My fiftieth review !!!. Review on Writing Reviews on MouthShut

At the very outset, I wish to share with you all that this is my fiftieth review here and I take this opportunity to thank you for having read, rated, commented, appreciated and criticised them. It has been an extremely good experience for me to learn from the feedback given by you all. Having said that, I seek your pardon for diverting from the main topic that I actually wanted to write but I just could not resist from giving a small thanksgiving speech on this occasion...Thanks again!

What I have written below is a compilation of my thoughts on how I write my reviews. Each may have their own tried and tested way of writing reviews. I was completely at sea when I had to write my first review and learnt a lot by reading the reviews of my seniors here. I’ll be more than happy if this review is useful to even a single person and helps him/her to churn out good reviews.

I. Choosing a Topic for reviewing

Before you start off writing a review, take some time to gather your thoughts on that topic. It could be anything under the sun – a product, a service, an advice or an opinion. There are topics that need general review and those that need a specific review. For example, a general topic might be something on a particular tourist place and a specific review might be something like “Should Napster be banned?”. In either case, ensure that you have sufficient knowledge about it so as to answer with ease any query thrown against you.

II. Organise your thought process

Once the topic has been finalised, jot down on a piece of paper or just type out the main outline of the review. For example, if you wish to write a review on the “Honda City”, the various sections could be in this order – the first para could comprise a line or two about the company, its experience in this field, range of models, etc. In the second para, give a short description of the “Honda City”, its features, price, seating capacity, colours available, etc. Please bear in mind that being an International forum, there will be scores of people who would be reading your review and some of them may even make up their minds on buying the car based on your review. Providing comprehensive information, therefore, is a must.

III. Caption, Introduction and the main body

The caption or heading that you give to the review should be fairly descriptive of the product being covered. Imagine facing a screen with thirty reviews and all that you can see are the product categories and the captions of the reviews. Assuming that you’re running short of time and would prefer to read only about 2-3 reviews, which ones would you read? Obviously the ones that fall under a product that you are interested in or if you’re not looking for anything in particular, you would read the review whose caption catches your eyes, right? Try, therefore, to add a little bit of zing and dash to the caption. For example, if I were to write a review recommending the movie “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, I can either put the caption as “A Very Good Movie” or as “The Godfather of Western Spaghettis”. Got my point now?

The first paragraph should be give a nice little description of the review and give the reader some sort of an idea as to what is to be expected in the rest of it. This should comprise a few sentences explaining the topic in general terms so that it leads the readers gently onto the main body of the review. Some people have the habit of starting their reviews with a quotation or a small anecdote that’s pertinent to the review and helps in adding to the overall appeal.

Each subsequent para should cover the various aspects of the product. While it is not deemed necessary to go extra deep into the subject, especially if it is a highly technical in nature, make sure that you cover all the aspects that enable the readers to form an unbiased opinion about the product. Again, if you are talking of the Honda City, don’t just say that you don’t recommend the car because you find its colours/shades to be dull and boring. What is important here is the overall value that one gets after purchasing and using the car in the long run. Apart from writing about the features, other aspects like the value for money, availability of spare parts, efficiency and reliability of the service staff, etc. should be discussed. Backup your points with valid examples/figures wherever necessary. The matter covered must be believable in nature and the readers should be able to easily verify the integrity of the same from other sources.

The final para should sum up your points or providing a final perspective on the topic. This need not be a long drawn out affair. Ideally, limit it to about 5-6 lines by reviewing the main points or briefly describing your experience and feelings about the product. Devote the final one or two sentences to justifying your recommendation of the product.

What else?

Remember that this is only a rough draft. Go through the entire review a few times over and check for the following important things:

1. Flow of the review – Avoid repetitions of the same points over and again in the review, this only confuses and irritates the reader. Check if the paragraphs are in a logical order, especially if you happen to write about something that describes a particular process or work flow. Is it presented in an organised manner? Does it make sense to a person reading it for the first time?

   
   




2. Grammar, spelling and formatting – Try to maintain a professional tenor throughout the review. Towards this end, avoid using fashionable slangs like “ain’t”, “gonna”, etc. Nothing can be more irksome while reading a review than coming across these slangs and frequent grammatical and spelling errors. The least we can do is to sieve out these mistakes before posting the final draft. Most people are also in the habit of writing the whole review in one long, single paragraph. This not only visibly impairs the review but also makes it difficult for the reader to grasp the main points.

   
   




3. Support the review with examples – This is all the more important when the topic is abstract in dealing and lengthy in nature. To simplify things, insert a few examples. Avoid making sweeping statements like “All Maruti cars are bad because they don’t have ample boot space”. Check and double check your statements from other sources before putting them down in the final draft. It saves a lot of embarrassment and obviates the need for unnecessary and often, heated arguments in the “Comments” section. If you have picked up some facts/details from printed sources like newspapers/magazines or from a Website, please say so. There is nothing wrong in doing it, it only serves as a backbone in case someone does not agree with what you say.

   
   

Putting across your reviews in a logical and organised manner goes a long way in making for good reading and in educating those who do not know about that product/service. One does not have to write a Doctoral thesis here, all we want is an honest and unbiased opinion of all members irrespective of whatever they write about.