Evaluation in writing

Hardly a day passes when we do not express our likes or dislikes. We constantly pass judgment on people, places, objects, events, ideas, and policies in the world around us. "Sue is a wonderful person." "Bob's game was fantastic today." "The food in this cafeteria is horrible." "That movie we saw Saturday night ought to get an Oscar nomination for best picture." "The seat-belt law is a bad piece of legislation." "The Vietnam War was a national tragedy." At the same time, we are constantly exposed to the opinions of our friends, family members, teachers, and business associates. And, of course, the media barrages us with claims about products, famous personalities, and candidates for public office.

A claim or opinion, however, is not an evaluation. Your reaction to a person, a sports event, a meal, a movie, or a public policy becomes an evaluation only when you support your value judgment with clear standards and specific evidence. Your goal in evaluating something is not only to express your viewpoint, but also to persuade others to accept your judgment. You convince your readers by indicating the standards for your judgment and then supporting that judgment with evidence: "The food in this cafeteria is horrible [your claim]. I know that not all cafeteria food tastes great, but it should at least be sanitary [one standard of judgment]. Yesterday, I had to dig a piece of green mold out of the meatloaf, and just as I stuck my fork into the green salad, a large black roach ran out [evidence]."

Most people interested in a subject agree that certain standards are important — for example, that a cafeteria be clean and pest-free. The standards that you share with your audience are the criteria for your evaluation. You convince your readers that something is good or bad, ugly or beautiful, tasty or nauseating by analyzing your subject in terms of the criteria. For each separate criterion, you support your judgment with specific evidence: descriptions, statistics, testimony, or examples from your personal experience. If your readers agree that your standards or criteria are appropriate, and if you supply detailed evidence, your readers should be convinced. They will take your evaluation seriously — and think twice about eating at that dirty, roach-infested cafeteria.