answered: Reviews, we are exposed to them all the time, often seeking

  

Reviews, we are exposed to them all the time, often seeking them out to help us make choices:
what movie to go and see, where to eat, what products to purchase. A review is an evaluation or
critique, and reviews may be strictly informative or may be the basis for a persuasive recommendation.
For our second project, we’ll be examining reviews as a genre, writing a review of a location in
Murfreesboro, and producing a poster based on the essay’s findings.
What is a review? A review is a type of evaluation which offers an opinion about the overall
quality of a product, service, place, or business. To back up that opinion, judgements should be based on
definable, even measurable, standards, aka criteria. For instance, a movie might be judged on a variety
of criteria, including acting, cinematography, plot, and/or social importance, just to name a few. Reviews
typically offer a combination of criteria, and they often offer a mix of positive and negative sub-
judgements to establish a sense of impartiality or objectiveness on the part of the writer. Reviews use
the personal experience of the writer as their basis, sometimes focusing on a single experience of the
product or place but sometimes using multiple experiences as the source of observations about the
evaluative criteria. The criteria used as the basis for an evaluation should be clear, though they can be
stated or implied, and they may be “weighted” in their application to the overall evaluation. For
example, a review of an action movie may weigh plot over social importance.
We’ll be looking together at some sample reviews: a restaurant review, two movie reviews
which examine the same movie yet come to very different conclusions, and at least one student-created
review specific to this assignment.
Reviews for this assignment are to focus on a place in Murfreesboro, and that may include a
place on campus. It should be a specific location, such as the Starbucks in the Walker Library or the AMC
movie theater at the Stones River mall. Being specific about the location is important; a Google search
for Murfreesboro Starbucks locations shows a 4.4-star rating (out of 5) for the Starbucks at 2449 Old
Fort Parkway but a rating of 3.4 stars for the one Located in the Walker Library (yes, those star rating
systems are forms of evaluation, though the criteria are not defined). The place used for the essay can
be just about any specific location you have visited (or visit) for a specific purpose: MJ’s for a beer and a
game of pool, a Kohl’s store to shop for clothing and shoes, a nook in the Student Union to study. The
purpose of the visit will probably help determine at least some of the evaluative criteria. You are being
offered a lot of control over the choice of place, so you are not forced into uncomfortable situations,
social or financial. Just remember, the essay is about a place, not a specific product or service: review
the theater not the movie; review the restaurant not the food.
Your evaluation may be based on a single visit to a place or more than one visit, but do not trust
your memory to provide accurate evaluative evidence/observations. It will fool you and lead you to
make a biased evaluation—the attractive and flirtatious person at the bar can make you forget entirely
about the sticky floor. That’s not to say an attractive, flirtatious clientele cannot be a criterion, but make
at least one visit to the place for dedicated observation for this assignment and take some notes while
you’re there. If a pencil and paper are out of place in the location, no one will think twice about seeing
you talking or texting on your phone, and they won’t know you’re using the voice recorder or sending
yourself notes. While you’ve got your phone out, take a few pictures. They can serve as memory aids
while you’re writing, and one is required in the essay, preferably as pictorial backing for a specific point.
They will also come in handy for production of the poster.
The review essay. The main essay for this project will be 900 to 1300 words in length and
include at least one self-created picture. The essay will be evaluated on the clarity of its evaluative
claim (thesis), the identification and use of definable criteria (at least 3), the quality of the observational
support, the appropriate use of the pictorial element(s), organization, grammar/mechanics, and its
ability to engage the audience (style). The audience for this essay is a general readership of your MTSU
peers, predominantly intelligent readers with an interest in Murfreesboro and/or campus locations for a
variety of purposes. The essay should be word processed in an easy-to-read, 11 or 12 pt. font, double-
spaced with 1-inch margins. It should have an MLA Style heading on the first page. Do not create a title
page. The primary support for the essay will come from personal observation, but if a source is used, it
should receive MLA Style documentation. The essay will be submitted via D2L dropbox. This assignment
is worth 70% of the project grade.
The poster. The multi-modal assignment (a text other than a traditional, words-only essay) for
this project is a poster. It will be digitally produced, will incorporate a mixture of text and
image/graphic, and must use self-created images and/or graphics (preferred) or found and adapted
graphics (all photos should be your own, but you can use found logos and graphics which can be used as
part of your rating system). It will use the same subject (place) as the evaluative essay and should
reflect the nature and specific claim of that essay. It should be produced in an 8 x 10-inch format, so it
can be readily reproduced on an 8 ½ x 11-inch sheet of paper (standard copy paper). It will be evaluated
on the appropriateness of its images/graphics and text in relation to the subject and evaluative claim
(that is, it should be place-specific, and if you’ve made a positive evaluative claim about the place, the
image(s)/graphic(s) should also be positive in nature, or the alternative), its “readability” (the message is
clearly and easily accessible), and craft and stylistic issues (quality of workmanship, including
grammar/mechanics in the text). It will be handed in using D2L dropbox. It is worth 30% of the project
grade.