English 1013: Essay Assignment #2 – Evaluative Essay
Important Dates
(1.) A completed outline is due by Saturday, June 16, at 10:00 P.M.
(2.) A final draft must be submitted by Saturday, June 20, at 10:00 P.M.
Regulations
All essays must appear in proper MLA format. What does this mean? This means you must use 12 point, Times New Roman font and double-spacing. You must also display the proper heading and header, you must set the margins to one inch, and you must include a title. Also, you must document any sourceswith the proper in-text citations and include a Work Cited page.
As for the length, all essays must be approximately 3-3½ pages.
First person may not be used in this essay. Contractions should also be avoided.
The Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate a text. You all will evaluate Orlean R. Anderson’s “The Writing Process Rejected.”Remember, an evaluation must claim if something meets certain standards. It must also inform the reader of the subject being evaluated and the criteria being used to evaluate it; it must be fair and balanced (include positive and negative aspects) and be supported by evidence. In this instance, you all must determine the credibility of the source (this is the claim in the thesis) and provide evidence for your claim in the body paragraphs. One of the overall missions of English 1013 is to teach you all about reliable sources, so this assignment is designed to do just that.
■ The Criteria – The following are the criteria that must be addressed in the evaluation, in no particular order; each criterion must be discussed in at least one fully developed paragraph:
1. Ethos – The authors’ credibility. The question that needs to be answered in the topic sentence is this: Is the author qualified to provide information on the subject at hand?Search the article for clues that let the readers know Anderson is a source to be trusted. At BRCC, students are asked if their teachers appear knowledgeable about their subjects in evaluations at the end of each semester, so this is along the same lines. In this paragraph, after you establish the topic and discuss it a little, use the details from the article that drew you to the conclusion about whether or not Anderson is a credible source of information to prove your statement in the topic sentence. Specifically, consider things such as Anderson’s credentials and work experience, his knowledge of the subject, and his recognition of different perspectives.
2. The Purpose, Organization, and Stance – Here, you must determine if the author’s reason for writing is stated clearly and if his opinion on the matter is well developed in the work thereafter. So, in the topic sentence of this paragraph, answer the question, “Is Anderson’s purposeand opinion clear in his article?” After this is determinedin the topic sentence, you all must elaborate throughout the paragraph, providing evidence if the purpose is clear or not by expressing how you, without the first person, drew this conclusion and backing up said conclusion with proof from the text. Some things to consider in this section, after claiming how well or how poorly the author conveys his purpose and opinion, are how often he reasserts this main idea and how well the article is organized throughout. After establishing this in the “elaboration” section of the paragraph (see Parts of the Essay PowerPoint), go on to provide at least one or two examples from the text. Follow through by making connections by explaining how that example/those examples prove that the author’s opinion is evident in the text. Note that you should avoid stating, “I chose this quote because…,” when doing this. This is much the same way that I assess you all’s ability to stick to a thesis throughout each essay.
3. The Audience – In the topic sentence of this section, you should identify the intended audience and how successfully the author reaches this intended audience.For instance, is he addressing educators, students, both? This discussion throughout this paragraph must focus onhow you know this by inspecting the authors’ choice of diction, his word choices, the relatability of the subject matter, and/or the location of the publication — was it published in a scholarly journal or, for example, a newspaper? A newspaper is targeted to a more general audience, so does the author use words that are accessible? Do not forget to provide evidence from the text for each and every claim.
4. The Evidence – Does the author provide enough support for his claim, and how credible is said support? The topic sentence should include an answer to the question, “Does Anderson provide enough evidence to support his main argument, and is this evidence credible?” The rest of the paragraph needs to prove your response by examining the types of evidence he uses in his work and explaining why this evidence is reliable or why it is not. If, for example, he chooses a blog to support his claim, you would want to consider carefully if a professional writer should use such a source and explain why or why not.
■ Sources: The source that will be evaluated for this essay is Orlean R. Anderson’s “The Writing Process Rejected.” No other sources are allowed. The source must be identified on your Work Cited page, which will be addressed during the week outlines are due.
■ At least one specific example, a quote or clearly identifiable paraphrase, both of which must be cited, from the text must be used in each body paragraph. If you are not comfortable integrating sources into your work yet, I highly suggest sticking to quotes.
■ Sample Outline for Essay Two
I. Introduction
A. Get the reader’s attention with an interesting discussion on the topic.
B. Discuss the criteria that must be met to create a reliable, credible source. Use what you know – what makes you trust what you read?
C. Provide a brief summary of the article.
D. Create a clear, concise thesis statement. The thesis needs to determine if the source is credible or not and to explain why. If you are comfortable doing so, use a forecasting thesis statement to inform the reader of the order in which the criteria will be discussed, but if nothing else, answer the question.
II. Body Paragraphs
A. In your body paragraphs, you all must support the thesis statement in the established order.
1. Sample Body Paragraph (One of Four)
a. Always begin with a clear topic sentence that informs the reader of the paragraph’s focus and its connection to the thesis. If, for instance, you are examining the author’s use of sources, this word, or something similar, should appear in the topic sentence, and you should express whether or not the author uses credible sources and enough of them.
b. Next, elaborate on the topic. In this case, discuss the overall presentation of the evidencethroughout the article.
c. Support your claim with examples. In this section, you all must provide specific examples from the text, but, at the same time, you must be careful to integrate quotes carefully and sparingly. In other words, make sure to pick the right quotes to support your claim and do not quote a whole page.
d. Show the connection between your example(s) and the topic – use the quote(s).
e. Transition to the next subject by using a transitional phrase at the end of the paragraph or as a topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph.
III. Conclusion
A. Revisit the thesis.
B. Highlight the main points of your essay.
C. The conclusion should also answer the question, “So what?” Therefore, when writing your conclusion, you should discuss why this work is important andwhy the process of evaluation is important.
D. Leave the reader with something to think about.
A Final Note
If you need extra help, here are a few options: (1.) Make an appointment with me during my office hours (2.) Make an appointment with the DLAS (3.) Submit your essay to Brainfuseon Canvas.
