How to write a review

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 2

How to write a review

By Marije de Vreeze

Index

• What is a review?
• Before you start
• Part of review structure: Introduction
• Part of review structure: Body (verwerking)
• Part of review structure: Conclusion (conclusie/slot)
• After the review

What is a review?
Take a guess!

What is a review?

• A review is a critical evaluation of a book/article/film/text/object.
• The goal of a review is to judge something, so you want to state your opinion and support it based on arguments.
• So you don't say: I think the movie is terrible. But you do say: I think the movie is terrible because the costumes were not suitable for the movie.

Before you start

• Know your audience, who are you writing this for? Who will read this review? (young/old/gamer/soccerplayer/etc)
• Search for information (complete title of a film (or book), name of author/creator, publisher, publication date)
• Check your facts; details must be true and not false
• Determine your angle: positive or negative review?
• ! Kies positief of negatief als richtlijn, je moet wel proberen zowel positieve als negatieve dingen op te noemen in je review, maar focus op positief of negatief specifiek.
  

Before you start

• Example: music album: describe instruments/vocals on a particular song
• Example: film: talk about why the acting is amazing (or bad) and give examples from the film
  
• Make it personal: Tell why you liked a particular scene in a movie, give readers something to relate to
  (let them agree with you, the writer)
• If you're not writing your review about a film/book you can talk about features of an object you're reviewing or a game for example.

Introduction

• The introduction is the first paragraph of your review (eerste alinea). It should grab the reader's attention and introduce the review's subject 
• It should also provide the basic details: title, author, publication date, genre, etc.
  Or if you're reviewing an object or something else, the basic details: Playstation 4 for example, what's the publication year? What is it? etc.

Body of the review (verwerking)

• Synopsis (korte inhoud) of the plot plus your overall impression of the subject, let the readers know what your opinion is. 
  
• Again: let op de alinea's!
• Don't spoil the reader, if you're writing about a film or book!
• Use synonyms! You can use the website, fill in a word and you'll see the synonyms (for example: good - excellent, then you can use the word excellent) https://www.thesaurus.com/

Conclusion

• This is the last paragraph of your review! Tell the reader your opinion of the success/failure of the product (film/book/object),
  advise readers to read the book for example and don't forget to present your arguments why they have to read the book.
• In the conclusion you'll repeat the arguments of the body. Did you like the book? Tell the readers your argument you've told them in the body (repeat it shortly)
• In the next slide you'll see an example of a review.

After the review

• Check your grammar on the website www.grammarly.com watch out, sometimes the grammarcheck gives 'suggestions' to change a word. You don't have to do this, it's only to check your mistakes and word order.