Evaluation is often the assessment objective students find hardest to grasp, and yet it can have a considerable influence on final grades. With this in mind, it makes sense to spend some time focusing on how to develop your ability to evaluate.

Exam questions requiring evaluation will usually expect students to include a supported judgement (although it is important to note that there are exceptions to this). This might be a conclusion or recommendation but remember: there is never a ‘correct’ answer to the question. Evaluation is about explaining why you reached a certain decision, not the decision itself.

A supported judgement should not just be a repetition of previous arguments. Writing ‘in conclusion’ (or similar) does not automatically mean that whatever follows is evaluative. The final paragraph of your response- whether a conclusion, recommendation or similar- should seek to ‘add value’ to the answer. Put simply, it should make the overall essay better, leaving the examiner in no uncertain terms that you have fully addressed the issue(s) at hand.

One way to add value to your judgements is to include ‘new information’ or to develop a previously made point in greater detail. New information could be an additional advantage (or disadvantage) as extra support for your decision. Students are often tempted to use this benefit or drawback earlier in their response instead of ‘holding on’ to it. This raises the importance of planning so that you can decide, from the outset, what point(s) you will save for your final paragraph.

One approach might be to encourage students to make a judgement, for example, “I think that...”. The following sentence could begin, “Not only is this because…” where they might repeat a point made earlier in the response, “but also because…” where they can add in the additional reason in support of the judgement.

For example, the final paragraph of a response to the question “To what extent should all businesses be concerned about high labour turnover” might be structured as follows:

“I think that some, but not all, businesses should be concerned with high labour turnover. Not only is this because of the additional recruitment and selection costs, but also because it is likely to reduce labour productivity, as new staff will take time to learn their jobs.” The “but also” acts as a prompt to introduce new information; in this case, as additional disadvantage of high labour turnover.

Planning your answer can help to ensure your response stays focused on the question but should also enable you to decide what new information you will keep back for the final paragraph. Examiner reports frequently cite the importance of planning, however, students often overlook their conclusion in the planning process. Commonly, they map out their answers paragraph-by-paragraph, in the same order they intend to write them. Due to time constraints and exam pressure, this can mean planning the first point and, sometimes, the counter-argument, but- usually- no more. Few students actually consider how their response will finish.

All too often, answers planned in this way start out focused on the question but gradually drift off it, making a judgement that is irrelevant or makes no sense based on the previous arguments. Alternatively, responses might ‘jump around’, making a range of contradictory judgements and/or introducing points in a haphazard or repetitive way. These types of answers might lack ‘flow’ and can, consequently, be harder for examiners to follow.

An option is to look at your extended, evaluative responses in the same way as you might plan a journey. When travelling, the first thing you need to know is your destination, IE where you are going. You can then work out the best way to get there. Doing the same with essay-questions requires students to think of their judgement before anything else. They can then consider why they think that, what additional (‘new’) information they can bring in, as well as ‘depends on’ or other relevant factors.

Nevertheless, it is still good practice to re-read the question before writing that final paragraph. This serves to remind you of the key wording in the question to help ensure that the rest of your answer is fully relevant. The first sentence of your conclusion should be your judgement and it can help to use some of the exact wording from the question to phrase this.

There are a whole range of different acronyms used to help structure evaluative paragraphs (AJIM, 5Ws, DJI, and such like). It is important to find what works for you, however, they are all encouraging students to do broadly the same things: make a judgement, support that judgement and try to add an additional piece of information.

Context is crucial in evaluating effectively. In order to make meaningful judgements, students need to be aware of the context. This is application, another assessment objective that can be difficult to grasp. Good news though: application can open the door to really strong evaluation.

Again, different acronyms can be used to help encourage the use of context in your final paragraphs. MOPS (market, objectives, product and situation) is one such example. Examiner reports that mention MOPS always stress it is one way to do this and so use of MOPS is never an absolute requirement.

A ‘depends on’ factor might be one way to introduce combine evaluation and application. Students regularly use a ‘depends on’ factor in their conclusions without explaining why their decision might change based on that point. For example, “it depends on the industry the business operates in” or “it depends on the product they sell”. Explaining the ‘depends on’ factor can create opportunities for use of context.

Returning to the question above, “to what extent should all businesses be concerned about high labour turnover”, a ‘depends’ factor could be:

“It depends on the industry that the business operates in. This is because, labour turnover is less likely to be such an issue in low-skilled industries such as fast food because workers will be easier to replace. However, in industries such as hi-tech where workers have a narrower skillset, labour turnover is a bigger issue as there are fewer available replacements”.

Top tips for evaluation;

• Consider how your response will finish before planning the rest of your answer and- definitely- before you start writing.
• Keep something ‘back’ as new information so you can add value in your final paragraph
• Re-read the question before you start writing that final paragraph
• Ensure your judgements are supported and in context, using elements of MOPS or similar.

Explain your ‘depends on’ points