English 0950 - Evaluation Essay - Fall 2009

English 0950 / Elements of College Writing

Fall 2009 / Essay #2

THE ASSIGNMENT

Write an essay evaluating Sandra Benitez's novel, The Weight of All Things. 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 must include both positive and negative points about the book. Use examples and details from the book (through summary, description, or quotation) to support the main points of your argument. You should also include some information from the Sandra Benitez presentation you attended (or viewed on DVD) on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 -- possibly in your introduction or your conclusion.

Papers must be typed or word-processed and follow the formatting guidelines in the MLA Handbook (7th ed.). Your paper must be at least 600 words long—but no more than 900 words long—to receive full credit (please note your word count in parentheses at the very end of your paper).

GOALS

To practice argumentative / persuasive writing.
To write to a specific audience for a specific purpose.
To tailor writing to a specific audience for a specific purpose -- "writerly choices" will include composing a clear thesis, selecting relevant main points, selecting appropriate paragraph support, determining a clear structure, adopting an appropriate style and tone, etc.
To question and modify academic essay document design to other audiences and purposes -- and perhaps to include visuals, hyperlinks, headings, etc. into a paper.

CHOOSING A SPECIFIC AUDIENCE

Even though your purpose or aim for writing is clearly stated in the assignment, you are free to choose your own audience (and/or a publication scenario) for this essay -- but you must choose a specific audience to address. You may not, however, write to those in this room, or to other 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 (such as coworkers, fellow church members, fellow hobby enthusiasts, etc.); 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 Sandra Benitez? Based on your audience analysis, you can decide how you want to write the essay -- e.g., how much summary of the book you will need, how much biographical information about the author you will need, what (if any) historical background will be helpful, etc. You will need to clearly identify your audience when you hand in your final draft of this essay.

HOW TO GO ABOUT WRITING THE ASSIGNMENT

One way to begin writing an evaluation is to identify the “standards” (or criteria) you will use. For example, we will discuss the question, “What are the qualities or characteristics of a ‘good book’?” The answers to this question will become our “standards” (or "criteria"). 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): Novel X is a good (or bad) novel 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 -- i.e., the thesis or the recommendation
(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, in argumentation and persuasion, 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 -- you must do this in your essay. And, I will hand out and discuss another sheet showing various ways to organize an argumentative / persuasive essay.

FROM THE SYLLABUS

Specific details about each paper, including evaluation criteria, will be provided on the assignment handouts; sample papers may also be provided. For these papers, you will write multiple drafts, you will receive feedback in-class peer reviews and editing sessions, and you will revise and edit your papers before submitting them for a grade. All drafts should be word-processed and double-spaced; all final papers should be word-processed, double-spaced, and must follow MLA formatting and documentation (in-text and end-of-text citations). You will also be asked to submit photocopies and/or printouts of your research sources (with cited passages highlighted as directed). Late drafts will receive reduced credit and no written comments. Late final papers will simply receive a grade, without comments, and the grade will be lowered one full letter (e.g., B to C); after one week, the grade will be a zero (“F”).

Furthermore, when you submit your final draft, you might be asked to also submit a folder containing all your prewriting exercises, your working drafts (in order), and your peer review notes. (SAVE EVERYTHING.) The final draft must have noticeable improvements over the first draft.

EVALUATION

Again, papers must be typed or word-processed and follow the formatting guidelines in the MLA Handbook (7th ed.). Your paper must be at least 600 words long—but no more than 900 words long—to receive full credit.

In particular, ANY SECONDARY MATERIAL CONSULTED SHOULD BE LISTED IN A BIBLIOGRAPHY; AND ANY DERIVED INFORMATION SHOULD BE PROPERLY CREDITED, ideally in parenthetical citations. The papers must be your own individual work, written especially for this course. (However, in addition to in-class peer reviews and editing sessions, you may ask a friend to critique a draft before you finish writing the paper; and in fact it is a good idea to do so.)

In evaluating the papers, I’ll consider not only WHAT you say but also HOW WELL you say it. Organization, logic, and grammar will matter. Please proofread your paper carefully before turning it in.

Finally, the items below are common elements or criteria for evaluating an academic essay; we will adapt these for our more specific audiences and purposes:

Introduction
Thesis Statement / Forecast Statement / Focus for the Essay
Main Ideas / Topic Sentences / Focus for each Body Paragraph
Body Paragraphs / Development / Evidence and Support
Structure / Organization
Coherence / Transitions
Conclusion
Sentences, Grammar
Word Usage, Spelling
Punctuation, Mechanics
Paper Format / Document Design

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES -- Forthcoming.

SAMPLE PAPERS -- Forthcoming.

DUE DATES -- Consult the course schedule.