On Writing Reviews
User reviews tend to run the gamut from fairly well-written to almost laughable. The latter is all too common, which results in many people dismissing user reviews as useless. Perhaps you may not be able to convince those individuals otherwise, but if you follow these tips, more people may be willing to listen to you.
The Basics:
*Make sure your review has proper spelling and grammar. As with some other points, this is important to ensure that your readers take you seriously.
*Be sure to follow the rules of the site to which you're uploading your review. This is common sense, especially considering that if you do not follow those rules, the administrators can and will delete your review.
*Preview your post before uploading the review. This can help you proofread it and catch any mistakes you might otherwise end up making, particularly with formatting and any links that you might want to include.
*Be fair. Your goal is to evaluate the work you are reviewing, and to do that, you should weigh the work's positives and negatives, judge them according to their importance, and maintain a reasonable tone throughout. As long as you do that, people who disagree with you are unlikely to take exception to your review.
Length:
*Avoid making the reviews too long. As I said in my previous entry, having your opinion heard is a privilege, and you shouldn't take too much of your readers' time. It's also important to be concise, and readers are less likely to take you seriously if you end up rambling.
*Also avoid making them too short. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but there's only so much you can express in a review that's only a few sentences long. Some sites may allow you to write a review that is hundreds of words long, while others may allow only a paragraph or two, but you should look at other reviews to discover how long yours should be.
*Most importantly, use your words well: The above two points seem mutually exclusive, but they both involve a similar principle- expressing yourself as well as possible with what you have been given. To use an analogy, working within a word or character limit is similar to being given money and told to buy groceries; it would be unwise to waste the money on items you do not need, but you must also spend the money in order to buy what you do need.
Organization
*At the beginning, introduce the work and make your general opinion clear: It should generally establish whether this is a positive or negative review, and what your main points will be. Obviously, the reader will get the most out of reading the entire review, but they should know what point you're trying to express.
*In the middle, elaborate on your points. Describe various aspects of the work, specify what works and what doesn't, and defend your position with evidence.
*In the end, reiterate your opinion and summarize the review: It should reiterate your conclusion- whether you recommend the work in question, as well as how strongly you would. Just as the introduction draws readers in to your review, your conclusion should be what they take away from it.
Content
*Remember that this review is meant to inform the uninitiated. Let's say you're writing a review about My Hero Academia and complain about how unlikable Bakugo is. Some fans of the series will agree with you (while others will disagree), but most people who haven't heard about MHA won't have any idea who Bakugo is or why they should care about him if you do not say who he is. Perhaps people who have read MHA will comment on your review and tell you what they think, but the review is mainly for those who have not read it.
*Provide a basic description of the work you're reviewing. It's possible that people have heard of it before, but a short description, maybe 1-3 sentences, will help readers evaluate the work they're considering.
*Try to avoid going into overly specific or esoteric pet peeves. Not all readers may share your opinions, and so a review that harps on one aspect of the work too much may not prove informative when it comes to other aspects.
*Avoid unnecessary spoilers: The specifics vary from work to work, but for the most part, you should not include details that are not on the summary of a book, or in a trailer for a movie, TV show or video game. For example, in One Piece, saying that Luffy gets his straw hat from Shanks is not a spoiler, since it happens in the first chapter(or the fourth episode of the anime), well over twenty years ago, but identifying the traitor in the Wano arc(which is still ongoing as of this writing) would constitute a spoiler.
These are by no means the only principles you should follow, but they are helpful advice that not everyone heeds. Following them will go
The Basics:
*Make sure your review has proper spelling and grammar. As with some other points, this is important to ensure that your readers take you seriously.
*Be sure to follow the rules of the site to which you're uploading your review. This is common sense, especially considering that if you do not follow those rules, the administrators can and will delete your review.
*Preview your post before uploading the review. This can help you proofread it and catch any mistakes you might otherwise end up making, particularly with formatting and any links that you might want to include.
*Be fair. Your goal is to evaluate the work you are reviewing, and to do that, you should weigh the work's positives and negatives, judge them according to their importance, and maintain a reasonable tone throughout. As long as you do that, people who disagree with you are unlikely to take exception to your review.
Length:
*Avoid making the reviews too long. As I said in my previous entry, having your opinion heard is a privilege, and you shouldn't take too much of your readers' time. It's also important to be concise, and readers are less likely to take you seriously if you end up rambling.
*Also avoid making them too short. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but there's only so much you can express in a review that's only a few sentences long. Some sites may allow you to write a review that is hundreds of words long, while others may allow only a paragraph or two, but you should look at other reviews to discover how long yours should be.
*Most importantly, use your words well: The above two points seem mutually exclusive, but they both involve a similar principle- expressing yourself as well as possible with what you have been given. To use an analogy, working within a word or character limit is similar to being given money and told to buy groceries; it would be unwise to waste the money on items you do not need, but you must also spend the money in order to buy what you do need.
Organization
*At the beginning, introduce the work and make your general opinion clear: It should generally establish whether this is a positive or negative review, and what your main points will be. Obviously, the reader will get the most out of reading the entire review, but they should know what point you're trying to express.
*In the middle, elaborate on your points. Describe various aspects of the work, specify what works and what doesn't, and defend your position with evidence.
*In the end, reiterate your opinion and summarize the review: It should reiterate your conclusion- whether you recommend the work in question, as well as how strongly you would. Just as the introduction draws readers in to your review, your conclusion should be what they take away from it.
Content
*Remember that this review is meant to inform the uninitiated. Let's say you're writing a review about My Hero Academia and complain about how unlikable Bakugo is. Some fans of the series will agree with you (while others will disagree), but most people who haven't heard about MHA won't have any idea who Bakugo is or why they should care about him if you do not say who he is. Perhaps people who have read MHA will comment on your review and tell you what they think, but the review is mainly for those who have not read it.
*Provide a basic description of the work you're reviewing. It's possible that people have heard of it before, but a short description, maybe 1-3 sentences, will help readers evaluate the work they're considering.
*Try to avoid going into overly specific or esoteric pet peeves. Not all readers may share your opinions, and so a review that harps on one aspect of the work too much may not prove informative when it comes to other aspects.
*Avoid unnecessary spoilers: The specifics vary from work to work, but for the most part, you should not include details that are not on the summary of a book, or in a trailer for a movie, TV show or video game. For example, in One Piece, saying that Luffy gets his straw hat from Shanks is not a spoiler, since it happens in the first chapter(or the fourth episode of the anime), well over twenty years ago, but identifying the traitor in the Wano arc(which is still ongoing as of this writing) would constitute a spoiler.
These are by no means the only principles you should follow, but they are helpful advice that not everyone heeds. Following them will go
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