California Baptist University Genetically Modified Foods Evaluative Paper Evaluative Paper You’ve probably evaluated things informally plenty of times.

California Baptist University Genetically Modified Foods Evaluative Paper Evaluative Paper

You’ve probably evaluated things informally plenty of times. You tell a friend that you like a certain
television show. Or you explain why you hated a recent movie you saw. This assignment takes those
informal evaluations a step further.

The key to writing an evaluation is that you don’t just say whether something is good or bad. You also
explain the criteria you used to evaluate the thing. For example, one factor in evaluating a motion
picture comedy might be the amount of hilarious quotable dialogue. That would be one criterion for
evaluation.

For this assignment, you must evaluate one of the sources from your Annotated Bibliography. You will
determine whether or not the source is valuable and valid towards your final research paper.

In this assignment your objectives are to:

Introduce your topic and state your purpose. Your evaluation introduction should grab your audience’s
attention and make your purpose clear.

Identify your author’s credibility. Are they an expert? Where did they attend school? What is their
authority? Where is the article published? Was it published in a reputable peer reviewed journal? When
was it published? Has it been cited by other authors in the field? Cite where you find this information.

Develop and Describe Your Criteria. Put some thought into this. Who is the source written for? What is
the purpose? To inform, persuade, entertain? How they accomplish this? If they state their purpose in a
thesis, you could include this in your paper and also assess how well the article supports the thesis. For
example, you might need to think about what makes a research source in general as well as what makes
a credible source about the topic you’re investigating. There’s no exact minimum or maximum for
criteria; however, you will probably want to have several in order to demonstrate a complex evaluation.
What is the author’s argument? How does he support his claims? What is the structure of the
argument?

Explain and evaluate the thing. Use your criteria to evaluate the thing you are looking at. Also, think in
terms of ethos. Will you seem credible if your evaluation does not include any weaknesses? What if your
evaluation finds absolutely nothing of value? Is their bias to consider? How do you know? How does this

hurt/help the paper? Is the paper objective? This assignment doesn’t require extensive research, but
you can do some investigating to develop and support your criteria or support your evaluation.

Appraise the source. Do the author’s claims still stand? Is this still a relevant source? Is this source
accurate? How do you know? Is the author/writer successful in approaching his argument and
supporting his claims? Why or why not? Does this source meet the criteria you have outlined for
evaluating a source of this nature? You can make a broad statement about the work’s value in the field if
you wish.

Conclusion paragraph. Wrap up your thoughts. Offer new insights into the research or argument of the
author/source.

This paper should address most of the items described above in roughly 3 pages, MLA format.

Criteria for the Evaluation project
Here’s what I’m looking for in your evaluations:

Title—The title is engaging, appropriate and forecasts the content of the essay.
The Introduction—The introduction grabs the reader’s interest, provides enough context to tell the
reader what he or she will be reading about, and frames a clear thesis that answers the primary
question.
The Research—Any research is integrated appropriately as evidence for your claims. All references are
credible and adhere to MLA standards for in-text citation.
Arrangement—The essay is organized coherently with a natural progression that helps to reinforce the
thesis. Sub-headings are acceptable.
The Criteria—The essay describes criteria for assessing the communication.
The Conclusion—The conclusion employs one of the following strategies: summarizes the argument
briefly, elaborates on the implications of your thesis, makes clear what you want readers to think and
do, or makes a strong ethical or emotional appeal in a memorable way.
Voice—The tone of the essay strikes a balance between demonstrating your personality, avoiding stuffy
language, and conveying professionalism.
Form, Surface Features, and Proofreading—The essay does not include errors in grammar or
punctuation. The essay is also formatted according to MLA standards including font, font size, and page
numbers.

Works Cited—The essay includes a works cited page that is properly formatted using MLA guidelines.
Length—The essay is three or four pages long, not including the works cited.