1. Evaluation
Category & Criteria

2. One approach to evaluation is to start with the QUALITIES of the thing and move to the CATEGORY.
Moving from specific to broad

3. What are the qualities of this apartment?

6. …so what kind of apartment is it? (category!)
What are particular details about this apartment that stand out to you?
What do those details tell you about what sort of apartment this is?
For example: who owns it, what style of decorating is it, etc.
…so what kind of apartment is it? (category!)

7. Try another…

8. What are the qualities of this apartment?

10. …so what kind of apartment is it? (category!)
What are particular details about this apartment that stand out to you?
What do those details tell you about what sort of apartment this is?
For example: who owns it, what style of decorating is it, etc.
…so what kind of apartment is it? (category!)

11. Now that you’ve come up with a category under which your “thing” may be evaluated, you need the last component for your evaluation:
CRITERIA.
Basic definition of criteria:
Measurement
Test
Gauge
Checklist

12. your criteria MUST be developed from category.
How to develop criteria:
your criteria MUST be developed from category.
Avoid convenient criteria (criteria that just so happen to fit the “thing” perfectly!). Your audience will find this suspicious!
Example: One criterion of a wonderful teacher is that they love wombats. (hmmmmm… I’m pretty sure that this has nothing to do with wonderful teachers, and has a lot to do with an individual teacher (“thing”).
You should end up with a category under which several different “things” can be evaluated.

13. Now try starting your evaluation another way…

14. The other approach to evaluation is to start with a CATEGORY and determine if a “thing” belongs in that category.
Moving from broad to specific

15. What are some qualities of a student apartment? (go ahead and list!)

16. Do these apartments meet any of your criteria for “student apartment?”

27. What’s next in the process when you start with category and then look at a “thing”?
You’ve got your criteria for a student apartment
You’ve seen a bunch of examples
You’ve measured them up to your criteria
So…. Which apartment fits the criteria best? OR, you could write about which apartment fits the criteria least.

28. To recap…
There are two ways to approach an evaluation.

29. 1. Start specific and move to broad.
Start with a “thing” (presumably something you find interesting), notice some qualities about it, and imagine a possible category it might fit under.
1. Start specific and move to broad.

30. 2. Start broad and move to specific.
Start with a category, determine criteria for that category, and then evaluate the “thing” to see if it belongs in that category—or to what degree it fits in that category.
2. Start broad and move to specific.

31. And finally: Do wombats win in the category “ANIMALS SO CUTE IT’S ACTUALLY PAINFUL TO ONE’S HEART?”