Exercises — Week 14: Week 14 — Argument of Evaluation
2 hands-on tasks. Do them in order; each one feeds the Canvas item it names.
45 min · written
1. Evaluation Essay Draft
- Select a public artifact: a policy decision, a piece of public writing, a speech, or a design.
- Write a thesis that names the subject, states your overall judgment, and identifies the primary criterion.
- Write one body paragraph per criterion (two to three criteria). In each: state the criterion, apply it to the subject with specific evidence, and explain how this application supports your overall judgment.
- Write a conclusion that acknowledges one genuine strength or limitation the evaluation did not fully capture.
Turn in / bring: Full evaluation essay draft, prepared for class submission per Mr. Gray's direction.
25 min · analysis
2. Criteria Comparison
- Find two published reviews of the same film, book, or policy — reviews that reach different conclusions.
- For each review, identify the two or three criteria it applies.
- Write one paragraph explaining whether the different verdicts stem from different criteria, different applications of the same criteria, or a different weighting of shared criteria.
Turn in / bring: One-paragraph criteria comparison with labeled analysis.