So, what is an evaluation essay? The answer to this question you will find out in this post.
What Is an Evaluation Essay?
An evaluation paper is a kind of essay in which you express your argumentative point of view on various topics. As a form of literary thinking, it is based on much more than just a quick judgment about a person, place, or object. The common standards of evaluation writing, such as clearance, objectivity, and coherence, are to be followed throughout the text. These standards help identify how well a subject meets up or falls short of the ideal. No wonder this kind of essay is widely used for scientific purposes when the comparison of two inventions or technologies is required. In an evaluation essay, all the arguments are delivered objectively, while your personal opinion is stated at the very end as a summary.
On the Internet, you can find lots of reviews with one sentence only: “This essay is fine.” Does it look informative to you? Can you rely on this kind of feedback? Let’s be honest, such a review can hardly provide you with a clear understanding of whether the subject is worth your attention or not. The main feature of an evaluation essay is that it contains details and evidence to support your point of view. Instead of discussing every observation, you just need to underpin your point of view with examples that will make your paper look convincing.
CJE guidelines
How to start an evaluation essay? What needs to be preconsidered? Every evaluation essay consists of three structural elements – criteria, judgement, and evidence. Let’s get deeper into details.
Criteria
The criteria that you choose should evaluate a person or subject through the prism of their ideal version. What can their best features be? For instance, you would expect an interesting plot and professional acting from a movie. Once you have specific benchmarks in mind, they can be used to evaluate these points.
Judgement
The judgement aspect is used to estimate whether or not the benchmarks have been met. For instance, you can start a movie evaluation from judging whether it aligns with the specific benchmark. Does it offer the quality acting you expect? Does it have gaps in the plot? These are only some of the possible options to consider.
Evidence
Remember that you must develop clues to advocate your judgements. For instance, if you make the judgement that the movie quality does not meet your expectations, you should be ready to provide evidence. Without eligible evidence, your evaluation essay won’t look convincing.
When structuring your evaluation essay, it is crucial to address a different criterion in each paragraph. In that paragraph, you should reflect on each criterion, make the relevant judgements and provide supporting proofs.
How to Write an Evaluation Essay?
With this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to write an evaluation essay. Here are the major steps to be taken:
- Choose your topic. Whatever kind of essay you are writing, you will have to take this step. Your topic can be offered by your instructor, as the case may be. But if you have to choose it yourself, you should consider a subject that you are familiar with. Thus, it will be easier for you to take an in-depth look at the subject and make a judgement on its value.
- Create a thesis statement. This is an important element of your essay as it contains the general purpose of the evaluation. In the thesis, you need to reflect on the criteria being used to judge the subject matter and state its value. Your statement should look apparent and to the point. In the process of writing, you may revise it as your essay gets shaped.
- Identify the criteria to be used for accessing the subject matter. Determine the benchmarks in your essay in order to make it interesting and engaging. The criteria you choose will depend on the subject of your evaluation. For instance, a movie will be judged using different points of reference than a book.
- Find supporting evidence. Don’t forget that an essay is not just about your opinion. You will need to find some supporting information from trustworthy sources while making each judgement. Don’t think that stating the movie or book title is enough. Use some questions to find out answers that can help you collect more information. How can you evaluate the subject? What kind of readers are you focused on? Will you focus on good or bad sides of the subject?
- Write a draft of your essay. All you need to do is to continue writing. As soon as you have something written on paper, you will rewrite or restructure it unless you are totally happy with the result.
Review, revise and rewrite. When a draft is completed, you will read over your work and make some changes if needed. You should be ready to rewrite your paper several times to get it just right.
Evaluation Essay Example
Here, you will find a well-written evaluation essay example that you can use for yourself:
Evaluation Essay VS Review
An evaluation essay is widely associated with a review paper. This is a common mistake many students make. Although the two types of paper have some similarities, there are more differences that set them apart. You can take a look at those differences in the table below.
|
Criteria
|
Evaluation
|
Review
|
|
Analysis
|
The topic is examined thoroughly.
|
Evaluation of a product or service is provided.
|
|
Depth of analysis
|
You get engaged in in-depth analysis.
|
You do not need to conduct profound scientific research.
|
|
Evidence
|
Adequate supporting evidence aims to increase the quality of the evaluation essay. You should provide only credible and scholarly evidence.
|
You don’t need academic evidence throughout the appraisal process.
|
|
Opinion
|
You provide an unbiased view on the subject.
|
You provide unbiased information by relying on personal consideration that analyzes the subject.
|
|
Benchmarks
|
You use predefined criteria that evaluate the subject matter.
|
You express opinions that do not follow particular criteria.
|
|
Scope
|
You cover a broader scope by evaluating a particular topic and searching for adequate data that can critique the particular subject.
|
You cover a narrower scope by providing views focused on the particular subject.
|
|
Thesis statement
|
You provide a central claim as the essay’s thesis .
|
You do not need a thesis statement.
|
|
Structure
|
You follow the standard essay structure splitting the paper into sections.
|
You do not have to follow any specific structure in review writing.
|
|
References
|
You include the works cited page.
|
You do not have to include the works cited page.
|
Tips on Writing an Evaluation Essay from Our Experts
Following the quick tips below, you will find it easier to write an effective evaluation argument essay:
- Provide the right amount of details: Make sure you explain your thoughts clearly and provide sufficient information to convince the reader in the correctness of your judgment.
- Thesis sentence should reveal your actual opinion. If you want to build up the basis for your body, you can include the main reasons for your evaluation in the thesis sentence.
- Know your target audience. By knowing your reader, you can adjust the plot to their specific needs. Whether you write for college students or professors, you will have to apply a bit different approach in the language choice.
- Make some notes. By using a three-column note-taking method, you can organize your thoughts. The columns of criteria, evidence, and judgment will contain the relevant information which will not let you forget or mix facts.
- Be opinionated. By sounding passionate in your evaluation essay, you will increase your chances of catching readers’ attention. The use of vivid nouns and engaging verbs will strengthen the effect produced by your paper. You should have a strong judgment of how the particular subject is either better or worse than other subjects of the same type.
- Back up every judgement you make. Every time you make a judgment, you should be ready to use specific, interesting, and convincing reasons to make it up. For evidence, you can describe the subject, use funny stories, or compare and contrast some notions with a similar subject.
- Provide counter-arguments. When you disagree with what most people think about the particular subject, it makes sense to provide some counter-arguments. This will make the narration more engaging for readers.
List of 50 Evaluation Topics
Since there are many people and objects you are able to assess, an evaluation essay can be written on a wide range of topics. To evaluate something, you will need to compare it with an example within a subject you have chosen. Some possible evaluation essay topics can be found below:
- Analyze the dissimilarity between seeing a sporting event live and watching it on ITV.
- Create a comparative assessment of watching a sporting event in a cafe and watching it without leaving the comfort of your home.
- Evaluate the experience of watching a sporting event on your own and with other people.
- Evaluate how a recent drama movie portrays the tragedies of real life.
- Evaluate a classic criminal movie and what it states about the real crime rates in the modern society.
- Evaluate your favorite Chinese restaurant.
- Compare two popular Chinese restaurants in your city.
- Appraise football or basketball from the perspective of a contestant or that of a watcher.
- Analyze the way in which football or basketball has advanced over the last decade.
- Discuss the influence of ESPN on sporting events.
- Evaluate the coverage of the latest Eurovision Song Contest.
- Evaluate a fancy restaurant for how it makes the customer feel after having the meal
- Analyze the way in which a popular horror movie depicts people’s fears.
- Assess a classic action movie and talk about its ideas regarding the functions of men and women.
- Explore the change that occurred in recent war movies if compared to classic war movies.
- How do drama books affect readers?
- Evaluate a book about war and analyze whether it addresses current concerns associated with war and peace.
- Evaluate the effects of online educational programs on students’ performance.
- Do historical movies encourage history learning?
- Evaluate an Italian cafe located in your city. What is the difference between the Italian and local food?
- What makes a traditional Italian meal great?
- Can hamburgers be healthy? Mention some details and provide relevant arguments.
- How mental health issues affect students’ academic performance?
- Analyze teachers’ responsibilities in terms of elementary students’ needs.
- Evaluate the power of verbal encouragement as a motivational factor in the educational process.
- Critically reflect on education services provided to children experiencing difficulties in learning.
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of German secondary education.
- Evaluate teaching methods used at the American universities.
- Ways in which online libraries affect the students’ academic performance.
- How well the film “BraveHeart” portrays historical events?
- Analyze a movie produced in a foreign country and discuss how it reveals its national characteristics.
- Assess Kate Winslet’s play in “Titanic” and discuss which means this actor applies to adapt to this role.
- Make a comparison between modern and classic drama movies.
- Assess the distinct approaches used to transfer data from a smartphone to a PC.
- Make comparisons between various phone plans and determine which provider has the best deals for travelers.
- Assess current information security methods. Which one is the most efficient?
- Assess the key characteristics of WhatsApp.
- Compare the use of several cloud systems that can be implemented by the movie hub website.
- Estimate the chances of Facebook as a marketing resource.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of online advertising.
- Assess the existing approaches to using the Internet in colleges.
- Analyze the consequences of cultural shock.
- Assess the negative sides of overwhelming cultural diversity in the United States.
- Discuss the development path of rap and hip-hop music.
- What is the impact of Buddhism on Indian culture?
- Compare two popular social media platforms in terms of their users, features, and benefits.
- Evaluate the latest version of your favorite smartphone and estimate the positive or negative changes that will affect the industry.
- Compare an educational approach in the military, Christian, or classical school.
- Evaluate the SAT versus the ACT tests.
- Compare the foreign policies established by a few states in the US.
Note that our company provides academic writing help. You can buy an essay written from scratch by our essay writer.
