A review is a short text that gives an assessment of any mediated phenomenon of reality. Despite the rather free form, it, like any other established genre, has certain rules for writing.
What is a review
There is no single standard for writing a review; in this case, the rules depend on the object of review. So, for example, a review of a film will be different from a review of a thesis. However, for a review, as for a genre, you can still name some signs and recommendations that should be taken into account in order to observe the rules of good form.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia gives the following definition: “Review (from Lat. Recensio - consideration) is an analysis and assessment of a new artistic (literary, theatrical, musical, cinematic, etc.), scientific or popular science work; the genre of newspaper and magazine journalism and literary criticism”.
From this definition, the following features can be distinguished: a review is created for a certain new work, it provides its analysis and assessment, including a critical one. In this case, the review refers to the journalistic style of speech. Unlike other genres, it evaluates not facts and real events, but mediated reality - books, movies, plays, games, and so on.
How to write a review
As a journalistic genre, the review should be short enough, and in a concise, concrete form give an assessment of the work. At the same time, in contrast to an essay of a more free nature, a positive or negative assessment must be reasoned, it is possible to quote from the text.
In order to write a good review, you need to carefully study the material, since in your work it is worth pointing out the features of the work that distinguishes it from other cases of the same category. So, if this is a book or article, the review must say about the author's language and his style. And if you are reviewing a theatrical production or film, you should pay attention to the acting.
The review is based on a thesis that includes what the reviewer found in the evaluated work. Its task is to show future readers what they may not even notice, since they do not have special knowledge. Therefore, the broader the cultural background of the reviewer, and the better he understands the area he writes about, the more interesting and useful his work will be.
As a rule, the reviewer considers only the most relevant works, and from any one side. However, it is also possible to expand the topic of study, consider a particular problem. In this case, it must be remembered that the review is intended to briefly evaluate the work, and not to conduct a scientific research.
Remember that more often than not, the review genre involves a wide range of readers, who are probably just about to get acquainted with the material. However, even if your reader has already read / watched what you are reviewing, you should not get carried away with a detailed retelling of the plot. This significantly reduces the value of your work.
