FORMULATING

EVALUATIVE
STATEMENTS
Objective:
Formulate evaluative statements and assertions about a text read.
FORMULATING EVALUATIVE STATEMENTS

What is an Evaluative Statement?

An evaluative statement is a statement that you can
make to reflect your judgment and generalization about a
text that you have read.
 FORMULATING EVALUATIVE
STATEMENTS

Formulating assertions Formulating

or positive statements
counterclaims

1. Identify the claim/s made in the
text
2. Analyze the content by identifying
the properties of a well-written text
3. Express your judgment of the
text.
HOW TO FORMULATE
ASSERTIONS
A claim suggests an idea to the reader who
may or may not agree with
Below are properties of a well-written text:
 organization (clear and logical pattern)
 coherence and cohesion (connection of ideas)
 language use (choice of words)
 mechanics (capitalization, punctuation, spelling,
grammar, etc.)
State if you liked the text and what you liked about how it
was written. Quote parts of the text to support your
assertions about it.
An Excerpt of Emma Watson's Speech on Gender Equality at the UN

"I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women 6 months ago.

The more I spoke about feminism, the more I realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become
synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain is that this has to stop. For the record,
feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the
theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.
When I was 8, I was called bossy because I wanted to direct a play we would put on for our parents. When at 14, I
started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. At 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports
teams because they didn’t want to appear masculine. At 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
I decided that I was a feminist. This seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that
feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, [women’s
expression is] seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men, unattractive even…
Men, I would like to give this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too.
Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society. I’ve seen young men suffering
from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the UK, suicide is
the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer, and heart disease. I’ve seen men
fragile and insecure by what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either...
If you believe in equality, you might be one of the inadvertent feminists I spoke of earlier and for this I applaud
you. We must strive for a united world but the good news is we have a platform. It is called HeForShe. I invite you
to step forward, to be seen and I ask yourself: if not me, who? If not now, when? Thank you."
 FOCUS QUESTION:

What evaluative statements can you formulate

about the excerpt of Emma Watson’s speech above?
Explanation:
I
Evaluative statements about An Excerpt of Emma Watson's Speech on Gender Equality at
the UN:

I agree with the content of the text because it is not just

focusing on the rights of girls and women but also on the
rights of boys and men.

In this evaluative statement, it is explained why the reader agrees with the content of
the text about equal rights for females and males and not just for females. By adding “it
is not just focusing on the rights of girls and women but also on the rights of boys and
men” in the statement above, it is emphasized that there are also issues on the rights of
men.
The writer claims that feminism is not man-hating and to support this
claim, she defines feminism as “by definition is the belief that men and
women should have equal rights and opportunities.”

In the evaluative statement above, the reader emphasizes the writer’s

decision to clarify the definition of the word ‘feminism,’ on what it is not
and what it really means. The reader highlights the claim in the text that
feminism is not man-hating by quoting “by definition is the belief that
men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.”
I like how the writer used simple words in the text, so that it would easily
be understood not only by adults but also by young people like the
speaker herself – who are also part of the target audience or the people
that the text is intended for.

This evaluative statement evaluates the choice of words of the

writer, how effective it is in being easily understood by the
target audience.
 KEY POINTS
evaluative statement - a statement that you can make to reflect your judgment and
generalization about a text that you have read
assertions - positive statements about the text
claim - suggests an idea to the reader who may or may not agree with it. It is an
arguable statement that reflects the writer’s position about a topic.
properties of a well-written text:
• organization (clear and logical pattern)
• Coherence and cohesion (connection of ideas)
• language use (choice of words)
• mechanics (capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, etc.)
• Whenever you are asked to express your ideas about a text that
you have read, there might be claims in the text that you
agree with, and there might be some claims in the text that
you disagree with.
• The writer’s claims in the text try to persuade you to think
the way he or she thinks about a topic or issue. A claim is an
arguable statement in a text, and its purpose is to persuade you
to believe the writer’s position about an issue.
• Stating your judgment and generalization about claims of
the writer in a text is called formulating evaluative
statements.
• When you make evaluative statements that show how you
agree with claims in a text, you are actually formulating
DETERMINING
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
Objective:
Determine textual evidence to validate assertions and
counterclaims made about a text read.
What is textual evidence? Why is it
important to identify them?
 VALIDATING ASSERTIONS AND
COUNTERCLAIMS
• Example:
• A lot of people waste time driving around when they are lost, and this
can be avoided by asking other people for directions. The trick is to find
a person who you think would point you to the right direction.

