19 Mar Your task is to write an evaluation/review. Here is the first question to ask: What do you want to review? That’s your choice. You might select a TV show/series, film, albu
Situation: Imagine the editor of a print publication or website has contacted you. This editor needs a review to run in the next edition and has heard that you’re a smart, entertaining, and ethical reviewer.
Your task is to write an evaluation/review. Here is the first question to ask: What do you want to review? That’s your choice. You might select a TV show/series, film, album, music video, book, restaurant, video game, television show, technological gadget, car, or other “product…” or anything else you think readers will be interested in. Wait—what readers? Well, you choose those, too. The audience for the review is up to you. It can help to imagine where your review would be published. Are you writing for a general audience (subscribers to the Orlando Sentinel, for example) or are you writing for a narrower, better-informed readership (poetry readers, iPhone users, teen girls who have attended at least three Taylor Swift concerts). You decide—and write your review in a way that reflects this decision.
The review/evaluation should take a clear position on the topic and be directed towards a specific identifiable audience. The writing should be organized around 3-4 clearly stated criteria and be supported by evidence, details, descriptions, and observations from firsthand experience.
Begin the evaluation with an introduction paragraph that builds context and necessary background for the reader. End the evaluation with a conclusion paragraph that offers a summary and clear takeaway for the reader and answers the invisible question “so what?” or “what now?”
Note: You will be writing a review/evaluation using your own experience – not summarizing reviews that others have written on the internet. Nearly all of the "evidence" you gather to support your evaluation will come from your firsthand experience with the subject. This is NOT a research paper. I do not want to you read about the subject and then write a summary of what you've read. The most important thing you have to offer a reader here is your on-the-ground, real-person, actual experience with the subject. Your subjective experience and notes and voice are the essential parts of this writing. Do not use other reviews for sources. Instead, document any outside sources, such as additional information or images, by using hyperlinks in your writing. This is a formal writing assignment, which means here that your draft should reflect your best writing abilities. Although the review is based upon your own experience, it is not a personal narrative. You will be evaluating/reviewing using criteria based upon the needs and expectations of a specific audience. I expect to see at least one source hyperlinked within the text of your essay.
Evaluation Criteria
· Length: Project 2 should be at least in length. It will be assessed in accordance with the following criteria:
· Attention to the Rhetorical Situation – Purpose/Audience/Genre/etc.…
· Originality/Creativity/Risk-Taking
· Organization/Structure
· Description/Detail
· Mechanics/Grammar/Spelling
· Audience: An educated general public
· Title: Use it to catch the reader’s attention and reflect the content of your project
· Formatting: Your document should be typed in an appropriate 11 or 12 pt. font (Arial, Calibri, Time New Roman, or something similar); all margins should be one inch; the essay should be double-spaced.
· Sources: Sources will be hyperlinked within the text for the public essay. Use at least one hyperlink to a source, such as additional information or an image. Do not hyperlink to other reviews. This should be your own personal review using your own experience. Use one credible web source to help you support your evaluation. It should not be somebody else's review, and it should not it be a link to the product/company. Writing a review in which your only linked source is the company gives the feeling of a paid promotion, not an evaluation. Instead, think of this: What is some useful information that a reader needs to know, that you could not gather firsthand yourself? (For the barber shop you're writing about, maybe you link to their past three health inspections, or talk about the national average price of a haircut when determining if the cost of this barber is fair.) When you quote and paraphrase from the source, use signal phrases to introduce the evidence ("according to…" or "In a study published in…" ). Also, document the source by turning a part of your writing about it into a hyperlink. Think about using an outside source to offer context for a detail you're writing about.
