Dr. Karen Palmer

While many evaluative essays are based primarily on the opinion of the person writing the evaluation, it’s important for an author to find ways to bolster his/her authority or ethos in the paper. Remember, one of the ways to increase an author’s credibility is to use quotes or examples from credible sources. In addition, including facts and statistics can be a great way to support some arguments using a logical appeal.

Supporting Your Argument

Remember that each reason should be supported by solid evidence. Quantitative evidence is evidence that can be measured, like data and statistics. For example, if one of your reasons for arguing that a car is excellent is the fuel economy of a car, you might use quantitative evidence to support that. Simply saying that a car has great fuel economy is not enough. You must give the exact miles per gallon to show your audience that your claim is supported.

On the other hand, qualitative evidence is based on values, beliefs, and emotions. Qualitative evidence includes things like interviews, survey responses, and testimonials, which give others’ opinions about a topic. For example, perhaps one of your reasons for arguing that a car is excellent is that it’s fun to drive. While you might be able to find some quantitative evidence, readers might be better convinced by consumer or expert opinions sharing their driving experience.

The following video explains the difference between quantitative and qualitative data and explains how a restaurant might use both kinds of data for improving their restaurant:

Clearly, gathering supporting evidence isn’t just for writing essays–it’s a skill you might need throughout your life. Evidence can not only strengthen the argument section of your paper, but it can also help to support your background and counterarguments sections. Finding a source that can do all three is a great way to economize your time.

Finding Evidence

Websites

If you are writing about a restaurant or a business, their website could be a treasure trove of information that can help you provide support for many parts of your essay. For example, a restaurant’s website might include the restaurant’s location, menu, and history, which can provide evidence that could be utilized as support throughout your paper. If a restaurant doesn’t have a website, try looking for a social media site. Often a site like Facebook will contain a plethora of information, as well.

For a product, it may be possible to find a website. If you can’t find a website for the specific product, perhaps you can find the website for the brand. (i.e. Apple vs iPhone) If not, consumer review sites can be a great source of information. Edwards or Kelley Blue Book, for example, provide details about different vehicles, while Yelp gives details about restaurants and businesses.

Expert & Customer Reviews

As the video demonstrates, people depend on customer reviews to help them make decisions about purchasing products and services. Pulling in additional opinions can help you provide evidence for your points, as well as strengthen your credibility as a reviewer.

Quoting from a well-known expert, for example, shows your audience that your opinions are supported by others who are experts. Likewise, including quotes from other customer reviewers from a site like Yelp might also help to make your argument more authoritative by showing that other customers agree with your perspective.

Step 3: Research

Remember, most of the time, you should complete your research BEFORE you write your outline. Just this once, because I want you to write about a topic you feel confident about and have a strong opinion on, we are adding research after you’ve got your thoughts about the topic already down.

Because this paper is based on your opinion, your experiences do count–you are a primary source for this argument. That means that your evidence is based on what you’ve personally experienced. However, in academic writing, it’s also important to include the ideas of others (secondary sources) to support and validate your primary experiences.

Step 4: Drafting

Now that you have a solid outline that incorporates your research, it’s time to write a draft of your essay. Just as you’ve practiced previously, create a copy of your outline. This will preserve your Works Cited page and MLA formatting, as well as ensure you stay focused and organized with your essay. In addition, this allows you to start wherever you feel most comfortable in your argument.

Many students find it helpful to write out their first draft in their own words first, before adding quotations from secondary sources. In addition, this ensures that your argument reflects your own personality and voice. Be sure that you use your sources to support your evaluation, not to make your argument for you! Be sure to cite each quote in an in-text citation that matches the first word(s) of the Works Cited listing (as demonstrated in the MLA/APA Citation chapter) to avoid plagiarism (see Plagiarism chapter).

Here is a sample evaluation draft based on the outline above: