Analyze and Evaluate

Know the difference between analyzing (breaking down) and evaluating (judging).

Two of the most frequent words in school directions are 'analyze' and 'evaluate', and they ask for different jobs. To analyze is to break something into parts and explain how the parts work together. It comes from a Greek word meaning to loosen up or untie. To evaluate is to judge the worth or quality of something, using criteria, which are standards for judging. Look at two prompts about the same article on school start times. 'Analyze how the author uses statistics.

' Here you explain which numbers appear, where, and what each one does for the argument. 'Evaluate whether the statistics support the claim. ' Now you must decide: are they convincing, current, and relevant? Mixing these up is a common reason good readers lose points. When you see 'analyze', think 'how does it work? ' When you see 'evaluate', think 'how good is it, and why? '

• 1Analyze: break into parts and explain how they work.
• 2Evaluate: judge quality or worth using criteria.
• 3Criteria are the standards you judge by.