Evaluative essay

Minimum five well-developed paragraphs.

Purpose: To hone your analytical depth as you review something: a film, a restaurant, a play, a book, an album, a video game, a concert, or something else I’ve approved for you.

Getting started: When you review anything, consider several criteria on which you base your judgments. What are the most integral criteria to a thorough evaluation of whatever you’re reviewing? (If you’re reviewing a film, for instance, you might consider the strengths and weaknesses of the performances, the dialogue, the director’s aesthetic, the socio-cultural commentary the film makes, or the film’s music.) You then develop paragraphs in which you identify and analyze the strengths and/or weaknesses of those criteria. Remember that each body paragraph can only develop a single point.

Structure:

Whatever you review, you must provide an introduction with sufficient background information/contexts and a clear, direct thesis. The thesis indicates the overall evaluation of whatever you’re reviewing: is it strong, weak, or moderately strong or moderately weak? Why? Your thesis should answer these questions in a single, well-structured sentence.
Each body paragraph supports one single criterion you are using to judge whatever you are reviewing. Use effective paragraph transitions at the beginning of each body paragraph. Use PIE (Point, Illustrate, Explain) as a guideline for expressing your ideas. The point is the topic sentence: your judgment of this specific criterion. Illustrate the point using examples from whatever you are reviewing. Explain the examples in terms of how and why they represent a strength or weakness of the criterion. Make sure you
The conclusion restates the thesis (using different words) and sums up your points. It may also look to the future or offer advice for improvement or hope for future endeavors, but do not ever bring in new information or evaluations into a concluding paragraph.
Writing Tips:

Consider the intended audience for whatever you’re reviewing, as the review may be different for a specialized audience than for a general one. Consider the typical expectations an audience has for whatever you’re reviewing.
As with other papers you write this semester, your impressive use of detail in explaining your points will help you tremendously. For example, if one paragraph is about a restaurant’s lack of cleanliness, your topic sentence will state that weakness up front. Then you’ll provide examples of this lack of cleanliness (dirty silverware, messy floor, untidy restrooms, sticky tables) that you analyze in detail. (Note: it’s never enough to tell. Show your audience. Don’t just claim that the floor was messy; engage some of your senses: what did it sound like to walk on a sticky floor? What did the floor look like? What did it smell like? How did it feel to walk on it? Why else was the dirty floor so unpleasant? The more detailed your review, the better.
To analyze strengths and weaknesses, it is often useful to compare expectations with the actual experience.
Your audience is academic. Use the conventions of academic writing I posted to Canvas. Do not use first or second person: I, me, my we, us, our, ourselves, myself, you, your, you’re, yourself, yourselves. Instead of “you should avoid this movie if you have enjoyed the director’s previous two in the series,” rephrase to “viewers who hope for the delicate nuance and intellectual probity of Director X’s previous films should avoid this one, as these qualities are replaced with cheap thrills and bombastic overtures.” Avoid using “one” as a pronoun in academic writing. Avoid clichés, slang, colloquial speech, non-standard speech. Your grammar, punctuation, and syntax need to be correct, so proofread carefully. Read your sentences aloud. Make sure every sentence is syntactically correct.
If you are reviewing a film, introduce the director: (e.g. Christopher Nolan’s Memento.) You may also want to provide the names of notable actors within the film.
If you quote from whatever you’re reviewing, please provide a works cited page and parenthetical citations. Here’s how to cite a film: http://www.bibme.org/citation-guide/MLA/film(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. The parenthetical citation should provide the Director’s last name: (Nolan). If you are mentioning more than one Christopher Nolan film and it could become confusing, use the film title in the parenthetical citation rather than the director’s name: (Memento). If you’re quoting from a book or a play, review the MLA section from AWR and find those entries. Ask me if you’re unsure!
Always italicize film titles, book titles, play titles, and album titles, even in the parenthetical citation. Short works from within longer works (a chapter from a book, a song from an album) are not italicized but instead go in quotation marks.
As with other essays involving analysis, use present tense verbs to analyze whatever you’re reviewing. “Actor X playsthe part too cautiously” not “Actor X played the part too cautiously.”
Caution:

Do not summarize whatever you’re reviewing. Summary is NOT evaluation. You may need to use a little bit of summary in your essay to set up the criteria, but the summarized material is secondary to the actual point you’re making. (For example, if you’re evaluating the chemistry between two actors, you may need to summarize a crucial scene to describe what you mean, but you don’t need a full, detailed summary of the film or play itself, and the scene description should not account for as much detail as your analysis and evaluation of it.
If you’re reviewing a restaurant based on a recent visit, avoid organizing your essay linearly by time, and instead organize your essay by criteria.