5.3: Evaluative Argument
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)D. Evaluation arguments
How many things have you evaluated so far today? In almost any decision you’ve made, you’ve done some sort of informal evaluation. This might be what to wear, eat, transportation to take, social media to use, or movies to see. We like to watch reality shows where people are evaluated on skills such as baking, singing, dancing, or surviving. We also spend hours watching, evaluating, and debating which of our favorite teams is the best. Life consists of one assessment after another.
In college, you’ll write Evaluation Arguments where you will need to justify the judgement you make. To do so, you will choose or be given the criteria you need to make a judgement. Likely, you’ll have to present that assessment in writing or speaking. You will need reasoning and evidence to support your evaluation.
When you write an evaluation, you are making an argument that claims to know the correct assessment of thing you are evaluating.
As in all other arguments, your assessment (claim) is stated in a thesis statement, which is supported in the rest of the paper.
Unlike other essays, you will need to do some preliminary work before you even start the writing process.
Steps to write an evaluation argument
1. Understand the assignment, audience, and purpose.
You need to understand what type of project you are doing, the parameters of the project, who it is for, and why. Each discipline has different reasons for wanting an evaluation essay. Therefore, it is important to understand exactly what your instructor wants before you begin.
2. Establish the criteria that you will use to evaluate.
Evaluation requires making a appraisal of something’s quality, quantity, use, or looks.
In order to judge something, you need to have something that helps you measure the item being considered. You also need to know what degree or which facets of those things need to be measured. These determinations are the criteria you will use to make and support your argument of evaluation.
Your criteria needs to be relevant to the thing being evaluated and something you can observe or determine. If you were to evaluate a streaming service, you might look for cost, number of selections, language choices, accessibility, or ease of use.
3. Examine the item to be appraised closely.
Before you can think about evaluating something, you must carefully scrutinize each element of that thing. If you are expected to evaluate a text, that means closely and critically reading it.
4. Analyze the text by focusing on the specific elements that you will evaluate.
If you are assessing a text, you need to establish what parts of the text you will focus on. For example, you could evaluate a text by rhetorical devices like be rhetorical appeals, style choices, or literary parts. From there, you might break those into even smaller elements. For our example, rhetorical appeals would be ethos, pathos, and logos.
5. Measure those elements by each criteria that you have established.
6. Maintain objectivity and balance as you evaluate.
7. Write a final judgement and the reasons for your evaluation. This will become your thesis and roadmap for the main points of the essay.
8. Outline and draft your essay.
9. Get feedback and revise.
10. Proofread and edit.
Write a paragraph long movie review evaluating a recent movie that you have seen. Choose at least 2 criteria and evaluate the movie using those criteria. Some possible examples of criteria are acting, special effects, plot, character growth, music, videography, directing, genre, or violent or sexual content. If you'd like, you can give the movie a rating such as bags of popcorn from 1 for bad - 4 for great. 
Here is an example of an annotated evaluative argument: Example evaluative argument. This is from Anna Mills’ book How Arguments Work, Harrisburg Area Community College.
This video explains evaluative essays well. Link here: How to Write an Evaluation Argument
Media Attribution
Image 1: Miller, LauraLee. "Evaluation analysis chart." designed using Canva, Canva.com, https://human.libretexts.org/@api/de...ysis_chart.png.
Image 2: Quach, Hung. "popcorn." Pixabay.com, https://pixabay.com/illustrations/popcorn-food-drawing-movies-7164547/.
Works Cited
Agatucci, Cora. "Example Analysis -- Evaluation Essays." Humanities Center, Central Oregon Community College, cocc.edu,
https://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr122/handouts/essays1.htm
Hastings, Ms. "Evaluation Essays." You Tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrUoF8XxEPg&t=32s