How to write a review?
Title
Use the name of the film, book or restaurant.
Introduction
Identify what you are reviewing (actors, director etc..).
Try to catch the reader´s attention (ask a narrative question).
1st body paragraph
Describe the book, film, restaurant
2nd body paragraph
Comment on the questions you have been asked
Conclusion
Summarize your review with a recommendation
Writing Guide
You see this announcement in your college English-
language magazine.
Book reviews wanted
Have you read a book in which the main character
behaved in a surprising way?
Write us a review of the book, explaining what the main
character did and why it was surprising. Tell us whether
or not you would recommend this book to other people.
The best reviews will be published in the magazine.
Step 1: Briefly analyse the given topic…
The first thing you need to do is to underline
a description part -in other words, just find what needs
to be described.
Secondly, find a discussion part – in other words, try
to find the specific points you need to comment on in
your text.
Finally, find the target reader so you know exactly who
you are writing for and who is going to read your
review.
You see this announcement in your college English-
language magazine.(our readers)
Book reviews wanted
Have you read a book in which the main character
behaved in a surprising way?(to describe)
Write us a review of the book, explaining what the main
character did and why it was surprising. (to comment)
The best reviews will be published in the magazine.
You need to describe:
Book in which the main character behaved in a
surprising way
You need to answer/discuss:
1. What did the main character do?
2. Why was it surprising?
Who is the target reader: college English-language
magazine.
We know now that the target readers are students,
teachers and probably parents so the writing style
should be neutral or informal.
We don’t need to be too formal because after all some
of the readers are students, but we also don’t want to
be too informal as some of the readers are teachers
and parents.
Step 2: Title
The review should start with the title, and there are few
simple ways to write it:
imagine you’re reviewing a book you can write:
[Title] by [Author]
if you were reviewing a restaurant you could write:
[name of the restaurant] – a review
Title (book): Dark Souls by Stephen King (by)
Title (restaurant): Taco Bell in London – a review (a review)
Step 3: Introduction
Use the introduction to identify the thing you are going to
be reviewing and provide details like the genre (i.e. a
science fiction novel, a horror movie).
The other function of your introduction is to engage the
reader. You can do it by asking a question.
Make your introduction at least 2 sentences long.
INTRODUCTION:
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
Tom Lee, the main character of the novel Time Machine by
Adam Smith finds himself in a completely unexpected
situation and he has to make a very difficult decision that
will change history as we know it.
Step 4: The body paragraphs (main content)
The body paragraphs are the main parts of your review so
they should be the longest and carry most of the
information. Also, here you describe the points you’ve
found in (Step 1)
You need to answer/discuss:
What did the main character do?
Why it was surprising?
You can use idioms, and phrasal verbs – neutral/informal
language is appropriate for your target reader – students
and teachers.
See the example below, in which we dedicated one
paragraph to one point.
[Who is the main character and what did he do? –
describe]
Tom, a teacher in a little town in Rotherham, finds a
mysterious time portal in the back of a ragged diner which
takes him back to the year 1935. 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 Michael James Newton from
brutally killing President John F. Kennedy on 22.11.1963.
[Why it was surprising? – comment]
It seems to me that Tom 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. In my
opinion, that came definitely unexpected and if I were in his
position I probably wouldn’t even consider a task this far-
reaching.
own opinion
descriptive/interesting vocabulary
relevant details about the main character and book
Step 5: Conclusion / Recommendations
Finally, we need to make a recommendation because after
all, that’s the only reason why anyone would read a review
they want to know what the reviewer thinks about the book,
film or restaurant.
A good final paragraph of a review does exactly two things
it includes a recommendation
and a final sentence to round off the review
CONCLUSION:
I definitely recommend “Time Machine” to everyone who
has already read some of Adam Smith’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.
FULL REVIEW:
Time Machine by Adam Smith
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
Tom Lee, the main character of the novel Time Machine by
Adam Smith finds himself in a completely unexpected
situation and he has to make a very difficult decision that
will change history as we know it.
Tom, a teacher in a little town in Rotherham, finds a
mysterious time portal in the back of a ragged diner which
takes him back to the year 1935. 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 Michael James Newton from
brutally killing President John F. Kennedy on 22.11.1963.
It seems to me that Tom 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. In my
opinion, that came definitely unexpected and if I were in his
position I probably wouldn’t even consider a task this far-
reaching.
I definitely recommend “Time Machine” to everyone who
has already read some of Adam Smith’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.
