There are numerous occasions when one would encounter a need or desire to write a review. Whether out of a professional need or a personal desire to express one’s thought, the review has become one of the most common types of written work of today. Reviews can take multiple forms and approaches, just as their authors may have different opinions and aims to write them. In any case, writing a review is no ordinary task, as it requires both skill and creativity. Thus, it would be more than interesting to take a look at the key steps of how to write a review.
What is a Review
A review can be defined as a certain publication, such as a media article, that aims to analyze, evaluate, and criticize a certain item or phenomena, such as a service, product, or other publication. A review is designed in such a way that aims to catch the attention of the reader and outline certain aspects of the reviewed object. The author of the review should attempt to inform about the quality of the reviewed object, its pros and cons, application, and other attributes. It is also common for the author to express his/her personal opinion on the object, and is often a critical part of the review, however, it may depend on the type of review.
Types of Reviews
Just as there are numerous kinds of objects, works, and events that can be critically analyzed, there are numerous kinds of reviews. In the modern age of Internet technologies, one of the most common types of reviews is a media review – an article or video that aims to evaluate and criticize a certain product of popular culture. Such publications may review different kinds of media sources – books, articles, movies, and even video games. Video reviews on the YouTube website, in particular, have become one of the most popular means of online media. Another type of review, a customer review, may aim to praise or criticize a certain purchased product. While these reviews may contain a critical thought, they bear a merely entertaining character, which divides them from the other type of review – an academic review.
Writing an Academic Review
An academic review is drastically different from a media review. Not only does the academic review lack any entertaining characteristics, but it follows strict rules and criteria set by the educational establishment’s standards. In academic reviews, students are usually assigned to read and review a certain scholar article or book and analyze as much material as they can in the process. An academic review is an assignment that does not aim to express the student’s personal opinion, its main concept lies in the ability of the student to conduct independent research and analyze the collected information as a scholar. By writing a review, a student is able to outline the main aspects of the conducted study and critically analyze their impact. The main point of an academic review is not just to make the student collect knowledge, but to help him/her develop independent critical thinking.