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  7. Evaluation

Evaluation

Evaluation

The evaluative method of development dictates that you set a standard for your topic and measure it against that standard. For example, you might decide to argue that non-violent resistance was the most important factor in the desegregation of the American South. In order to evaluate, you must decide what constitutes success in the process of desegregation, and whether non-violent protest was actually responsible for that success. Be prepared to make concessions or to address counter-arguments. You may wish to address the role of economic factors in desegregation either to concede that they were also important, or to show how they were minimal in comparison to the role of non-violent protest.

A final point about methods of organization: they can operate on both the macro, or global, level of essay writing and the more local level of the section or paragraph. A method of organization will provide your essay with an overall framework, but you can and should depart from it occasionally in your essay. For example, although you may be writing an evaluative essay on the importance of non-violent protest in desegregation of the American South, your essay could still contain a narrative passage describing events that led to the rise of the non-violent movement, or a classificatory passage comparing the success of violent and non-violent protest.

Research Essay Organization

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