When we are asked to Evaluate something, the text we are producing is an Evaluation. In an Evaluation, we are being asked to assess an idea, process, object or event against a particular standard. For example your teacher may ask you to Evaluate How effective has Australia been at preventing climate change? To this you would need to first gather all your evidence, then assess how strong the evidence is, and then make a decision based what you think.

In the example below, students have been asked to evaluate the idea that the majority of the Australian People did not support the Vietnam War by examining three sources:

1. Newspaper Article

2. Photos

3. Opinion of a historian.

Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War was controversial at the time and remains so today. However what is not clear is to what extent Australians supported our military involvement. The sources provided include primary sources (photographs and a newspaper article) and an excerpt from a historian about life in Australia during the 1960s and 1970s. The photo provided portrays a protest by people who do not support the war. Their opinions are clear as they are holding banners with slogans such as “Australia Out Now!”. While this photo does show some people who were against the war, it is weak evidence for this question as it is unclear how many such protests took place or how many people supported the cause of the protesters. The newspaper article discusses the protest but it does so in a negative way describing the protesters as “students, bludgers and pacifists”. Given that this was taken from a widely read national newspaper this source represents strong evidence in favour of the proposition as it is likely that it reflected the opinion of a wide range of people. The excerpt from the historian describes Australia as a “country of largely conservative” views during this time period and provided statistics in the form of opinion polls to suggest that “more than 70%” of Australians supported our involvement in the Vietnam War. The source is a credible and reliable source as it is from a respected Australian historian and uses a substantial amount of evidence to back their claims. In balancing the evidence, it is clear that Australia was divided about the Vietnam War. However, while there is evidence that a section of the community disagreed and this is demonstrated by the photograph of the protest, the two other sources provide stronger evidence regarding overall public opinion in relation to the Vietnam War. Therefore, the evidence supports the proposition that Australians were largely supportive of the Vietnam War.