36 Rhetorical Modes: Evaluation (major essay)
Introduction: You are a part of a districtwide, national, and international effort to increase access to education and empower students through “open pedagogy.” Open pedagogy is a “free access” educational practice that places you – the student – at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of composition, reading, and nursing to achieve SDG #10, which is Reduced Inequalities. Click here to learn more about SDG #10 here.
Your rhetorical stance: You have been hired to investigate and evaluate an issue of reduced inequalities in your community as it pertains to marginalized populations (race, gender, poverty, religion, and sexual orientation). To evaluate, you will define the issue, give it context by comparing and contrasting it to comparative issues (local and global), research the reasons why it happens (causes), the consequences of it (effects), and create a potential solution to the issue. In addition to researching and writing, you may also create and disseminate materials to educate others in the community about the issue via online publication of a photo essay of the issue.
This assignment:
In this essay you will evaluate potential obstacles for learning. Think about the health and wellness of a college student during an international pandemic. What do you need to be successful? Do you have access to resources? Are the GCC resources adequate to support the community and its students during the pandemic?
You will evaluate at least three campus resources. Your recommendation should clearly state which of the resources should be maintained, which should be improved, and which might be eliminated, if any.
- Center for Learning
- Writing Center
- Math Solutions
- High Tech 1
- High Tech 2
- GCC Counseling and Career Services
- Library
- Fitness Center
In this essay you will:
- Make clear why a particular resource needs to be evaluated.
- Describe the particular resource in a way that the rhetorical audience will understand and value.
- Identify the precise category into which the resource fits.
- Present the criteria on which the resource is to be evaluated clearly, persuasively, authoritatively, and often in an order indicating importance. Criteria can be categorized into three groups: necessary (crucial but not enough to meet your overall assessment), sufficient (meeting all of your minimum standards, including the necessary ones), and accidental (unnecessary but an added bonus to the necessary and sufficient criteria).
- Include concrete evidence and relevant examples from your personal experience and research illustrate the ways (usually in the form of assertions) the resource does or does not meet each evaluative criterion. These fair and balanced assertions support the thesis statement.
- Articulate a clear argument (usually in the form of a thesis statement) about whether or not the resource meets the criteria on which it is being evaluated.
- Demonstrate an ethical approach to the process.
You will be incorporating at least three sources for support of your claims and ideas. These could be from your personal experience, GCC web pages, public health information, or sources related to quality college resources. Our module has several resources for you:
EXAMPLES of previous evaluation essays: You can earn two extra credit points by texting me a photo of one of these example evaluation essays.
