What Is Missing In Some Review Articles?

What are some of the things that you look for when you read review articles? What do you think is missing in some review articles?

Introduction for review articles

What some review articles don’t have or may have forgotten or neglected to include is an introduction. When I say introduction, I don’t mean an introduction to the article,  but an introduction to whatever the author is reviewing. Many articles just get straight to the review as if all its potential readers know exactly what they’re talking about.

Importance of having an introduction to your review articles

But what if you get a reader that doesn’t know anything about whatever you’re reviewing? What if that person isn’t familiar with the show, series, product, or service that you’re reviewing?

That person would want to know even just a little something about whatever you’re talking about and this is where the introduction comes in. Introductions are important, so you can say a little something about what you’re reviewing.

Provide a short summary / explanation

For example, if you’re reviewing a series or movie, you can give a short summary of the story so people can at least know the basic plot and so they won’t get confused about the article they’re reading.

Add a warning for possible spoilers

If a review is going to include spoilers, it’s definitely important to state this somewhere at the top of your article. Some people don’t mind reading spoilers, but many do and they’d be upset if they end up reading spoilers, even though they had no intentions of doing so, because the article they saw didn’t give a proper warning.

These are the kinds of reviews that I like to read, which is why I do the same on my own review articles. I always put a short introduction on my reviews so even those who may be unfamiliar with what I’m talking about will have an idea of what the review is all about. When I mention a character, I also give a little description and I also add a warning for possible spoilers at the very top of the article if said article will include spoilers.

What about you? What kinds of review articles do you like reading? Do you want review articles to have a short introduction on what the product or service or story is all about or do you want the review to get straight to the point without any explanations?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent someone writing a review article using the PCs
- YouTube video shows you how to write introductions for your articles