a lot of choices; mine for my office here at WSU might be that a coffee maker has to (a) not over-brew the coffee and must maintain the flavor of the beans, (b) be durable and easy to maintain, operate, and keep clean, and (c) be reliably safe as far as burns and fire hazards and leaving on throughout the day. This would be the criteria you would put the Sunbeam 12-cup coffee maker through.
Your evaluation will then be supported with good solid logic and a detailed explanation, along with basic Internet sources, which must be cited correctly (see the MLA chapter in our text). Make sure to sandwich your quotations, use signal phrases, and use ending citations.