Summarizing and evaluation of ideas and information of articles, books, movies, etc. is considered a review. This is not the same as a summary, as summaries are a shortened version of the actual facts and reviews are a simplified version of the compositions but allowing the author to add in his/her own ideas, thoughts and interpretations about the piece of literature. Reviewing is not just about speaking to one side but considering and thinking carefully about both, the positive and negative, strengths and weaknesses of the material. When writing a review the following tasks should be mastered well; Seeking information and Reviewing effectively and efficiently. By seeking information, it means to read/watch the material well in order to be thorough with the subject and reviewing effectively and efficiently highlights the fact that, the information in the material should be questioned in all possible outlooks in order to present a proper fruitful evaluation of the topic.
The content of a review contains the following parts; an introduction, summary, main content (critique), conclusion and references. The review must start off with the name of the writer, title and a brief explanation into the topic of the text. The writer must present the aim of a text along with a summarization of the main findings or key conflicts that are presented. Towards the end of the introduction he/she can provide a brief statement on the analysis of the given text.
In the next part of the review the main points of the composition is highlighted and a summarized providing examples from the text. In addition to this, the writer can also state his/her purpose for writing the critique and the structure of the text yet, it is important to note that a summary means a very light and simplified text therefore it should not be anything more than one third of the whole according to a pdf online.
Moving on to the main content of the review, in the critique stage one must analyze the good and bad, strengths and weaknesses of the text as mentioned above along with other important features that will help the writer’s review have the effect it needs. When writing a critical review, the discussion should be targeted on one particular basis and he/she should make it a point to do some research and provide other sources to support what the writer has written about with in-text references. This is so that the text will be precise.
As it is quite obvious, conclusion is the final stage of the review. This should be ended by restating the author’s overall thoughts and interpretations of the text. In addition to this, the writer could also provide recommendations and further explain his judgements in order to back up his review as rational, open minded and equitable.
If other sources have been used to back up one’s insights to the whole text, it is important to note them down according to a suited referencing style (Harvard).
