An Evaluative Essay
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In colleges and universities, there are various types of essays that are written by the students. These essays are in the form of course work, research papers, dissertation or term papers. In fact, writing of essays is the big part of the game. An evaluative essay is therefore one of the essays written in the universities and colleges. In order to write a good evaluation essay then the writer is required to have concrete evidence to support the argument made. An evaluative essay therefore has some features that are similar to an analysis essay. In this type of essay, the writer should have a clear opinion, which should be supported with evidence.
An evaluative essay can be written in order to evaluate a book, an article or any other written material and the writer of the essay should first read the material. It is also important that the writer gives enough material that will support thesis. The writer can find the supportive evidence through research or reading the material to be evaluated. In writing this type of essay the writer should have a good judgment on the subject in focus it is also necessary that the writer looks at both sides of his argument.
The first step in writing an evaluative essay is for the writer to have a clear thesis statement for the paper. Lougheed emphasized on the importance of the thesis statement by stating that “in order to write a good essay, you must clearly state your thesis statement.” The writer should then gather enough evidence to support the thesis statement and the commonly used evidence is quotes from first hand sources, facts, statistics and anecdotes. It is always advisable that the writer begins the essay with an interesting fact or quote.
Like other types of essays, an evaluative essay has its own unique features. These features distinguish it from other types of essays. The main feature of an evaluative essay is that it presents the topic of discussion in details. The details provided by the writer are also supposed to be in line with the knowledge of the reader. The essay also provides a judgment on the subject of discussion. In this essay, the writer should make a judgment on the subject of discussion, which should be supported by information. The essay should also be definitive, this means that all the paragraphs of this essay should prove the thesis stated at the beginning of the essay. The proof of the thesis is provided through evidence, which is in the form of facts, statistics, examples, descriptions and testimonies.
In most cases, an evaluative essay should have a logical or an objective tone which may be avoided especially when evaluating movies or other similar materials. The tone used should therefore reflect the author and not the material on evaluation. The essay normally starts with an introduction with general points, which are then developed to specific points. The writer’s judgment at this point forms the thesis statement from which the essay is written. The other notable feature of this essay is a persuasive argument. Argument follows the statement of the writer’s judgment, which should be based on reasonable criteria.
Just like any type of essay, writing of an evaluative essay requires that the writer follows some writing guidelines. The most important factor to consider when writing this type of essay is the need to have enough information on the material to be evaluated. The writer should therefore read the material first before starting to write the essay. The writer should also gather enough evidence to support his or her argument. The body of an evaluative essay should contain the argument of the writer, which should be supported by evidence. Each paragraph should present an argument, which should then be supported by facts from the material being evaluated or from other sources. The conclusion of an evaluative essay should give the writer’s final judgment on the thesis statement.