What is a Review?

Again, this is taken from the Project: Educate article:

A review is an evaluation of a product or publication based on personal experience and knowledge. It aims to be critical, not insulting, and is designed to help someone form an opinion of the product in question. Rants about products or companies do not belong here.



What's the Difference Between a Rant and a Review?

It sure does seem like we've been doing a lot of talking about rants lately, but there is a reason: there are a good number of "rants" cluttering the Nonfiction gallery as substitutes for editorials, reviews, or even structured philosophizing. To be quite frank, it's driving me mad. As one of the goals of this month is to better educate and introduce the Nonfiction categories, it seemed that ranting was a good place to start.

So what's the difference between a rant and a review? Well, much like with editorials, the difference comes down to the writing and, often, the intent. Remember, Nonfiction writing is generally informative, and reviews are no exception. However, there is one other extremely important aspect to a real review: critical thinking.



What is Critical Thinking?

This is a term thrown around in education rather often, but that's because thinking critically is one of the most important developmental skills a person can master. To be dramatic, it separates us from lemmings. When you spend a moment to analyze or evaluate something, or when you take a second to reflect, you are actively engaged in critical thinking. Indeed, critical thinking is a form of judgment.

With critical thinking, a person does his or her best to remain unbiased and to consider all sides of an argument or product. That's not to say a true or biased opinion isn't reached, but the critical thinker does not jump to that opinion from a purely emotional place; instead, careful consideration is given to be sure that the reaction is not merely emotional and therefore can be justified to other people who might not have the same emotional make-up or psychological response. As you can see, this can help us further differentiate between a "rant" (emotional vomit) and a well-thought review.

However, what is a well-thought review? How should one go about writing one? As with many things, there are steps to consider.



Establish an Opinion

It may sound silly, but the first thing you want to determine before writing your review is your actual opinion of/about the product--and you must have one. It's fine to discuss strengths and weaknesses in an effort to be fair, but a true review ends (or sometimes begins) with the writer's honest-to-God and sincere opinion of the product. If you're not going to include a strong opinion, then you probably shouldn't bother writing a review.



Introduce Your Product

This step is almost common sense, but it's the one step that many people neglect when first learning to write professional-quality product reviews. Before you can talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the product--be it a book, movie, video game, household item, etc.--you must first tell your audience what you're talking about and, most importantly, why they should care. Sometimes it even helps to provide a brief history of the product (book, film, etc.) or the product maker (for literature that would be the author, for film the director, etc.). However, it's important to keep this background knowledge brief. For example, with books and movies, an outline of the basic plot structures or important points--including genre--would suffice; for video games, it's important to discuss the platform or technical requirements as well as the maker and genre or history of the game.

It helps to talk about the product in general terms, while adding specific details about the perceived or stated goals of the product. Is the movie supposed to scare you? Is the item supposed to clean an entire room in under an hour? Is this book going to be judged on its literary merit or its genre goals--or both? By telling your audience about the product, it excites interest in the product--and that helps keep the reader friendly toward your review.



Were the Goals Met?

Once you've established the product and its goals, it's time to discuss whether or not the product maker met those goals. This is one of the first places your opinion shines through, though there should be an attempt to remain fair and balanced in your assessment. Indeed, as many will say, it's important to remember that criticism--thinking critically about a product--is more than a mere complaint. Talk freely about the strengths of the product, but remember to be honest about its weaknesses, too. Some writers will discuss all the strengths and then discuss the weaknesses; some will discuss a strength, then a weakness, then a strength, etc.; some will actually discuss the weaknesses first and end on the strengths. It all depends on what impression you want to leave with your reader and what purpose you have in writing your review. Do you want people to buy this product? Do you want them to boycott it? Whatever your intent, be sure that your structure--especially in this section--supports what you are trying to do.

It is in this section, also, that a review shows its true differences from a rant. In a rant, the writer is rarely concerned with showing strengths and is more than willing to focus all of his energies on the weaknesses of the product. Rants, often emotional, are usually written from a strong reaction to a product and, in many cases, that reaction was negative. Indeed, when "rants" are more positive about a product, we can sometimes refer to these as "gushing" about the product. Whether a rant or a gush, it's seldom that the writer will include a balanced account--or even a history or introduction--of the product, and that is one of the defining ways in which we can differentiate between a rant and a review.



But, but, but...

Yes, yes, we know: some professional reviews are not very balanced. It's true; they're not. However, even in a particularly harsh review, there is some acknowledgment of strengths. Consumer Reports might tell you the product is awful and not to waste your money, but the writer does make an effort to point out at least one positive aspect or area during the review. As long as the attempt is there, even if it's not the most valiant attempt, there are readers who will respect that you were trying to be fair. Remember, reviews are not about destroying a product but about talking openly, honestly, and fairly about that product in the hopes that "version 2" will bring about an improvement. Consider a review constructive criticism for the product maker.



The Voice in Voicing Your Opinion

As with the editorial, reviews can be straightforward and dry, but if you care enough to have an opinion of a product--and care enough, then, to write about that opinion--one hopes there's an interest or a passion for your work. This is where your "voice" comes in. Liven it up! Make it interesting! Incorporate humor or other stylistic elements that respect the writing but also the reader. Who wants to read a robot-like review when there are exciting things like Infomercials around? Now, we don't want you to go cheesy and over-the-top like those 3AM commercials for cleaning products (unless you really want to), but a good review does try to keep it interesting. After all, a person isn't likely to read something that doesn't grab his attention.



Keeping it Professional

As with the editorial, a professional review pays special attention to things like spelling, punctuation, and grammar. A person is not likely to respect your point of view if you cannot be bothered to proofread or edit your work. With this in mind, reviews submitted to dA should consider a higher standard of conventional awareness; that is, the review should reflect a real effort to write correctly in regards to an international audience. Those reviews submitted to dA with pervasive and obvious errors will be removed to Scraps, as that is where rants and works-in-progress belong.



Now what?

Well, now we'd like you to try your hand at a short review. Keeping your word count under 1,500, try to review a product (novels, games, cleaning supplies, etc.) that you've recently had contact with and formed an opinion about.

Once you've written your review, send a note entitled "REVIEW" to ^GeneratingHype. In the interest of time, try to have your reviews in before 31 July 2008. Prizes will be awarded for the strongest reviews, regardless of personal opinions about the products in question.



Where do I put my review on dA?

That one's easy!

Literature --> Prose --> Nonfiction --> Reviews