Writing an Evaluation Essay

When defining an evaluation essay, some people think of it as a review while others think of it as a type of a critical essay. Both sets of definitions are not wrong, but lack the key attributes of what an evaluation essay is. An evaluation essay encompasses some attributes of critical essays as well as reviews, but tends to be specific and follows a different method of writing. Evaluation essays are written to help demonstrate the qualities or lack thereof of a specific product such as qualities of a famous restaurant in town, a vacation site, a book, a film, etc.

An author’s stance on something needs to be clearly established and backed by enough evidence to sway the mind of the readers. Evaluation essay writing often comes out as opinionated, and to a large extent, some authors think that they are supposed to be like that. However, contrary to popular belief, evaluation essays should not come across as opinionated in whichever instance. Authors need to ensure that their pieces or articles are well-reasoned, unbiased and help readers to evaluate the options before them objectively.

The main difference between a critical essay or review and an evaluation essay is the one which is supposed to develop or have criteria when writing an evaluation paper. Developing a criterion is indeed of the essence because it ensures that one’s paper is not opinionated but delivers an unbiased account. A criterion can be defined as the ideal property of a product or place or even a service, and having this means that the writer has a basis for their comparison. For example, if one is writing an evaluation essay on a famous restaurant in town, it would be important to establish a criterion first. Such a criteria would involve things like the quality of service offered, the quality of food offered, the restaurant’s cleanliness, waiters, and waitress’s attitude as well as time taken to get an order after placing one. Having such a basic and public criteria upon which comparisons are drawn ensures that the final paper will only entail an objective account.

Structure Elements

When writing an evaluation essay, it is important to remember that there are three important and necessary parts. They include the criteria, the judgment, and finally the evidence. For a student’s essay to be termed as complete, these parts must be included and clearly established independently. The criteria as stated above is the ideal picture of what the product should be. The criteria should be something that the audience relates to and can agree with. The judgment is the author’s opinion on the product. Whatever that one says here must be supported by sufficient evidence and hence the third and final part. These three parts, if approached and tackled well, will indeed ensure that paper is not only objective but credible enough. In some occasions, writers have let their feelings get a hold of them, and the results have been devastatingly bad. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that each part is accurately and impartially developed.

When looking at most evaluation essay writing guides, the most common thing one notices is the fact that evaluation essays use the five-paragraph essay format. An evaluation essay outline should hence have an introduction, the main body section, and finally a conclusion. As always in the introduction, the writer is expected to include a thesis statement which is the writer’s judgment or evaluation of the product or subject. The criteria should also be included in the introduction. In the main body, the writer is expected to include points that best describe or support their judgment while referencing their criterion. Finally, the conclusion paragraph, first of all, must give the indication that the writer has come to an end and then close the discussion. Evaluation essay outlining is essential because it gifts one with the opportunity of having their points delineated first and then discussed while maintaining the writer’s main point.

Below is an example of an outline for an evaluation essay with the title being KFC – good or awful fast-food restaurant.

KFC – good or awful fast-food restaurant

Introduction

• Topic sentence – introduces KFC and gives a brief background information about the restaurant.
• Thesis statement – the paper’s premise or author’s stance will be declared here, and in this case, it will entail supporting the fact that KFC is indeed a good fast-food restaurant.
• The last bit of the introduction will involve a list of the criteria that should be used as a yardstick to help cement the position of KFC being a good fast-food restaurant. (Food quality, cleanliness, time taken to order and be served staff’s attitude)

Main Body

• Paragraph 1 – The quality of the food is either the best or top five in town.
• Paragraph 2 – Cleanliness of KFC’s fast-food joints is also a plus or the restaurant.
• Paragraph 3 – Staff’s attitude has been a point of discussion for quite a while, and KFC’s staff has been touted as warm, welcoming, and courteous.
• Paragraph 4 – Time taken to order and to be served is not long. In some occasions, depending on the number of orders, one might wait longer, but they always notify their customers.

Conclusion

• A summary of the essay as well as the main points, including the thesis statement must be included.

When writing an evaluation essay introduction, it is important to remember the cliché terms of brief, concise, and direct. In some occasions, writers forget and end up including a lot of information in their introduction. On such occasions, duplication of points as a result of getting stuck becomes the order of the entire essay. It is, therefore, essential to remember to be brief, concise, and direct at all times.
A thesis statement is a part of the introduction. In the thesis statement, the author’s stance or the article’s premise must be clearly outlined. Readers need to know the writer’s focus or line of thought as early as possible. It is hence important to include a clearly defined thesis statement.

When writing the body paragraphs, it is crucial to remember that they are only building upon the author’s thesis statement and one should hence avoid drifting. As already stated, evaluation essays take after the five-paragraph essays and will on most occasions have five to six sentences in a paragraph. Transition words, for example, firstly, secondly, additionally, moreover, subsequently, etc. must be used to usher in the next point.

An evaluation essay conclusion paragraph sums up the entire essay. Here, some of the transitional words that are used include lastly, in conclusion, ultimately, finally, etc. These help when writing a conclusion for an evaluation essay because they make it clear to the readers that the essay has indeed come to an end. A summary of the essay’s thesis statement as well as the essay’s main points should be included.

Finalizing Essay

When writing a perfect essay, regardless of the type, starting with a draft is necessary. Preparing an evaluation essay draft is easy because one does not need to be thorough but only create something that will help complete the task. Human is to make errors, and everyone makes some mistakes when writing. The above makes essay revision and proofreading the necessary steps before submission. Submitting an essay with grammatical or contextual errors is indeed planning to fail. Once complete, it is hard not to find grammatical, punctuational, and style errors. To correct these, one can involve their friends and ask them to identify any errors or ask their family members to read and give their genuine opinion.

Evaluation Essay Topics List

Evaluation essay topics vary and can easily be found online. First of all, topic selection is an important part that must be taken seriously. When selecting a topic, students should ensure that they are selecting topics that are interesting to them. The above is because it will give them an easy time to find the content and also allow them to make a value judgment on the product/service/place.

Below are examples of good evaluation essay topics:

• Evaluate your favorite movie.
• Evaluate your favorite sport.
• Evaluate your favorite satirical news show.
• Evaluate the services offered by Netflix.
• Evaluate Bitcoin and the prospect of it being the future of money.
• Evaluate the role of African Americans during the American Civil war.
• Evaluate the US’s foreign policy.
• Evaluate Russia’s response to Obama’s administration of suspending Russian delegates.
• Examine how media affects the minds of children.
• Examine the effects of social media on physical relationships.
• Evaluate your favorite music band.
• Examine the Shakespeare’s contribution to literature.
• Evaluate the movie Mission Impossible 3.
• Evaluate the current educational system in South Korea.
• Examine the current EU agenda towards reducing the issue of refugees.
• Evaluate the world’s preparedness to dealing with nuclear warfare.
• Evaluate the actions being taken to encourage cohesion among the different religions.
• Evaluate the actions being taken by the US government to ensure that all races co-exist peacefully.
• Evaluate the US government’s actions to counter and fight terrorism.
• Examine the US government’s justification of the use of surveillance systems.
• Evaluate money laundering and its effect on a country’s economy.
• Examine Chicago’s policies on the homeless.