My odd approach (Writing a Good dooyoo Review)

Member Name: CPTDANIELS

Product:	Writing a Good dooyoo Review
Date:	23/03/09 (418 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: More reads, and higher rates?

Disadvantages: Hard work Involved

===Background===

I really wasn't sure if I should write on this subject at all. As I don't feel qualified to advise others how to write a good review. All I can really do is tell you how I approach it and then you can decide if any of it is relevant to your own style of reviews. I am not by any means an expert in this field, in fact I am dyslexic so in many ways that governs the way I do things.

Anyone who has seem my reviews before will know that I primarily write book reviews, although in the past couple of months I have started reviewing food products and also household appliances.

===Preparation===

I always think this is key to writing a good review. I always try and know as much as I can about the subject I am writing about before I put pen to paper. This could involve in my case reading the books, but it could also involve using the product you are planning to review or tasting it. I always think a second or even third opinion can be of help because wonderfully we all have different views. I will always try a web site for information about whatever I am going to review, I always finds this helps me.

Once I feel ready to write my review I always jot down a few key ideas and themes for my review. Then and this is probably where I am different I start to plan the review on paper.

I look for headings initially and try and gather my thoughts and ideas under several different headings. Before I start to add the detail of my experiences. When I first started writing reviews particularly in books I wrote a lot about the story of the book and little about my opinion of it. Over time and thankfully with some good advice from members I changed my approach and now most of my views are centred around what I think.

This I think is a key thing in writing a review as a specification and telling you what a product can do is fine, but you can get that anywhere. The most key thing is your experiences and your opinion on it.

I always try see both the positive and negative features in anything I write about. Yes it's great to have an overall opinion but most items we review will have good and bad points if you look hard enough for them. What I'm saying is try and be balanced in your approach when writing.

Having got this far and when I feel I have covered all the points I wish to raise I then type my review into word on my computer. I feel this is a critical part especially because it allows me to get all my typos and spellings checked. Sadly sometimes I still get the words in the wrong order though!!

Once I have done this I will try and tart my review up. making sure I leave gaps between different paragraphs and trying to make my review look as presentable and readable as possible. I have never managed to make them look quite as good as I would like, but it is the content I suppose that is the most important thing.

This complete I will copy and paste my review into Dooyoo. Simple really my approach!! But it works mostly for me, I certainly do not advocate this method as I'm sure most people would not have the time to do this but it is how I do it and probably explains why I do not have time to be a Churner!!

===My advice===

I really enjoy reading and looking at other writers style of work in here. There are so many excellent writers in Dooyoo I will not embaress them by mentioning names, but I certainly enjoy their style and feel I can still learn a lot from their work. So my advice is always be open to new ideas and different ways of improving your reviews. Check other reviews out and develop your own style that works for you.

Comments and feedback I also find very helpful and welcome when you have written a review. We all see different things in a review, things we like or dislike about any review. I think it's important to listen to these, you do not have to take them on board if you don't want to. Certainly if the same comments are coming up again and again you may want to start asking yourself why. We are fortunate in this community that most people are only too willing to help support you so do not be afraid to ask other members what they think you can do to improve your work.

There is nothing worse when reading a review and seeing lots of spelling mistakes. My approach is to write it on Word and then use spell check, this does not work for everyone so if you are writing directly into Dooyoo, I would always advise anyone to read through what you have written, hopefully mistakes can then be irradicated as they ruin the flow of any review.

I really like reading reviews that have humour or a funny story in them. I certainly struggle to incorperate this into my reviews so I am probably more impressed than most when someone writes a good review that can make me laugh at the same time.

It is in my view also essential to write about subjects you know about and hopefully care about. I certainly could never and would never write a review about a beauty product for example as I know nothing about them and I don't honestly feel I could do justice to them.

For me all the best reviews like the best books are thought provoking or make you look at a subject from a different perspective. So my advice would be have your own opinion and don't be afraid to say what you think, just try and back it up if you can with evidence.

I think to review anything you need a minimum of 300 words sometimes a lot more. You need to able to do justice both to the product and your opinion of it. I prefer longer reviews myself as these are often well balanced and present as a rule greater insight into the product.

When I write a review I always try and put myself in the position of the reader. What do they want to know? What would help them when considering purchasing the item? I think this helps focus the mind into sharing relevant information on what you are reviewing.

My last tip to writing a good review is to stick to the point, stay focused on the item you are reviewing, sometimes this can be hard to do but people won't your opinion on it. Try not to woffle on make clear points and if you can back it up with evidence or and example all the better.

===Conclusion===

For me the key to writing a good review is preparation. I think planning your reviews is all important then you can make sure that your review makes sense, is balanced and includes all the points you want to raise about your subject matter. My approach is odd and I do not advocate others follow my approach all I would say is write the type of reviews you would like to read then you can't go far wrong.

Thank you for reading my review

@CPTDANIELS March 2009

Summary: How I write a review