What are Evaluative statements?
An Evaluative statement is a way of presenting your final judgment on an idea or issue, whether it be positive or negatives, right or wrong, moral or immoral, supported by research or valid reasons. Using an evaluative statement helps you self-assess your work, enabling you to present your ideas and thoughts in a summative fashion. Evaluative statements can be used to show opinions, judgments, and points of view in a clear concise manner.
How to write an evaluative statement?
When you are formulating your opinion on a matter, it is vital that you have all the knowledge to hand before you make a decision. This means researching the topic in detail and being able to adjust any thoughts of any preconceived ideas that you may have. If you go into research with prejudice or an already formed opinion, then it will be harder to change your mind and present your findings in a just and fairway. Research is key to ensure that you gain an in-depth knowledge of a topic. It is also vital to understand the difference between fact and opinion when you are conducting researching. Understand that a writer’s phrases way affects your view, so understand the content of what you are reading before your make your mind up. You may need to look at arguments from both sides or a different angle before you start to form your own well developed and open-minded conclusion.
When writing your evaluative statement, keep in mind your target audience. Which theme will work best when you are writing your work? Would humour, emotion, love, sadness, drama help appeal to your audience in greater depth and sway their opinion also? Ensuring you know your audiences’ demographics is key to being able to help you gain what you need from them.
Remember Evaluation means stating both the positive and negative. Regardless of your opinion, having a one sided argument will not present a strong academic writer. Instead it will show bias and poor writing skills. Illustrating both sides of an argument will always gain you more credit, representing more skills from the writer. If you wish, the final concluding sentence or paragraph can represent your own personal opinions, your thoughts and views. When carrying out your research, put information into bullet points or paragraphs, allowing you to sort out the pros and cons of your argument, and help plan your evaluation.
When developing your answer, do not assume that a positive will outweigh a negative, or visa versa. At times, it is vital that you extend your research, giving an in-depth thought into part of the subject area. This may mean that you need to show why positives are positives and likewise, negatives are negatives. By highlighting these reasons, you are helping to clearly state your research or findings.
Why are Evaluative statements so important?
Evaluation can be a fundamental part of any writing, but can sometimes be often overlooked, or skipped, in a bid to finish up the writing. Without it, many important attributes are lost.
By evaluating, you are the writer are carrying out in-depth research, understanding what you are reading, summarising it, and then rewriting it in a way to help your audience understand your views and what the writer is trying to portray.
Evaluation also enables you to weight up the positives and negatives of any arguments you discover, helping you to develop your opinions and skills.
