Evaluation Essay

Evaluation involves making judgments. Evaluation arguments require you to make a persuasive case for the validity of your judgment.

In this task, you will write an evaluation argument that tries to persuade your readers to accept your reasoned judgment on a topic.

Note: Choose only one of the following topics for your essay.

•   Evaluate the effectiveness of a policy.

•   Evaluate the quality of a consumer product.

•   Evaluate the benefits of pursuing a specific hobby.

•   Evaluate the merits of a specific film or book.

Note: this task requires you to make a claim about the merits of a book, film, product, policy, or hobby and then provide reasons why that claim is true. If you choose to evaluate the merits of a book or film, do not simply summarize the plot; instead, use details from the book or film as evidence to support the claim.

Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. An originality report is provided when you submit your task that can be used as a guide.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

Note: When using sources to support ideas and elements in an assessment, the submission MUST include APA formatted in-text citations with a corresponding reference list for any direct quotes or paraphrasing. It is not necessary to list sources that were consulted if they have not been quoted or paraphrased in the text of the assessment.

A.   Write an evaluation essay (suggested length of 2–4 pages). In your essay, do the following:

1.  Respond to one of the given topics.

2.  Provide an effective introduction.

3.  Provide an appropriate thesis statement that previews two to four main points.

4.  Develop each  of the main points with appropriate support in the body of your essay.

5.  Provide an effective conclusion.
 

B.   Include at least  one academically credible source in the body of your essay.

1.  For your sources, include all in-text citations and references in APA format.
 

C.  Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

Note: For definitions of terms commonly used in the rubric, see the Rubric Terms web link included in the Evaluation Procedures section.

Note: When using sources to support ideas and elements in an assessment, the submission MUST include APA formatted in-text citations with a corresponding reference list for any direct quotes or paraphrasing. It is not necessary to list sources that were consulted if they have not been quoted or paraphrased in the text of the assessment.

Note: No more than a combined total of 30% of a submission can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from outside sources, even if cited correctly. For tips on using APA style, please refer to the APA Handout web link included in the APA Guidelines section.