Reviews are becoming more and more common on the net. People are posting what they though about things, positive or negative. A problem with many reviews is that they are often not as helpful as they could have been, or lack personal opinion.

Here are a few tips to help you write a good review.

Make up your mind

Reviews are used to give the reader an idea of how good an item is or what can be improved. It makes it a lot easier for everyone if you make up your mind and decide if your review is going to be positive or negative.

Be constructive

Instead of using vague criticism, that is hard to solve, be constructive. If you say how specific examples could be improved, it will help make things better in the future.

Comparisons

Many of us will use reviews to make a decision. It would help a lot if reviews made explicit comparisons such as:

Unlike the movie xXx, the newly released xYz has a intriguing storyline about a...

Your point of view

State your point of view and why you have that point of view. To help people understand your point of view, it would be view helpful to state why you might be biased and have the knowledge or opinions that you do.

Research and background information

Show that you know your stuff and have based your opinion on research where possible.

Originality

It does not help anyone if you just repeat what others have said, unless your review is directed at a different audience. Find something original to say and tell people about things that others did not notice.