English 0950 - Evaluation Essay - Fall 2003

English 0950: Elements of College Writing

Fall 2003 / Sections 1 and 2

Essay #2 -- Evaluating a Nonfiction Book

Writing Assignment:

Write an essay evaluating Lawrence Sutin's nonfiction book, Jack and Rochelle. State your judgment clearly, and back it up with a convincing argument based on what you consider to be the qualities or characteristics of a “good book” – your argument should include both positive and negative points about the book. Use examples (through summary, description, or quotation) from the book to support the main points of your argument. If you wish, you may want to include information from the visiting writer session you attended.

Choosing an Audience:

Even though your purpose or aim for writing is stated in the assignment, you are free to choose your own audience (and/or publication scenario) for this essay. However, you may not write to those in this room, college students who have already read the book. Instead, you might decide to write for other college students who have not read the book (such an essay might appear in the college newspaper). Or, you might decide to write for high school teachers who are thinking of including the book in one of their classes (your essay might then be mailed to local high school English departments). You could also choose to write to high school students who are looking for a book to read (your essay might then appear in a high school newspaper). Of course, other ideas are possible; see me if you want to “try out” an idea you are considering.

In any case, analyze your readers carefully—and assume that they have not read the book. What might be their likes and/or dislikes in books? What might they have already read that is similar to this book? What might they already know about Lawrence Sutin? Based on your audience analysis, you can decide how you want to write the essay—e.g. how much summary you will need, how much background will be helpful, etc. You will need to clearly identify your audience when you hand in your final draft of this essay.

General Information:

One way to begin writing an evaluation is to identify the “standards” (or criteria) you will use. For example, we have discussed the question, “What are the qualities or characteristics of a ‘good book’?” The answers to this question will become our “standards.” Then, we can look at the book we will evaluate and assess how it “measures up” to the standards we have set.

Another way to begin is to make a “pro/con” chart listing what we find strong and weak about the book we will evaluate. Then, we can work backwards to identify the standards we will use based on what we liked or disliked about the book. One weakness with this approach is that the pro/con list might reflect our own personal preferences about writing, but might not reflect our audience’s standards.

When you write your thesis statement for your essay, remember that it should reflect your “position” or “judgment” about the book you are evaluating. And, when you work to identify reasons to support your judgment, remember that they should accurately state your standards and relate to your overall judgment. Sometimes it helps to brainstorm many possible ways to complete this statement (and then use the strongest reasons): Book X is a good (or bad) book because __________.

Finally, evaluations may be organized in various ways. The important thing is to include all essential parts: (1) a presentation of the subject, in this case, background information and a brief summary; (2) the judgment; and (3) the reasons and support for the judgment. In addition, you may want to arrange your reasons in some logical order: from most obvious to least obvious, most general to most technical, least convincing to most convincing, least important to most important. And, it is often appropriate to “acknowledge and respond to the opposition” by admitting that your subject does have one or two weak (or strong) points.

Formatting Requirements:

Your essay should be at least two (2) pages but no longer than four (4) pages -- double-spaced and word-processed -- with 1.0-1.25” margins, and a 12-point “normal” font (Times New Roman or Arial). No title page is needed; put your name, the course, my name, and the date in the upper left-hand corner of the first page (see BNCH pp. 44-48 for a picture of what the format should look like).