INFORMATIVE REVIEW: CHARACTERISTICS, ELEMENTS AND EXAMPLE - LITERATURE - 2025

An informational review is a short written account that is made about a work, be it a book, a movie, a play or a symphony, to name a few manifestations. It is evaluative in nature and can show both positive and negative aspects of the work that is being valued.

The informative review seeks to show a public, in a summarized way, an appreciation of what they will find when they have contact with the work in question. To be able to elaborate one reliably, it is required that the person in charge of carrying it out has interacted in a deep way with the piece that is being evaluated.

If possible, to add more weight to the narrative, the author of the article is expected to have experience in the subject matter.

For example, an informational review for a literary novel would be more credible if written by an editor, copyeditor, novelist, or a regular reader with a broad resume of works read. Experience adds a much-needed degree of credibility to these types of articles.

characteristics

Knowledge of cause

One of the most representative characteristics of reviews is the full knowledge that those who write them must have regarding the work. Many aspects are at stake, including the success or failure of what is being evaluated.

It is not the most ethical thing to do to write reviews based on “what was heard that was said about”. This detracts from the professionalism and importance of the note, and imbues it with little credibility.

They are brief

Any informative review needs to be concise and precise in order to reach the public clearly and directly. It is estimated to average between 250 and 300 words.

In this space, the density of the work should be shown in a simple way, using a neutral language in the case of general domain works, and instrumental language in works on specific topics, as is the case of scientific research in all its areas.

Well written message

Regardless of the branch of art, science or sport to which this assessment of an evaluative nature applies, impeccable writing is required if you want to make a real impact on the masses, in addition to having credibility.

It should be borne in mind that you want to convey an idea in a reduced text space; therefore, language must be used in the best possible way.

Powerful

They are published in digital and printed media, which allows them to transcend borders. Right in these moments where social networks have been imposed, their reaches are much greater.

High social impact

If the person who writes the informative review is a person of great importance in the field in which the work evaluated is circumscribed, that opinion may mean the success or failure of the piece examined.

This feature is one of the most relevant. In cinema, theater or literature, large groups of moviegoers, theater lovers and readers wait more for the informative reviews of the works they expect than for the works themselves, and there are those who do not play the work if the criticism is not constructive.

Subjectivity subject to objectivity

Although informative reviews are limited to the perspective of an individual who has appreciated a work and is making a judgment - and everything indicates that this valuation judgment has a high subjective burden - the reviewer is expected to use evaluative parameters unburdened of individuality.

In this type of exams, they are considered unprofessional and non-academic treatment, such as “I think it's nice”, or “ugly” are discarded.

The evaluations are required to be prepared taking into account past works on the same subject and, if possible, opinions of professionals in that field.

The informative review is not without its subjective burden but, inevitably and necessarily, it is required that it be subject to impartiality.

Elements

Header

It contains the title set by the critic about the appreciation he had of the work studied. With this particular parameter, a certain air is already generated in the reader about the general considerations of the work by the evaluator.

For example "The Unknown Journey… a work that leaves much to be desired…" is a headline that does not leave a good taste in the mouth.

Another totally opposite case would be: "The unknown journey… a work that transports the reader to unsuspected places of consciousness"; there everything changes completely.

Introduction

Here the aspects referring to the title of the work, its author, the subject it deals with and the audience it is addressed to are touched on.

Summary

This is the thick part of the review; in this the domain of the subject by the critic is evidenced. Here a synopsis of the general argument should be shown, together with the criticism, positive or negative, of the work.

Assessment or conclusion

In this part of evident closure the argumentative outcome is manifested; the critic contributes what he considers should be improved and praises the well achieved.

Here the possible contributions made by the work to the artistic, literary or scientific branch to which it belongs are also mentioned.

Example

One hundred years of solitude, returning from Macondo

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez's masterpiece framed within magical realism, takes us to the Colombia of yesteryear, with its dirt streets and houses carved by custom in the stones of time. A work aimed at readers with ages ranging from 10 years onwards.

In a mystical setting that envelops, full of the past of the first populations of Latin America, we find Macondo. A town in some mystical place in Colombia, meticulously set, in such a way that its spaces are felt.

There, in those untamed lands, we find the Buendía lineage and their impossible and close history, like anyone's life. Its cyclical wefts are woven with perfectly intertwined threads, in a magical realism from which it costs, from which it is difficult to return.

Its beginning: “Many years later, in front of the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía would have to remember that remote afternoon when his father took him to know the ice”, is a sublime entry to a story without precedent in world literature.

Its characters permeate the mind: Melquíades and his impossible gadgets, Remedios la Bella and her fantastic gifts, Úrsula, Aureliano and Arcadio and the wonderful history of their lineage, to name a few.

It is easy to enter there, to the town; leaving is what it costs, not even finishing the book is achieved. A long time later, facing life itself, I don't think I'll ever be able to get out.

Thanks to Gabriel García Márquez for such an excellent work. A classic of world literature, winner of the Nobel, who can not stop reading.

References

1. How to Write a Book Review. Know its Parts and Structure. (S. f.). (n / a): How to write a book. Recovered from: comoescribunlibro.org
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3. Durán, M. (2009). Construction of academic texts: use of the review in the background of preliminary research projects. Venezuela: Scielo. Recovered from: scielo.org.ve
4. Pérez Porto, J. (2012) Review. (n / a): Definition of. Recovered from: definicion.de
5. Review. (S. f.). (n / a): Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org