An Evaluation Essay/Argument basically offers a "judgment...based not on individual taste alone but on commonly held standards or criteria" (Axelrod et al. 238).The Writing Assignment:  Write an eva

An Evaluation Essay/Argument basically offers a "judgment...based not on individual taste alone but on commonly held standards or criteria" (Axelrod et al. 238).

The Writing Assignment:  Write an evaluation supporting your judgment:

• Similar to the Molly McHugh essay (p. 250), choose an app, a website, or a Social Media site and evaluate it providing either a good evaluation or a bad evaluation.  
  • Like McHugh, use criteria that are appropriate for evaluating an app, a website, or a Social Media site. 
  • Like McHugh, you may use an informal third person tone to give your essay a more personal touch; however, do not venture into using slang that could alienate your reader. 
• Base your judgment on widely recognized criteria for evaluating a subject like yours.  Is the site free or at a relatively low cost to the user?  Does the site offer a level of privacy?  Does the site offer the user the ability to make more friends worldwide?  
• Marshal evidence to support your judgment.  Use sources that are relevant to the topic.  
• Consider possible objections your readers might raise as well as alternative judgments they might prefer.  There may be possible objections to your position, but you must argue that your position and the criteria and your research are credible to support your position.
• Organize your evaluation clearly and logically.  Use your strongest point as your last body paragraph.

Audience and Purpose: Your audience is someone who has heard of the app, website, or Social Media site but has not used it.  Therefore, your evaluation will persuade them to use it or not use it.

Guidelines:

1) The maximum page length is 4-5 pages.  If you go over the maximum that is fine.

2) In addition to the expected length, you will have a Works Cited page to indicate sources used throughout the essay that were used in either a direct quote form and/or a paraphrase form.

3) The essay will observe MLA formatting rules and the essay will observe MLA rules of properly documenting direct quotes and paraphrases.  

4)  Remember to use the Sandwiching Technique in your researched based essays (please refer to the document titled "Research Basics" found in the menu option titled "Documents and Weblinks.")

Let's look at a sample outline:

Topic: Facebook is a great Social Media site for a general audience.

I) Introduction

Lead-in: Inform the reader that some people are new to Social Media or only have minimal time to use it.  Therefore, Facebook is a good site for general use.

Thesis and Essay Map: For your average person (young or old), Facebook is a good Social Media site because one can stay in touch with loved ones and one can be informed with news reports.

II) Body Paragraphs

A) First of all, staying in touch with family and friends on Facebook is quite easy.

i) Staying in touch with family around the world.

ii) Maintaining friendships with old friends.

iii) Initiating new friendships with co-workers, church members, etc... is easier with Facebook.

B) While one is catching up with loved ones, it is also easy to stay informed with local and international news that appear on your Facebook newsfeed.

i) You can get up-to-date news that is breaking.

ii) You can read more in-depth news reports that provide a deeper analysis on a news topic.

iii) You can become more open-minded and more aware of  multiple perspectives by reading opinion based articles from all political viewpoints.

III) Conclusion

End the essay with praising Facebook's ability to be a source of news and entertainment.

 1) Annotated Works Cited and Outline

2) Essay 2: Introduction and one Body Paragraph