A review can be defined as an evaluation of any form of publication, service, or organization. A review can be of several items such as a movie review, a video game review, a novel or literature review, reviews of home appliances, gadgets, electronic goods, music album review, review of a concert, and much more. Apart from the critical analysis or evaluation of the work, ratings are also assigned by the reviewer, which indicates its merit. Reviews can be done for current trends, events, and news items.
Types of reviews
To know what a review is, it is essential to know about the types of reviews there are or what the subjects are generally reviewed. They are as follows:
Book review
A book review is a form of criticism where a book is thoroughly analyzed based on its content, merit, and style. Many book reviews are based on the reviewer’s personal taste, likes, and dislikes. Other book reviews contain plot summaries of a book, and the pros and cons are not pointed out.
Music review
There are several forms of reviews related to music. Musical performance reviews talk about a certain performance, its crowd counts, the artist’s songs, and facts related to that specific event. There may be subjective comments and technical comments in such a review. Reviews of records and albums are a common form of a music review. Here, an album is analyzed, and facts include the song’s names, how the album sounds overall, and other facts related to the content of the musical album. Reviews play a key to an artist’s success as good reviews lead to more supporters and fans.
Motion picture, television, and video review
This form of review invokes film criticism and analyzing the merits or demerits of a motion picture or film. A journalism film criticism approach is used in this form of review. Nowadays, television series, shows, and videos are also reviewed.
How to Write a Review?
There are several aspects and things you must keep in mind before writing any form of review.
Decide what to focus on
The first step you need to follow is to decide upon an item that you will evaluate in the review. You have to figure out the things which can be good or bad regarding the subject. In movie reviews, you can focus on the acting, the special effects, the story, and the background scores, among many others. By analyzing these aspects, you will be able to decide how good or bad the subject is. For a book review, you can focus on the plot, the different characters, and the author’s style of writing. Similarly, for restaurant reviews, you should point out the food quality, write about some specific food items or the service provided. All things have some kind of quality that you have to figure out to write a great review.
Decide what aspects make a thing good or bad.
You must figure out what you mean by the terms good and bad before applying it to your analysis. You have to identify whether you like a story with great action or a dramatic, sensitive story. You may like realistic stories more than bizarre ones and may prefer simple words over a complicated writing style in books. You have to apply your own perception to the review.
A Basic Format
For putting your review together, you should use a basic format for making your work look professional and attractive. Here are the steps you should follow:
• Start your introduction paragraph with something attractive for the reader. You should identify the title of your subject and mention the author, director, cast, etc.
• You should write a full paragraph on all the different aspects you want to analyze. The opening sentence of a paragraph should give an idea about the subject of the paragraph. Details must be provided to prove your point. You can use quotes from a book or quote the dialogues of a movie in book and movie reviews.
• The review should end with a concluding paragraph that restates the main matter of your review. The conclusion should have a judgment such as a book, or a film is good or bad. If you find a book or a film appealing, you should directly ask the readers to read the book or watch the movie.
A review is critical as it decides the fate of a book, film, or item. A good review makes a thing popular, and people show interest in it. In case of negative reviews, a company or film, or book may lose the audience.
