Writing a review

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND05c5S3ySM
• A review is usually written for an English-language magazine,
newspaper or website. The main purpose is to describe and express a
personal opinion about something which the writer has experienced
(e.g. a film, a holiday, a product, a website etc.) and to give the reader
a clear impression of what the item discussed is like. Description and
explanation are key functions for this task, and a review will normally
include a recommendation to the reader.
Task
Identifying the task

• First, check two things when looking at a writing task: what to include
and who is going to read their text. Read the task carefully and
underline the key parts.
Important tips
• Register - should choose a neutral to informal style as we are writing for a
magazine. Many different kinds of people will read your review so we don’t
want it to be too informal, but still keep it light and interesting.
• What to include - There are also three main points that we have to include
in the review: what surprising thing the main character of the book did, why
it was surprising and whether or not you would recommend the book. In
general, there are always three things that you have to include. These are
usually a description (What did the main character do?), a discussion (Why
was it surprising?) and a recommendation (Would you recommend the book
to other people?). You can normally look for these three things in every
review and you will see how similar all the different tasks are.
Plan & outline
• There are three main ideas that we have to deal with in our text:
• What surprising thing did the main character do? (description)
• Why was it surprising? (discussion)
• Would you recommend the book to other people? (recommendation)

• Of course, we can give each of these points a paragraph so our review already has three. (Note that
we could combine the first and second point into one paragraph as they both talk about the actions of
the main character.) Adding a title an interesting introduction makes it four and we are ready to go.
The outline of the review looks like this:
• Title and introduction
• description (What did the main character do?)
• discussion (Why was it surprising?)
• recommendation (Would you recommend the book to other people?)
Introduction
• The main purpose of the introduction is to create interest so the reader wants to
find out what you have to say about the book, film, restaurant or whatever you
have to write about. You can use a few tricks to achieve that:
• Firstly, start with a personalised question. This connects the reader to your
review and makes them want to continue reading, and secondly, don’t give away
the surprise but only give a little hint at it. This way, you can create even more
excitement.
What would you do if you could travel back in time? Most people would probably
meet their great-great-grandparents or watch how the amazing pyramids in Giza
were built, but Jake Epping, the main character of the novel “11/22/63” by
Stephen King finds himself in a completely unexpected situation and he has to
make a very difficult decision that will change history as we know it.
Description
• The next point we’re going to talk about is the description portion of your
review. Here, you need to give some information based on your task. In
our example you have to say what surprising thing the main character did.
• The best part about the description is that you don’t have to do anything
special – just answer the question and move on. Of course, there are
some things that (don’t) make sense to include so let’s go into a little bit
more detail.
• Stick to the question and don’t talk about unrelated things.
• Give some support to your answer (related details)
• Use adjectives and adverbs to make it more interesting to read.
• Jake, a teacher in a little town in Maine, finds a mysterious time portal
in the back of a ragged diner which takes him back to the year 1958.
He soon realises that every time he goes through the portal he gets to
the exact same point in the past. Eventually, he makes the unexpected
decision to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from brutally killing President
John F. Kennedy on 22.11.1963.
Discussion
• The next step is the discussion portion of your review. There is usually some part in
which you have to give your opinion in every review writing task (That’s what
discussion really means.) so it is really important to keep the following things in
mind:
• Again, don’t write about things that are not in the task.
• Use specific language to give your opinion
• In my opinion/view, …
• For me, …
• I think/believe/feel that …
• I would say that …
• It seems to me that …
• It seems to me that Jake could choose many other and more personal
things to do, but he decides to try and change history to a degree that
he cannot predict. I my opinion, that came definitely unexpected and
if I were in his position I probably wouldn’t even consider a task this
far-reaching.
Recommendations:
• The last part of your review is usually a recommendation to your readers. As in the
previous to chapters you have to use specific language to please the examiner and to
make it clear to the reader that you are recommending something.
• Don’t mix up the recommendation with the other parts of your review.
• Use specific language to give recommendations:
• I recommend/suggest [title/name] to + person
• I recommend/suggest + -ing
• I recommend/suggest that …
• You should + base verb
• You might want to + base verb
• Write a final sentence to conclude the review.
• I definitely recommend “11/22/63” to everyone who has already read
some of Stephen King’s novels as well as to those who like stories with
twists and turns around every corner plus you get some modern
history on top of that. For me, it was absolutely worth reading and I’m
sure you won’t be disappointed.
Step 1-plan
• Think of a book you read in which the main character behaved in a
surprising way. This could be surprising in a good way, where the
character does something amazing and helps somebody. Or maybe
there’s a twist at the end and the character does something really
shocking. Either way take some time to really think about your choice.

