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Evaluation Essay Assignment

Name _________________________________

Your assignment is to write an evaluation essay about a current piece of pop culture. This could
include:

A video game

A movie or TV show
A music video/group/singer/album
A piece of art or work of an artist
A song/album/work of an artist
A documentary

A magazine
A radio station or disk jockey
A current novel
Other ideas?

 The purpose in a Critical Evaluation Essay is to judge or place a value on the quality of
a work of art in the area of popular entertainment/media and offer reasoned support for your
judgment. This is not an opinion essay, but a support essay. You will support your
judgment (thesis) with sound, fair, thorough evidence. The reason for evaluating a subject
you "like" is to look at it from a more detailed, critical perspective rather than simply a
personal taste perspective. You will explain "reasons" for your judgment beyond matters of
personal taste. I hope you'll evaluate a subject you either really "like" or really "hate" so that
your critical analysis of the subject will lead you to a deeper understanding of the subject.

The key to the success of a critical evaluator ("reviewer") is to suppress the "fan" or the
"hater" in favor of giving the critical, objective thinker a chance to uncover the truth
about the quality of a subject. Check your feelings at the door.

What "Critical Evaluation" Means

An evaluation is meant to determine or set the value of something, and being critical
means to find fault or to judge with severity. The terms overlap. The job of a critical
evaluator is to defend a judgment about the value, or worth, of something. Some
judgments can be positive and some negative, but rarely is a true critical judgment either
all positive or all negative. If a subject is examined carefully, even the most beloved work
of art has faults, and even the worst has positive attributes. The key is to examine the art
closely, understand the criterion, and to avoid adding personal taste or emotion into the
evaluation.

Steps in Writing an Effective Evaluation

1. Choose a piece of pop culture or media that you personally use or are interested in.
2. Narrow it down some if you need to. Doing all the episodes of The Simpsons would
be too hard. Key on one episode or just evaluate it in a more general manner such as
the best satirical cartoon ever made.
3. Choose three criterions (see the list of criteria on the Criterion handout) for evaluating
the piece of pop culture. Focus thesetry to come up with good criteria to analyze.
For example, it is much easier to analyze special effects than it is fun since we all
have a different definition of what fun is.
4. This will be a standard essay with each piece of criteria used as the focus individual
body paragraphs and of your analysis of the piece of media.
5. Remember the fundamentals of good essay writingIntroductory paragraph, Thesis,
body paragraphs, conclusion.
6. Your thesis will state a judgment about the piece of media and the criteria from which
you are evaluating it.
7. Each criteria should have two examples from the piece of media to support the criteria
and thesis.
Example of essays structure__

First paragraph--Introduction with thesisGive background, facts, details about the piece
of media + your thesis.
Ex. Thesis--Game of Thrones is the best realistic fantasy TV series because of its
innovation, its story line/plot, and its use of mythological elements.
2nd paragraph (1st body paragraph)Discussion of Game of Thrones innovation with
analysis of two examples.
3rd paragraph (2nd body paragraph)Discuss of the story line or plot with analysis of two
examples from G of T.
4th paragraph (3rd body paragraph)Discuss of G of Ts use of mythological elements +
analysis of two examples.
5th paragraphConclusion of entire essay.
8. Your essay should have some research about the piece of media and could include
professional reviews or critiques. You should cite your sources within the text and have
a Works Cited page. Imbd.com is a great source for movie information. Make sure your
sources are credible.
9. Your essay should be edited and revised in final MLA draft form before it is submitted
for a grade. I am giving you two weeks to complete this assignment. That will give you
time to rewatch a movie, research, draft, write, and submit a revised and edited final
draft. Exchange your paper with other classmates for help with grammar and mechanics
errors.
100 pts.