An evaluation essay requires the author to analyze a situation, event, thing or person, judging its merit against criteria that he or she can explain and itemize. Therefore, the author must have a set of standards for judging the topic, must evaluate the topic against the criteria and then provide evidence for his or her opinion. Some evaluations may focus on quantitative - or countable -
. information and criteria, while other essays may be more qualitative. The strongest set of criteria is one that already may be in place by an authority or group of people knowledgeable about the topic. Evaluation essays appraise, judge, analyze, consider, estimate, assess, criticize, rank, measure, value, or survey a topic with a well-thought-out rubric or grading system, giving consideration to the implications of what meeting or not meeting the criteria may mean. The following topics lend themselves to evaluation essays:
the differences between relationships on the Internet and in person
the mental health system and its efficacy
the prison system and the equal treatment of prisoners
the prison system as an effective deturrent against crime
animal rights - cruelty versus science
the role of money in the fight against AIDS
the role of any particular country in the European Union
availability of healthcare and socioeconomic status
benefits and risks of new technologies, such as DNA sequencing or the Internet
the United States' role in World War II
camera coverage in the courtroom
the media's effects on politics
the way money is spent on any particular category of spending in the US
immigration reform
growing up in the US today as opposed to earlier generations
cell phone use
texting while driving
a particular category of drug use
any work of art or literature
a television advertisement for a product
a political campaign
a particular passage in a work of literature and its effect on the rest of the meaning
