Guidelines For Reviewing Writing
Writing detailed reviews is time well spent.
Reviewing itself is a writing exercise. Creating detailed
feedback for a fellow writer is one of the best tools available
for improving your own writing. That said, if you're going to
spend the time to do it, helping the author is important. There
is a better chance for the ideas in a review to get through to
an author if they are well presented.
Key Characteristics For Reviews
* Reviews should be honest. Helping writers improve their
craft should be the mission of any reviewer. Honest opinions are
what help writers improve. Giving false feedback doesn't help
anyone and can lead an author down a long road to bitter
disappointment.
* Reviews should be encouraging. Everyone at every level
should be encouraged to continue writing! Encouraging reviews
are more likely to be used by an author which means the time
creating the review was well spent. Whether the author decides
to use the reviewer's honest suggestions or not, the review
should be motivating and encourage the author to keep writing.
* Reviews should be respectful. Regardless of an author's
level of skill or talent, a reviewer should always respect that
the author is an individual person. A reviewer flaunting that
they are better than the author they're reviewing is not
respectful and is counter productive.
* Reviews should be well rounded. While honesty is very
important, a review that points out only flaws without any
mention of an item's positive points is not nearly as helpful to
an author as a well rounded review with both positive and
negative remarks. Don't forget, the same goes for reviews that
only point out positives! Even the greatest pieces of writing
have room for suggestions and opinions.
* The rating should reflect the review. If you're sending
a review full of corrections, it's important to consider that
with your star rating selection. 5.0's shouldn't need any
corrections. On the other extreme, a 1.0 should have endless
errors and you couldn't possibly list them all. Offering to
return and rerate the item after a round of updates makes it
more likely your suggestions will be considered.
* Reviews should make good use of color, bold and
italics. When reviewing, presentation is very important! Color
can be used to make corrections stand out or quote small
portions of the work. Emoticons can highlight important
points in the review and can be creatively used to make the
review feel more friendly.
The Content Of A Review Keeping in mind the six (6)
points highlighted above, a review should contain your
opinion. While grammatical, typographical and other errors
can be included within a review, don't forget to tell the author
how the piece made you feel. Give them your thoughts about the
inside of their writing, not just the outside.
Some example questions you may ask yourself about the piece to
help you get your opinion across are as follows: Did the plot
interest you? Were the characters believable? Did the story fit
the time, place and other setting characteristics? Is there
anything you would change within the story?
Incorporating these thoughts within your reviews will expand
your own analytical skills allowing you to better analyze your
own writing. Whether the author agrees with any of your
suggestions or ideas is not relevant. You have given them
another perspective on their work they would not have otherwise
had. They may hear the same thoughts from a number of different
people which may give them a better understanding of their
readers as a whole.
Use "copied and pasted" portions of the item you are reviewing
as little as possible. Posting sections of an item within your
review leads to "review bloating" and takes away from the impact
your comments and suggestions will have on the author.
Your Own Review Format Developing your own format for
reviewing can be a great asset. Determine what aspects of
writings you like to focus on most, create a short outline to
follow and start reviewing. Following this process will help
keep your reviews honest and consistent. As your experience
grows, you'll find ways to improve your format and your skills.
Get into the good habit of using a custom tag-line of
encouragement within your reviews. Including a "Keep
Writing!" or something unique and individual within your
reviews goes a long way to motivating an author. We know you
mean it, so don't forget to say it!
Make Reviewing a Daily Creative Writing Exercise
Remember, reviewing grows your own writing skills unlike any
other writing tool. Critically analyzing and reviewing others'
writings makes a writer stop and think about what works and what
doesn't. Putting that into words and communicating that to
another writer, ultimately helps the reviewer to improve his or
her own writing skills, as well. So it's about helping others,
but it's a valuable way to help ourselves!
Have Fun & Happy Reviewing!