Writing Project 2: Evaluation Essay

Assessing Solutions to Social Issues

OVERVIEW: In Writing Project 1, you proposed research into a significant social issue. In Writing Project 2, you
will identify a specific problem related to that issue and investigate how how people have attempted to
address, change, or solve this problem in the past. Once you have gathered some common and uncommon
approaches to this problem, you will analyze their effectiveness. What seems to work? What doesn’t work?
What standards are used to define success? This investigation culminates in an essay in which you evaluate
the extent to which past and current solutions have been effective. This research will prepare you for Writing
Project 3 in which you will attempt to persuade your readers to support a particular course of action.

THE EVALUATION ESSAY: A form of persuasion, evaluation is the process of identifying criteria (a.k.a.
“standards”) and making claims based on how well (or poorly) each course of action satisfies those criteria. In
Writing Project 2, you will identify the criteria which should be used to evaluate current solutions to the
problem you want to see resolved. Once you have established those standards, you will collect a number of
sources that discuss each solution and analyze those solutions with
the goal of identifying their pros and cons.

As you research your topic, consider the following questions:

● Who is the author? How does s/he establish credibility?
● What is the author’s relationship to your topic/research?
● What is the unique problem identified in the text?
● To what extent, has the author treated the topic in a fair?
objective, and balanced manner?
● How does the author propose that the problem be solved?
● How does the author use the rhetorical appeals to effectively
achieve his/her rhetorical purpose?
● How does the text compliment and support, or contradict and challenge, other texts you’ve read?
● To what extent is the addressed solution effective at solving the problem?

RESEARCH: During your research, you will examine a variety of sources, considering how each source
represents a solution to a problem that you identified in your research. Your final draft of WP2 should include
5-8 sources which you collected during WP1 or WP2. For this assignment, you might consider:
● scholarly sources (scholarly books; peer-reviewed journal articles; peer-reviewed websites)
● primary sources (interviews, surveys, observations, raw data)
● Popular sources (newspapers; magazine articles; professional literature; non-fiction essays; pamphlets)
● Multimedia sources (credible websites; documentaries; infographics)

REQUIREMENTS: The evaluation essay (1500-1700 words) should (1) convince your audience that your
evaluation is fair, balanced, and reasonable, (2) include clearly stated criteria for evaluation, and (3) discuss
the extent to which existing solutions meet those criteria. The final draft of the project should be formatted in
APA style, including a cover page, an abstract, and a references list.
PROJECT SUBMISSION: Your final project will be submitted in two ways, (1) as an APA formatted document
to the WP2 (Safe Assign) drop box on BB, and (2) as a webpage on the Writer’s Website that you created in
ENG 101 or at the beginning of ENG 102.
SAMPLE OUTLINE

1. Introduction
a. Introduce the problem and related issues
b. Provide evidence of the problem
c. Introduce the range of existing solutions
d. Make a claim about the quality of existing solutions
2. Establish Criteria
a. Introduce the criteria you will use to evaluate existing solutions
b. Explain and justify your criteria
3. Apply Criteria to Solution #1
a. Discuss the extent to which the solution achieves or falls short of each criterion
i. Benefits
ii. Drawbacks
4. Apply Criteria to Solution #2
a. Discuss the extent to which the solution achieves or falls short of each criterion
i. Benefits
ii. Drawbacks
5. Apply Criteria to Solution #3
a. Discuss the extent to which the solution achieves or falls short of each criterion
i. Benefits
ii. Drawbacks
6. Overall Assessment
a. Put your solutions into conversation.
i. Which is the most promising solution?
ii. Which falls short of your criteria?
7. Conclusion
a. Answer the question: So what? Why is your evaluation significant? What should we “take away”
from your evaluation?
b. Given the range of solutions you’ve evaluated, what kinds of problems still remain? How might
we move forward to address those problems?