Get It Right! (Writing a Good dooyoo Review)

Member Name: aljones

Product:	Writing a Good dooyoo Review
Date:	29/07/01 (34 review reads)
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How do you write a good opinion? Well, there is definitely no set way that will ensure that you get high ratings. Everybody rights in their own unique way, which is what makes Dooyoo what it is. But, there are a small number of things that go towards making your opinion better. So what are they?

Firstly, don't shout. My personal pet hate is when people write in capital letters. A heading in capital letters will stand out amongst the others, but personally I don't think it looks very nice and it is as though the author of the opinion is shouting at you. There is certainly no need to use capitals throughout the opinion, though in the odd place they can add emphasis to words, especially as you can't use italics on Dooyoo.

Punctuation is the next thing. Dooyoo isn't an English competition, but it does help if your opinions are punctuated correctly. Use full stops in the right place, question marks if your sentence poses a question. Exclamations marks though should be used more sparingly. Sometimes I read opinions with exclamation marks at the end of every other sentence, which defeats their purpose.

Spelling and grammars are also important. Again, you don't have to be perfect, and nobody expects that from most people. However, too many spelling mistakes or grammatical errors just get tedious and become the focus point of the opinion, rather than the content of the opinion itself. Unless you make very few mistakes anyway, it's highly advisable to write you opinions in Word or another program with a spelling and grammar checker, as these can vastly improve the quality of your opinions, and means that you don't have to spend hours online typing out opinion. Also, don't use abbreviations without explaining them. On several occasion I've read opinions which have talked about a DFR or an LDT, but not once am I told what these stand for. The opinions are meant to be informative, so it is important that abbreviation
s are fully explained, unless they are blatantly obvious. The final point is don't use shortened words, as you would with text messages, such as U, B4, and the like. This is just sloppy and proves that you were in a rush to write the review, which will never help your case.

Then there is the content of the opinion. This is critical, and without this your opinion is bound to fail. Some people say that you shouldn't write an opinion on something unless you own it. Well, in some cases this is a very valid point, but not always. Rather than owning a product, is more critical that you are well informed about the product. For example, if you've seen a film, you may not own it but certainly have the experience to write about. Or if you've hired a car for a few days, you have certainly found out what it is like and while may not be able to provide as full a picture as someone who owns the car, you may have noticed more in those few days than an owner ever would have.

Also, don't be brief. Far too many opinion are only slightly longer than the minimum word count. There is no way that these opinions will ever cover enough of the product, and will never be very good. You must review the whole product. I was reading an opinion on The Carphone Warehouse the other day, and it simply commented on the after-sales customer service that the author had received. It gave no mention to the service when she bought the product, or indeed anything about the shops and the products and services that they stock. You must cover everything, or at least most things. It is fine to focus on one aspect if this is where you have most experience, but at least give an overview on the rest of the product you are reviewing.

Also, spend time while writing. So many opinions appear to be very rushed jobs. Spontaneous opinions are rarely the best, as they are only based on the minimum number of facts. If you spot something you want to write about, jot down a fe
w quick ideas that you may have, and then go away and research it before writing the full opinion. The amount of research needed will vary, and might just require you to read a few other opinions, as quite often these can give you the facts that you need. Which brings me on to my next point.

Never copy opinions, or any part of an opinion. Author will tend to read about products that they have in the past reviewed themselves, and will quite often spot even the smallest section of an opinion that looks familiar. Also, other Dooyoo members may spot any copying if they have read the original opinion, so if you do copy there is a large chance that you will get caught, which is not a good thing. As I said in my 'Plagiarism on Dooyoo' opinion some time ago, if you copy an opinion and are found out Dooyoo will actually close your account.

As this opinion is in the category of how to write good opinions, I won't go into things such as how to get lots of people to read your opinion. People will read it if its good, and if you constantly right good opinions people will come back to read more when they see your name pop up. There are probably lots more tips that I could add to this opinion. Mostly it has been a guide rather than a tips opinion, but I sure there are some tips in there somewhere that will prove helpful to some of you. Good luck in your writing, and while following this guide cannot guarantee you success, its better than nothing at all!

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