Writing Reviews

Writing Reviews

• 1.
  W riting R eviews by Piet van der Laan
• 2.
  W hat isan R eview? A review is an evaluation of a publication , such as a movie, video game, musical composition, book , or a piece of hardware like a car, appliance , or computer .
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  C ontent No matter what kind of review you write, it's important to develop a clear thesis and evidence to support your opinions.
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  A pproach Choose category D evelop clear criteria M ake a judgement G ather evidence S um it all up
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  C hoose a C ategory P ut your subject in a category. This will narrow your focus and allow to you create a more effective argument. R estaurant review: Is it a Mexican restaurant? Chinese? A pizza place? A sandwich shop? C ell phone review: Is it a Flip phone? Camera phone? Music phone?
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  D evelop your C riteria Y ou need to develop a clear list of criteria on which you will base your judgment. W hat makes a good (fill in the blank with your category)? T his list does not have to be explicitly stated in your review, but it should be clearly implied in your writing.
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  D evelop your C riteria (2) A list of criteria is important because it forces the writer to go beyond blanket summaries of the subject and vague opinions. C riteria give the writer something to sink his teeth into. D o not skip this step.
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  M ake a J udgment D ecide what you want to say about the subject overall. A void generalities such as ‘best’ or ‘worst’. Your readers won’t believe you if you appear too passionately positive or negative. M ake a reasoned judgment and develop it into a working thesis statement.
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  G ather E vidence Li ke any good argument, you need to back up your claims with evidence. T ake your evidence directly from the subject itself in the form of examples. I f you are reviewing a book, for example, give examples from the text to support your position. If you say the characters in the book are not believable, provide an example from the book that illustrates this point.
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  S um U p S um up your conclusions at the end of your review. This will bring closure to the piece and reiterate your ideas. T he biggest mistake review writers make is giving too much summary and not enough clear criteria.
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  Q uestions?