WRITING A CRITICAL REVIEW

A review is a text written to summarise and evaluate a book, a movie, a TV

show, a singer's new release, etc.

Introduction
You should write a few opening sentences to announce the title, author, etc.
and briefly explain the topic of the text. It presents the aim of the text and
summarises the main finding or key idea. Conclude the introduction with a
brief statement of your evaluation of the text. This can be a positive or
negative evaluation or, as it is usually the case, a mixed response.

Summary
Present a summary including some of the points you have detected with a
limited number of examples. You can also briefly explain the author’s
purpose/intentions throughout the movie/text and you may also describe how
the text is organised.

Critique
The critique should be a balanced discussion and evaluation of the strengths,
weaknesses and notable features of the text. Remember to base your
discussion on specific criteria. Good reviews also include other sources to
support evaluation (if you do that, remember to include your references).

You can choose how to sequence your critique. Some examples:

 Most important to least important conclusions you make about the text.

 If your critique is more positive than negative, then present the negative
points first and the positive last.

 If your critique is more negative than positive, then present the positive
points first and the negative last.

 If there are both strengths and weaknesses for each criterion you use,
you need to decide overall what your judgement is. For example, you
 may want to comment on a key idea in the text and have both positive
and negative comments. You could begin by stating what is good about
the idea and then tell and explain how it is limited in some way.

 In long reviews, you can address each criterion you choose in a

paragraph, including both negative and positive points. For very short
critical reviews (one page or less) where your comments will be briefer,
include a paragraph of positive aspects and another of negative.

 You can also include recommendations for how the movie can be
improved in terms of ideas, research approach; theories or frameworks
used can also be included in the critique section.

Conclusion
This is usually a very short paragraph.

 Restate your overall opinion of the movie.

 Briefly present recommendations.

 If necessary some further qualification or explanation of your judgement

can be included. This can help your critique sound fair and reasonable.

Source (of the information included above): Writing a Critical

Review.

List of adjectives you can use when writing a critical review:

Funny, disappointing, exciting, successful, impressive, interesting, fantastic,

entertaining, colourful, important, complicated, attractive, beautiful, sweet,
shallow, amusing, simple, useful, confusing, disgusting, outrageous,
delightful, helpful, graceful, moving, motionless, ridiculous, well-designed,
tedious, harmonious, irrelevant, illogical, unbelievable, autobiographical, etc.

Some adverbs:
Amazingly, excruciatingly, highly, hugely, profoundly, utterly, etc.

Summary of how to write a review:

 Try to indicate the structure of your review from the very beginning, in
the first paragraph.
 Try to attract your audience’s attention by starting with a humorous or
catchy comment.
 Use comparative and contrast structures.
 Use specific vocabulary taking into account the main topic.
 Give information and specific details about the issues concerning the
topic.
 Try not to describe just the plot but also include your own evaluation
and opinion.
 Try not to give details about the end of the film, book or TV series.
 Try to end your review with several recommendations.

Have a look at the sample reviews included in this Unit and in the Writing
section in Unit 6.

Sources: Writing a Critical Review | UNSW Current Students

Structure of a Critical Review

Introduction
The length of an introduction is usually one paragraph for a journal article review and two or
three paragraphs for a longer book review. Include a few opening sentences that announce the
author(s) and the title, and briefly explain the topic of the text. Present the aim of the text and
summarise the main finding or key argument. Conclude the introduction with a brief statement of
your evaluation of the text. This can be a positive or negative evaluation or, as is usually the
case, a mixed response.
Summary
Present a summary of the key points along with a limited number of examples. You can also
briefly explain the author’s purpose/intentions throughout the text and you may briefly describe
how the text is organised. The summary should only make up about a third of the critical review.

Critique
The critique should be a balanced discussion and evaluation of the strengths, weakness and
notable features of the text. Remember to base your discussion on specific criteria. Good reviews
also include other sources to support your evaluation (remember to reference).

You can choose how to sequence your critique. Here are some examples to get you started:

 Most important to least important conclusions you make about the text.
 If your critique is more positive than negative, then present the negative points first and the
positive last.
 If your critique is more negative than positive, then present the positive points first and the
negative last.
 If there are both strengths and weakness for each criterion you use, you need to decide overall
what your judgement is. For example, you may want to comment on a key idea in the text and
have both positive and negative comments. You could begin by stating what is good about the
idea and then concede and explain how it is limited in some way. While this example shows a
mixed evaluation, overall you are probably being more negative than positive.
 In long reviews, you can address each criterion you choose in a paragraph, including both
negative and positive points. For very short critical reviews (one page or less), where your
comments will be briefer, include a paragraph of positive aspects and another of negative.
 You can also include recommendations for how the text can be improved in terms of ideas,
research approach; theories or frameworks used can also be included in the critique section.

Conclusion & References

Conclusion
This is usually a very short paragraph.

 Restate your overall opinion of the text.

 Briefly present recommendations.
 If necessary, some further qualification or explanation of your judgement can be included. This
can help your critique sound fair and reasonable.

References
If you have used other sources in you review you should also include
a list of references at the end of the review.
Summarising and paraphrasing for the critical
review
Summarising and paraphrasing are essential skills for academic writing and in particular, the critical
review. To summarise means to reduce a text to its main points and its most important ideas. The length
of your summary for a critical review should only be about one quarter to one third of the whole critical
review.

The best way to summarise

1. Scan the text. Look for information that can be deduced from the introduction, conclusion, title,
and headings. What do these tell you about the main points of the article?
2. Locate the topic sentences and highlight the main points as you read.
3. Reread the text and make separate notes of the main points. Examples and evidence do not
need to be included at this stage. Usually they are used selectively in your critique.

Paraphrasing means putting it into your own words. Paraphrasing offers an alternative to using
direct quotations in your summary (and the critique) and can be an efficient way to integrate your
summary notes.

The best way to paraphrase

1. Review your summary notes

2. Rewrite them in your own words and in complete sentences
3. Use reporting verbs and phrases, e.g. 'The author describes…', 'Smith argues that …'.
4. Use quotation marks if If you include unique or specialist phrases from the text.

Some General Criteria

for Evaluating Texts
The following list of criteria and focus questions may be useful for
reading the text and for preparing the critical review. Remember to
check your assignment instructions for more specific criteria and
focus questions that should form the basis of your review. The
length of the review/assignment will determine how many criteria
you will address in your critique.