Reviews are a hot topic these days. Whether you’re a product reviewer on Amazon or Yelp or a restaurant critic at the New York Times, your work can have an immediate impact on how people shop and what they eat.
But beyond that, there are many different types of reviews out there so many that it’s hard to keep track of them all!
That’s why I’ve created this handy guide for anyone who wants to know how to write any type of review ever written by human hands (and if you’re reading this article right now, chances are that includes you).
Here’s everything from user reviews to academic reports:
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Understand the Various Review Types: Familiarize yourself with different review types, including product reviews, literature reviews, and systematic reviews. |
| 2. Tailor Your Writing to Each Review Type: Customize your writing style and approach based on the specific review type you are working on. |
| 3. Follow a Structured Format: Organize your reviews with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion to provide a cohesive and informative reading experience. |
| 4. Use Objective and Balanced Language: Present a fair assessment of the subject matter, avoiding biased language or undue promotion. |
| 5. Provide Supporting Evidence: Back up your statements and opinions with relevant evidence and examples to add credibility to your reviews. |
| 6. Consider Your Target Audience: Understand the preferences and needs of your target readers to deliver reviews that resonate with them. |
| 7. Highlight Strengths and Weaknesses: Address both positive and negative aspects of the subject to offer a balanced evaluation. |
| 8. Use Visuals When Appropriate: Incorporate images, charts, or graphs to enhance the visual appeal and understanding of your reviews. |
| 9. Stay Updated on Best Practices: Keep yourself informed about the latest trends and guidelines for writing effective reviews. |
| 10. Engage with Your Readers: Encourage feedback, comments, and discussions to create an interactive and valuable review platform. |
1. User Reviews
User reviews are online reviews written by consumers. They can be found on many platforms, including social media sites, review sites, and review aggregators.
User reviews can be posted by anyone who has an experience with the product or service being reviewed. The most common user reviewer is a person who has purchased something at a store and wants to share their opinion with the world.
User reviewers are also often people who want to express their opinions about places they’ve visited or things they’ve experienced (e.g., restaurants, hotels).
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2. Company Reviews
Company reviews are a type of product review. They are usually written by customers, but can also be written by people who have used the company’s products or services. In this section, we’ll go over how to write them to get the best results from your audience.
Company reviews can be positive or negative – either way, they’re important for companies to understand how they’re doing in terms of customer satisfaction.
Companies should seek out and use company reviews on their websites, social media accounts, and other marketing materials so that they can know what people think about what they do!
3. Social Media Reviews
Social media reviews are reviews that are posted online on social media platforms. These can be very helpful in finding a restaurant, hotel, or other local business because they offer a more personal and direct experience than what you’d get from a site like Yelp.
Social media is also great for getting feedback from your customers before you start running ads or spending money on marketing campaigns.
Social media reviews often appear on review sites like Yelp or Google as well as directly on the business’s site (if they have one).
These types of reviews may not always be entirely accurate since there’s no way to verify everything said in them.
But they’re still useful because they give an idea of what someone thought about their experience with your company without having any bias toward another company offering similar services.
4. Product Reviews
Product reviews are written by consumers after they have purchased a product. If you’re new to reviewing, this is an excellent place to start.
Product reviews usually get the most traffic on websites because products are purchased more often than services and as such, there’s a greater need for product reviews.
A good way to start is by looking at other people’s reviews of similar products (like yours) and seeing what they cover in their writing style, tone and information presented.
You’ll also find that consumers who have used or owned your type of product tend to be more interested in reading about it.
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5. Customer Service Reviews
Customer service reviews are one of the most important types of reviews you should be getting because they indicate how your business treats its customers and how they feel about that experience.
They’re based on a customer’s experience with a company, rather than the product or service itself.
That could mean anything from their time spent waiting for an order to arrive to something as simple as whether or not the salesperson was helpful and friendly when answering questions about products.
This type of feedback can tell you if there’s room for improvement in the way your company communicates with its customers and can also help you understand what needs to change for them to receive better service in future interactions with your brand.
If you have an online business, customer service reviews can often be found on third-party review sites such as Yelp or Facebook (as well as Google My Business).
If you don’t have any online presence at all yet or if it’s minimal you may want to consider setting up some social profiles and asking people who interact with them directly via email or phone calls whether they’d mind leaving feedback on those platforms instead so that there is some record somewhere other than just inside their heads!
6. Price Comparison Reviews
Price comparison reviews are a good way of getting an overview of the market. They help you find out what other people are paying for the same product or service, which can often be useful if you’re thinking about switching to a different company.
These types of reviews can also tell you how much money you could save by switching providers and give some ideas as to how much it might cost to upgrade your current plan or get something extra thrown in (e.g., extra data).
Price comparison reviews are useful when trying to decide if it’s worth upgrading your contract with one provider to get better coverage at another location where there might be none available from them yet but would benefit from having access via another carrier instead.”
7. Book Reviews
Book reviews are a critical assessment of a book. They can be fiction or nonfiction, long-form or short form, and they may include any number of other things (including some great writing advice for authors).
A book review is not the same thing as a book report. Book reports tend to focus on summary and plot summaries, whereas reviews give more attention to an author’s use of language, themes explored in the text, and so forth.
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8. Resume Builder Reviews
Resume builder reviews are used to tell other people about your experience using a certain online resume builder. In general, these reviews should include:
Your name/email address
The name of the product or service you reviewed and its URL (if applicable).
A description of what you liked most about it (what it did best) or what you didn’t like at all. If possible, give examples of how this product helped someone else in their career search process.
