Evaluation


Sometimes people aren't trying to communicate facts alone. Instead, they're offering an opinion about the significance of a certain group of facts, what those facts imply.

For example, consider what happens in a court case when one side calls in an expert witness. Such a witness isn't asked to establish facts about the case—"Where was the defendant on the night of July 15?" Instead, the expert witness is asked to offer an opinion about what a certain body of facts indicates. "On the basis of these facts, do you think the defendant is mentally competent?" "Given this sequence of events, did the defendant act in accordance with the profession's current standard of conduct?"

In the business world, each time you write a performance appraisal or do a competitive analysis, you're writing an evaluation. If you merely recite the facts but don't offer your opinion, you aren't doing the whole job.

The pattern for evaluative writing is depicted in Figure 4-3, below, where an evaluation is compared to a hamburger. The point of the illustration is that you need a top bun (the introduction), a bottom bun (the conclusion), and lots of meat in the middle. Informative writing doesn't need a conclusion and it really doesn't require any setting of the stage or introductory content.

click to expand
Figure 4-3: The Three-Part Structure of Evaluation.

Good examples of evaluative writing can be found in Consumer Reports. If you were thinking about buying a DVD player or a refrigerator or snow tires, you could find articles there that would evaluate the various models available. First, they define what they are discussing, why you as a reader might care about this kind of product, and what criteria are being used to evaluate the options. Next, they evaluate every model or brand point by point according to the criteria they listed. Usually this part is a combination of text containing anecdotal information about their testing and a table or matrix in which every brand or model is presented. Finally, they conclude the article by indicating which model is the "best buy" in their opinion. Do they care if you buy a DVD player or an ice maker or snow tires? No. It doesn't matter to them if you never buy anything. Their sole purpose is to take a look at what's available and offer an expert opinion about the various choices.




Persuasive Business Proposals. Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts
Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts
ISBN: 0814471536
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 130
Authors: Tom Sant

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