Explanation:
The claim about the text above: People should ask directions from strangers
when they are lost so that they do not waste time driving around.
• The assertion about the text above: I agree with the claim of the
writer that people should ask directions from strangers to save time
by asking someone reliable such as a gas station attendant.
• The counterclaim about the text above: I disagree with the claim
of the writer that people should ask directions from strangers.
People should not ask strangers for directions because they might
end up getting lost longer if a stranger gives them wrong directions.
 TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

In formulating assertions and counterclaims about a

text, it is important that you support your statements
with textual evidence. Textual evidence is
information gathered from the text that supports
your assertion or counterclaim about the text.
 IN EXPRESSING YOUR JUDGMENT ABOUT THE
TEXT,

1. First, state your idea about the text.

2. To determine evidence from the text, look for clues and keywords that
support your idea about the text.
3. Quote or paraphrase the part of the text that helped you come up with
your idea.
4. Use quotation marks to quote a part of the text. If it is from a book,
indicate the page number at the end of your sentence.
5. Lastly, express how the quote supports your idea.
 BELOW ARE TYPES OF TEXTUAL EVIDENCE:

Paraphrasing is restating the text in your own words.

Summarizing is restating the text in a shorter way using your

own words.

Referencing is mentioning a specific section of the text.

Quoting is stating a part of a text in the exact way it was written.

Support your statements with textual evidence to come
up with strong or solid arguments, and make your
ideas more credible. You can come up with good textual
evidence by selecting the most relevant section of the
text that strongly supports your statement about the text.
 When I see a piece of flesh on someone’s plate, I also see the processes that brought it to their plate. Some people argue
that plants may be harmed by being eaten. I happen to agree. If we care about minimizing harm to plants, then we’ll do
much less harm by eating them directly as opposed to grinding them up, feeding them to animals, and then grinding up and
eating the animals. If we stopped growing crops to feed to animals and fed those crops to people directly, it’s estimated that
we’d have enough food to feed the whole planet five times over. So if you do actually care about plants, then you can
greatly reduce your plant harm by eating plants directly. Another way to reduce harm to plants is to favor fruits that can be
eaten without killing the plants. You can eat a wide variety of fruits, both sweet and non-sweet, without seriously hurting
the plant that spawned it. And that same plant will often continue to bear even more fruit. I think a more sensible and
realistic approach is to keep leaning towards a more conscious, compassionate, and ecologically sound way of eating.

If you want to argue that we should model predators’ diets to justify meat culture, I encourage you to go ahead and try
being a truly predatory person for a while. Do it consciously. Prey on the weak. See where that takes you.

Source: 
(Pavlina, 2014)  link
 DETERMINING TEXTUAL EVIDENCES IN THE EXCERPT OF MEAT CULTURE:

I agree with the writer that animals are being subjected to cruelty when they are killed to become our food. This
claim of the writer is reflected in the first part of the text wherein the writer makes the readers think of how the
meat ended up on their dinner plates. The writer deliberately chose to say that whenever he looks at the food on
his plate, he also has mental images of what had to be done to the animal for it to become someone’s food. By
using the phrase “processes that brought it to their plate,” the readers are made to imagine what an animal
goes through just to end up on our dinner plates

In the assertion above, the reader starts by saying that he or she agrees with the claim of the writer in the text.
This dictates that the statement is an assertion. The reader used referencing, paraphrasing, and quoting to
support his or her statement. Of all the words in the text, the reader chooses “processes that brought it to their
plate.” to support his or her assertion. It is effective because the reader explains how the quote supports his or
her assertion about the text.
.
I disagree with the writer when he challenged some people to copy predatory behavior of
animals and prey on the weak. This is reflected in the sentence “Prey on the weak. See where
that takes you.” Although he might have been sarcastic to prove a point when he said this, it
paints an unnecessary violent mental picture for the readers and some readers might
actually take it literally.

In the counterclaim above, the reader states his or her counterclaim and identifies the
statement of the writer that he or she opposes. The reader determines the textual evidence
that would support his or her counterclaim by quoting a portion of the text and explaining
how the sentences “Prey on the weak. See where that takes you.” supports the counterclaim
that the sentences are too violent. Of all the types of textual evidence, the reader chose
quoting to make his or her statement credible.
 TIPS
•In locating textual evidence, decide which type of textual evidence will best support your
statement before locating textual evidence.

•Always look for clues and keywords that support your evaluative statement/s about the text.