Evaluations

Evaluations can be criticism, such as with a movie or new album release. It is giving your opinion about the movie or album, for example, evaluating it and determining if you think it is worth seeing or listening to. An evaluation, is your judgement on something.

From  How to Write Anything, pages 102-118, part of the latest reading in class, I have learned that the easiest way to judge something is to create and define a criteria, which "are standards by which objects are measured: A good furnace should heat a home quickly and efficently" (104). With this cirteria, you can either defend your dissions or explain and discuss them in more detail, depending on the reader's reaction to your criteria. So, now using your criteria, you write your opinion on say, the movie or album, using facts, examples, statistics, testimony and just good reasoing as evidence and support for what you are saying. Also, advice is helpful to include for the reader, because sometimes, people are reading your review because they cannot decide for themself between two options, or just want to hear someone's opinion, and so, help them out with their choice. Tell the reader what you think, what you would do, any regrets afterward, and just weigh the positives and negatives for them. However, something important I learned while reading about this is that you should always stand by your values and write on something you know well, you do not want to confuse your reader and give them mixed signals. Also, be sure to keep an open mind, because this is your opinion, doesn't make it the right one. People are entitled to their own opinion, and if they want to disagree with you, they can, but don't get upset over it, because that is just their opinion, and it happens to be different than yours. So what? Maybe, with different opinions and views on something, together, a deeper understanding od say, the movie or album, could develope. I mean, two heads are better than one. Just don't expect everyone to instantly agree with your opinion on something. Plus, follow the criteria, and be fair. Don't put a personal view on something that goes away from the criteria you had already set out.

Moreover,  keep the audience in mind. Who are you writing this evalution for? If it is for a general auidence, you have to explain more, defining key terms, than if it was an expert on the subject because they are considered knowledgeable readers.

Lastly, pay attention to developing materials (the criteria), and then creating the structure, such as "a basic review might announce a subject and make a claim, list critera of evlauation, present evidence to show whether the subject meets those standards, and draw conclusions" (113). It may also be helpful for the structure to have a focal point, or to do a compare and contrast to show strengths and weaknesses.

The final touch to this whole review, and final step, is to choose a style and design, including visuals that will enhance and show what the review is about.

Hopefully this helps, if anyone out there wants to write a review on something.