How Do I Evaluate?

For students who struggle to come up with evaluations, I often recommend a set of questions that provide them a starting point to think critically about the points(s) they have just made. Some examples of these questions include the following:

Will this statement be true in the long run?

Does the truth of this statement depend on any other factors?

What action by the government could change this statement?

We can use the earlier example to illustrate how each question above can help us think of an evaluation:

Question : Discuss one likely consequence for the environment of continued Chinese economic growth of ‘8 percent for the next 20 years’.

Point : One consequence of this rapid growth is the depletion of non-renewable resources. China has become the world’s biggest consumer of almost every raw material and given its large population and rising income, this demand is going to increase dramatically in years to come. As prices of raw materials rise, producers will extract these resources faster, depleting natural resources at a faster rate.

Question: Will this statement be true in the long run?

Evaluation 1: However, in the longer term, high commodity prices will encourage producers to conduct more exploration to obtain new mines, oilfields, etc, thus increasing the global supply of such resources.

Question: Does the truth of this statement depend on any other factors?

Evaluation 2: However, the pace of depletion is dependent on how much technology evolves to become more efficient, e.g. through more fuel efficient vehicles to reduce petroleum consumption and/or machines that require lower energy levels. This would slow the depletion of non-renewable resources.

Question: What action by the government could change this statement?

Evaluation 3: However, the Chinese government is investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind and solar power, which may reduce China’s demand for non-renewable resources.

Using questions like this can be very helpful, especially when faced with a time constraint during examinations. There is a wide variety of potential questions that can be used - the list above provides an example and is by no means exhaustive.