• E.g. I’m going to choose The Great Gatsby, because I had to read the
book 3 times when I was at school and I’ve seen the film so I feel like I
know it really well.
The structure
• think of the structure. Consider all the parts of the question and use that to help organise your
review. Make notes about the following:
• An interesting title
• A catchy introduction
• A summary of the plot
• A surprising moment
• Your recommendation
• Remember you’re going to want to separate these with clear paragraphs that are going to help
the examiner read to the end without getting a headache.
• You also need to consider the tone and how the review should sound to the reader. Remember
this is for a magazine. Think about all the magazines you like to read. You want to sound chatty
and grab the reader’s attention, but not bore them to sleep. Think semi-formal but friendly!
Useful vocabulary
• Now brainstorm some useful vocabulary for your chosen book,
including lots of adjectives. Avoid using boring adjectives like good or
bad. It’s much more exciting to say ‘amazing’ and ‘disappointing’ or
‘terrific’ and ‘terrible’.
• Here’s some more useful vocabulary to get you started:
• superficial / deceptive / fascinating / unbelievable / rich / lonely / kind
/ reserved/ to be set in / to be written by / prosperity / characters /
jazz age / protagonist / atmosphere / author / chapter / ending /
fictional towns / prohibition / novel / on the outskirts / sad story.
Linking words:
• These are going to help tie together your thoughts and bring your review to life!

• Overall if you like…

• I was pleasantly surprised by…
• In fact…
• What I disliked the most was…
• The book contains…
• As well as…
• This well-written book…
• Unbelievably…
Step 2 – writing
• start with an interesting title. E.g. The Unexpected Anti-Hero. It
relates to both the book that’s being reviewed and the question. It’s
also short and snappy.
• Next write an engaging introduction. Maybe start with a rhetorical
question, for example:
• Are you a fan of the Jazz Age? Then this is the book for you!
• Or a general statement about the book that will hook the reader:
• The Great Gatsby is a classic, with many twists and turns.
• You could also give some background information. Here we use the past simple:
• The Great Gatsby was written by F.S.Fitzgerald and is set in prosperous Long Island in 1922.
• The second paragraph should summarise the plot (note – we usually describe a story in
present tense):
• Gatsby is a mysterious character, he has big extravagant parties, and we never know if we can
trust him.
• The third paragraph is where we introduce the surprising moment and reveal what the main
character did and why it was surprising:
• The most shocking part is when…
• I couldn’t believe it when…
• In fact…
• It was so surprising when…
• In the fourth paragraph, give a recommendation! Here the examiner
wants to hear your overall opinion. It can be something simple:

• I strongly recommend..
• Or something more inventive:
• I wouldn’t read the novel again because…
• Everyone should read this immediately!
• But don’t forget to say why!
Step 2 – check it
• Now you have your winning book review it’s time to check for all those little (and
big) mistakes.

• Make sure you check:

• You’ve answered all parts of the question.
• It is easy to read.
• Your spelling is correct.
• You’ve used the 3rd person(s).
• You have used punctuation.
• There’s a variety of nouns and adjectives.
Final tips
• Pick a book you know quite well! Whether it’s Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, make sure you have
lots to say about it!

• Don’t be afraid to give both negative and positive opinions!

• Experiment with using first person and try addressing the reader with ‘you’.
• Read lots of real authentic reviews online, anything from holidays to music concerts, exhibitions to video
games!
• Remember to put some of your own personality into your review. Have some fun with it and good luck!
• Follow the links for some excellent phrases and vocabulary for other types of reviews.
• Restaurant Reviews
• Film Reviews
• TV / Theatre Reviews
• Exhibition & Concert Reviews
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3