You will not be penalized for writing a review that does not include these points or that includes points other than these points. You will not receive additional credit for writing a review that includes these points
9. Academic Journal Articles And Review Papers
Academic journal articles and review papers are, first of all, well-researched. They are also written in a language that is comprehensible to all readers, even those who have little exposure to the subject area or topic at hand.
In addition to being written in plain language and being easy on the eyes, academic journal articles and review papers should be well-referenced.
This means they will contain references at the end of each paragraph or section so that anyone can look up the source material if they’re interested.
The next thing that makes an academic journal article or review paper great is its structure the way it’s organized into sections and subsections with headings that explain what’s going on in each part of the text so you don’t waste time trying to figure out what’s going on (or where).
Finally, these types of articles should always be formatted correctly: There should be spaces between paragraphs; there shouldn’t be any weird formatting like text with bits cut off by images; every word should be spelled correctly; etcetera…
10. Clinical Practice Guidelines And Recommendations (CPGs)
A clinical practice guideline is a set of recommendations that give direction to the medical community, but they don’t define what should happen. They usually focus on a specific disease or condition and provide an overview of how to diagnose, treat and manage it.
Clinical practice guidelines are produced by national health agencies, professional societies, individual practitioners, or other groups (such as those representing consumers).
They’re used in many countries around the world because they can help doctors make decisions about what treatment options are best for their patients. They can also help prevent unnecessary duplication of care.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published several sets of guidelines covering various aspects of healthcare management including treatment options for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; dietary interventions (e.g., feeding malnourished children);
Managing pain in hospital settings; preventing transmission through blood transfusions;
Treating sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among women infected with HIV; administering vaccines for diseases such as diphtheria or measles; providing first aid after natural disasters.
Such as earthquakes or tsunamis — basically, anything you could think would be useful information to have at hand during an emergency!
11. Industry Reports And Market Research Studies
Industry reports and market research studies are a form of industry analysis. These reports are used to analyze the market for a product or service, predict future trends and market growth, or assess the market for a new product or service.
They can be based on interviews, surveys, and statistics that have been collected over time.
It’s important to note how much information will be included in an industry report before you start writing it: if you don’t know what kind of data you need, it can be hard to make up stuff as you go along!
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12. Grant Proposals And Project Evaluation Reports
Grant proposals, project evaluation reports, program evaluations, and performance monitoring reviews are used to evaluate the success of a program or project.
If you are doing a grant proposal, you will be expected to include a section on how well your idea worked so far and what you would like to change for the future.
You may also need these reports if your organization needs its review or if an external agency wants to know about what it is doing well or poorly.
A review is often done by someone outside of an organization because they think it is important that someone else see how things are going on their end before deciding whether they should continue working with them or not.
This can be done by people who did not work directly on the project being reviewed but were still involved in some capacity such as those who created policies related to projects (like grant writers).
13. Productivity Reports And Self-Assessments
Productivity reports and self-assessments are very similar in the sense that they both evaluate programs and services.
However, productivity reports are used to measure and improve productivity whereas self-assessments are used to assess the effectiveness of a program or service.
For example, if you’re working for a restaurant and you need a way to measure how well your staff is doing at their jobs, you can use an employee productivity report. This could include things like:
The average number of customers served per hour
The average time between orders for each customer (i.e., how long does it take for someone who ordered an appetizer first before ordering their entree?)
14. Annual Progress Reports To Funders/Donors
These types of reviews are often written by the same people who write other types of reviews. For example, a funders/donors review may be written by an executive director or another high-ranking staff person.
The same goes for donor stewardship reports, board member reviews, and organization-wide assessment report cards. These kinds of reviews are also typically short, only a few pages long so they can be considered “quick” reads.
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Conclusion
I hope that this has been a helpful guide for you to write your reviews. Keep in mind that these types of reviews can be used in a variety of ways, from personal use to professional writing. Good luck with your next project!
Further Reading
OnlineLibrary – The Role of Reviews in Information Science Short Description: A research paper discussing the significance of reviews in the field of information science and their impact on decision-making processes.
SHU Library – Types of Review Articles Short Description: An informative resource outlining the various types of review articles and their purposes in academic literature.
CSU Library – Types of Reviews Short Description: A comprehensive guide to understanding the different types of reviews used in research and academia.
FAQs
What is the main focus of the research paper on “The Role of Reviews in Information Science”?
The research paper explores the significant role that reviews play in the field of information science. It delves into how reviews influence decision-making processes and provide valuable insights to users.
How can review articles be beneficial in academic literature?
Review articles serve as a valuable resource in academic literature by summarizing and analyzing existing research. They offer readers a comprehensive understanding of a particular topic, making it easier to stay updated with the latest developments.
What types of reviews are covered in the CSU Library guide?
The CSU Library guide on “Types of Reviews” covers a wide range of review types, including systematic reviews, literature reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and more. Each review type is explained with its unique characteristics and methodologies.
How can reviews contribute to evidence-based decision-making?
Reviews, especially systematic reviews, are crucial in evidence-based decision-making. By synthesizing and analyzing existing evidence from multiple studies, reviews provide a robust foundation for making informed decisions in various fields, including healthcare and policy-making.
How can researchers use review articles in their own work?
Researchers can use review articles as a starting point for their own research. Review articles provide a comprehensive overview of a topic, identifying gaps in existing knowledge and suggesting potential areas for further investigation. They are valuable sources for conducting literature reviews and formulating research questions.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.