Read through the author's evaluation piece (or pieces) quickly once, marking only the most obvious problems.  Then, take your time and respond to these questions/prompts so that your author can see how you understood his or her piece.

FIRST THINGS

• Since this is an evaluation piece, is it immediately clear what the author is evaluating?  If not, when did it become clear?  Tell the author precisely where.
  
  
   
• Is the thesis of the piece likewise clear?  Write it below.
  
  
   
• Finally, what are the criteria which the author uses?  List all of the primary and secondary criteria, as you understand them, below.  If you can't figure out what criteria are used, let the author know that, too -- and then postulate on what you think the author might use for a revision.
  
  
  
   

DEVELOPMENT AND THE ESSAY BODY

• The thesis ought to come somewhere around the lead, the very first part of the article.  How effective is that lead in setting up a theme or idea that the rest of the piece develops?  State the theme or idea below.  (This may or may not be the actual thesis of the piece.)
  
  
   
• Once the lead is accomplished, the author needs to start developing her evaluation.  What strategy does she seem to use to structure her essay?  (It might be compare/contrast, talking about weak points then strong or vice versa, addressing the criteria in order, or any number of other structures.)  If it's not directly obvious, use your own brain and suggest one that you think would match the material you've just read.
  
  
  
  
  
   
• Take one of the author's paragraphs -- one that bugged you works best -- and rewrite it.  You want to show the author how his ideas might be made more effective, conveying his evaluation even more.  (You can do this even if you don't know much about the thing he's evaluating:  simply take the material he's got and do it in your own way so that it makes better sense to you and highlights the evaluative points he wants to make.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

END REACTIONS

• Choose your favorite paragraph of the piece.   Tell the author why it's your favorite -- and then tell her what's still missing in it.
  
  
   
• Now tell your author just how effective his piece is -- and why, exactly.
  
  
  
   
• This evaluation essay is a bicycle.  Describe how it was to ride it.