Below appears a version of the assignment sheet for the evaluation essay that will be distributed during class time; check back for updates. Emendations will be made to suit divergent media, as webpages format differently than printed text.
The English Department notes that for the fourth major paper in Composition I, the evaluation essay, each student will “write a thesis-driven, 5-7 page evaluation essay, using specific evidence derived from criteria to support [his or her] evaluative stance.” Such an essay will need to select a subject of discussion, situate that subject within an appropriate broader context, asserts standards derived from that context, articulate a thesis about how well the subject adheres to the standards, and reinforce that thesis through ample and appropriate observed and experiential data from primary—and textual data from secondary—sources, and through exacting explanations of the same.
Generating formal evaluations such as in an evaluation essay is a fairly common practice, and one that many people find useful to do and to see done. Restaurants, books, movies, attractions, albums, products, and events all get reviewed, and people appreciate reading well thought-out, articulate reviews as they decide where to go, what to do, and what to buy. In addition, the skills developed through formal evaluations are applicable less formally to the individual purchasing decisions people make, so the practice involved in drafting an evaluation essay applies to matters far beyond the classroom.
The English Department notes that students successfully completing the assignment will prove themselves able to do the following:
write a clear, concise description of the subject
create clearly defined, specific criteria and base the evaluation on those criteria
engage in a knowledgeable discussion of the subject
craft a clear, focused argument that works as a balanced assessment
use effective and well-supported reasons and evidence to argue for the evaluative position
present a sophisticated control of style and tone
artfully integrate and embed quoted material into the essays with appropriate citation
evidence clear, well-edited writing that is free of proofreading errors and errors of grammar, mechanics, and syntax
Development of the listed abilities should be paramount in your mind as you work on the evaluation essay. Being able to articulate a clear, coherent idea and support it from specific, detailed evidence in a way that makes evident the means of support is helpful in many endeavors. To do so with a minimum of errors helps you to appear educated, competent, and trustworthy, all of which will be to your benefit.
Topic Selection
The item being evaluated in your evaluation essay should be the piece treated in your earlier textual analysis; this is done to ease the burden upon you, allowing you to work with something already familiar. It should be evaluated as a member of its genre (i.e., if, as expected, the textual analysis treats a piece from the Opinion section of the New York Times, the piece should be evaluated in terms of how well it represents opinion pieces in the New York Times, newspaper opinion pieces, or opinion pieces in general).
The thesis of the evaluation essay should be something along the lines of "[The topic piece] is a [good or bad, select one] example of [the selected genre]." The rest of the paper will assert standards by which to make such a judgment and apply those standards to the selected piece. Those standards should be determined by careful review of representative examples of the genre and should be asserted with reference to those examples early in the paper--before they are applied to the individual piece being evaluated. This will mean that writers will need to determine how specific their genres of evaluation will be and what pieces are representative of them--and be ready to defend those determinations.
Submission Guidelines
Drafts for early review are due in advance of the submission draft, so that problems in the papers may be addressed and strengths enhanced. A hard-copy, typed version of the draft is due at the beginning of class on 7 April 2014 so that it may be reviewed during class time by a classmate; it will be taken as a 10-point minor assignment. An online version must be submitted to the instructor as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf document via D2L before the beginning of class time on 16 April 2014; it will also be taken as a 10-point minor assignment. Both drafts will benefit from being completed or nearly-completed papers; the more work done in advance, the more commentary is possible, and the more use you can derive from those comments. Please be sure to take the comments on early drafts seriously and correct problems in the text as it appears in those early drafts, as it is only in those drafts that revision is possible.
A submission draft—a polished, finished version of the profile—must be turned in as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf document via D2L no later than the beginning of class time on 25 April 2014; it will count for 200 of the 1000 total points for the course. The score for the submission draft will be calculated according to the following criteria:
Clarity and Appropriateness of Thesis (20 points)
Is there a clearly articulated thesis or a clear implicit thesis?
Is the thesis one which clearly and appropriately articulates a stance regarding the selected work's representativeness of genre?
Clarity and Appropriateness of Evidence (50 points)
Does the paper make use of relevant and specific primary textual and paratextual data, as well as necessary secondary source material, in support of the thesis?
Does the paper account for the provenance of all such data?
Is the information appropriately and effectively integrated into the paper?
Is the proportion of source material in the piece appropriate?
Clarity and Appropriateness of Explanations of Evidence (50 points)
Is the relevance of the information used to support the thesis made clear?
Is the means through which the data supports the thesis made clear?
Effectiveness of Organization (40 points)
Does the paper follow a reasonable order of discussion?
Does it move from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and section to section smoothly and well? Does it deploy transitions that effectively indicate the relationships among the ideas expressed?
Adherence to Assigned Formatting Standards (15 points)
Is the paper submitted through D2L as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file? Is it typed in double-spaced 12-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins, and with headings and page numbers as appropriate? Are paragraphs indented one-half inch rather than being offset by blank lines?
Adherence to Conventions of Academic American English (25 points)
Is the paper relatively free of errors in proofreading, grammar (including but not limited to subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, and sentence fragments), mechanics (including but not limited to homophone confusion and mistaken spelling and punctuation) and syntax?
Is the writing in the paper consistent with college-level discourse? Does its vocabulary and phrasing reflect entry into higher education? Do its tone and register reflect academic treatment of the subject being discussed?
Notes:
This will be a prewriting-heavy exercise; much work will need to take place before effective drafting can begin. Do not delay in beginning it.
Pulling from the specified text or from outside resources without citation will be investigated as plagiarism. Please do not do it.
More information is forthcoming.