How to Write an Evaluation Paper With Sample Essays
Learn how to write an evaluation with this guide, including some examples!
What Is an Evaluation Paper?
Evaluation essays are just like reviews. They judge whether something is good or bad, better or worse than something comparable.
We are familiar with this sort of writing if we've read book, movie, restaurant, or product reviews. Evaluation papers can be serious or funny, earnest or sarcastic. We all love to read reviews of a really bad movie or restaurant experience. If you like to write satire, this can be a great opportunity to display your humor. Chances are you will have a great time, and so will your reader.
Choosing a Topic
Your topic can be something you've experienced once or many times. Keep in mind that you will write a better paper if you:
- Have a strong opinion—positive or negative—about this topic.
- Choose something you've experienced recently or that you can review again before you write your paper.
- Know a lot about this type of experience.
Use the following list of categories to brainstorm ideas for what you might want to evaluate.
| Performances | Products | Experiences | Places |
|---|---|---|---|
Movie | Technological Device | Restaurant | Museum |
Play | Website | Store | Sports Stadium |
Concert | Book | Event (like State Fair) | Concert Venue |
Sporting Event | Album | Club | Park |
Advertising Campaign | Luxury Item | Program (like Study Abroad) | Zoo |
Fashion Show | Clothing Line | Vacation | Unique Building |
art show | makeup | Video game | Shopping Mall |
Evaluate an advertising campaign: Does this ad make you want to buy those clothes?
Finding Criteria for Evaluation Essays
To turn your opinion into an evaluation, you will need to use criteria to judge your subject. What are criteria? Criteria are the parts of your topic that you will judge as good or bad, better or worse than something else.
How can you find criteria? Criteria are the parts of the thing you are evaluating. Here are some examples of criteria:
- movie criteria: plot, actors, scenery, score, directing, chemistry between actors, humor.
- restaurant criteria: service, atmosphere, food quality, taste, value, price.
- website criteria: ease of navigation, design, visuals, writing, content.
Finding the best criteria for your evaluation: In order to do this kind of writing well, you need to determine what sort of a topic you are evaluating. If it is a movie, then what genre is it: horror, romance, drama, etc.? Then you need to decide what would make an excellent movie in that genre in your opinion. For example, you may decide that a good romantic comedy has to have three things: humor, surprising plot twists, and actors you enjoy getting to know. Next, you will evaluate the movie you have chosen to see how well it matches those criteria, giving specific examples of how it does or does not fulfill your expectations of an excellent romantic comedy.
Turning Your Topic into an Essay
In order to evaluate something, you need to compare it with the best example of that particular thing. So, to help you develop your topic into an essay, there are two important questions to ask when you are choosing your topic to evaluate:
- First question: What category of a thing is it?
- Second question: What is the ideal example of something in that category?
Example: McDonald's
Recommended
What category is it? For the best evaluation essay, you want to compare your topic with things that are very similar, so try to narrow the category as much as possible. To get there, you want to keep on asking the question, "What kind is it?" What category does McDonald's fit into?
Answer to first question: Restaurant. (What kind of restaurant?) Fast food restaurant. (Better, but what kind of fast food?) Hamburger-serving fast food restaurant. (This is what you want!)
So if you were evaluating McDonald's, you would want to compare it to other fast food restaurants that mostly serve hamburgers.
Now the second question: What is the ideal example of something in that category? What makes that example better than others? Thinking about what you consider to be the very best example of something in the category of what you are reviewing can help you decide what criteria you will use, and also what judgment you can make. For example, here is a list of criteria my students have come up with for an ideal burger fast food restaurant:
- looks clean
- serves food fast
- makes it easy to order
- has great fries
- has options on the menu
- offers large drinks with free refills
- serves juicy burgers with lots of grease
- doesn't cost a lot of money
No two people will come up with exactly the same list, but most restaurant reviews look at the following criteria:
- service
- atmosphere
- food
- value
Answer to second question: A great fast food burger joint offers great service, atmosphere, and food at a fair cost.
Now you know what your paper is going to be about how close McDonald's comes to this ideal.
Is This an Effective Advertisement?
How to Organize Your Essay
Using the list of criteria above, we can make a very fast outline for an essay about an imaginary fast-food hamburger restaurant called Bob's Burgers:
Thesis Statement: While you may have to wait a while to get your meal at Bob's Burgers, that is because everyone finds the meal is worth the wait; Bob's Burgers offers not only great service, but a fun atmosphere for eating with friends or family, terrific food, and a good value for the price.