This week: Thoughts on Reviewing Edited by: JACE  
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Hi, I'm JACE .
Welcome to this issue of the Noticing Newbies newsletter. Join me as I take you into some nooks and crannies of Writing.Com that you may not have found time to check out yet. This newsletter is about and for you. And for you seasoned members, I hope you'll find something you can take from my ramblings. 
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Reviewing your peer’s work can be one of the most fun and rewarding activities on Writing.com. Not only do you have a unique perspective to offer an author--no one is just like you--but you receive an added benefit of improving your work by any research you do for ensuring that which you mention in your review is correct. Add to this the tangible awards (auto-rewards, authors’ gifts of points, WDC system Reviewing merit badges and community recognition points, and peer acknowledgment of one’s reviewing prowess) one can receive for reviewing, and reviewing becomes a fruitful adjunct to your writing.
Some things I’ve learned about reviewing over my years on WDC.
- Be sure your review is how you want it to be presented before pressing the Rate/Review button. For example, public reviews are not posted automatically--to ensure your review is posted on the Public Review page, one must check that box. Other things to check include entering your rating, or checking the Submit to Good Deeds box if desired.
- When using the author’s words to make a point in your review, consider placing them in italics, bold, quotes, or an alternate color to set them apart from your words of support and advice. Copy the least amount of words necessary to make your point; don’t copy entire passages just to fill out your character count.
- Be careful to avoid the overuse of color. Some colors don’t show up well against the WDC background (yellow and light grey comes to mind). Color should enhance your review, not detract from it’s readability.
- Consider using the Review Template option, especially if you’ll be doing a lot of reviewing. Several reasons come to mind for creating your own template:
 Using a template makes great use of one’s limited available time.
You can create your own personalized forum for expressing your unique style of reviewing.
You can tailor each review for the different organizations of which you might be a part using signatures or other required information.
A template tells the author that you are serious about your reviewing.
A template helps you to focus your thoughts and subsequent review in a more coherent fashion. Each major point you want to cover is listed like a checklist. If a point doesn’t apply, remove it before submitting your review. Leaving that unused point sends the wrong message--the items isn’t worth a personalized review. You don’t want to send out some boilerplate review. At least you’ll make that decision consciously.
Finally, those items {e.g. headings, salutations, disclaimers) that you include in every review can be duplicated without having to reenter that information with every review.
- Spending time to craft a useful and appealing template tells an author that you’re someone who takes reviewing seriously. Reading a review that is logically laid out and pleasing to the eye is akin to the proverbial “spoonful of sugar taken with the medicine.” This is especially true of those difficult, but necessary tough-love reviews.
- Above all, BE POSITIVE! None of us are perfect, and all our writing attempts fall well short of that masterpiece. Reviews and comments from fellow writers--I mean writers and not family and friends--are a great means to improve. That places a great deal of responsibility in a reviewer’s hands and pens.
- To be sure, we can never know that which we write will be taken as we intend. It’s not your responsibility to sugarcoat a review to avoid offending someone. Establish a level of rapport with your author via a short, relevant anecdote about a feeling or circumstance aroused by their story. Ensure comments or criticisms are constructive. Offer suggestions for improvement.
- Once in a while you may not have a suggestion for a particular situation. State that! Just say that a specific passage struck you oddly or felt wrong as you read it, but that you can’t quite put your finger on the exact reason why. Your author can reread that section with that thought in mind; at the least, he’ll realize there may be a potential problem. Perhaps he’ll receive comments from other reviewers on that passage that may provide more insight.
- The rating of the comments you make in any given review should never exceed the rating of the item you are reviewing. Common sense, you say. Once in a great while I see such a circumstance where a specific word or phrase is used that might be considered appropriate for a stricter rating. Just be aware of what you say and how you say it.
- Don’t be afraid to give the story the rating you think it deserves. You’ve heard it often enough--a 3.0 rating is average. Most folk, however, myself included, tend toward higher ratings. This may be due to any number of reasons--some might read items of more established, well-rounded authors; or not actually rating and reviewing items one feels needs a lot of work due to time constraints because of the extensive time investment needed to detail the shortcomings.
- Whatever rating you give, make it commensurate with your comments. Be able to explain and support your rating and your review. You provide no service to an author with only glowing comments and a 5.0 rating (unless, of course, they deserve it). If you notice problem areas, point them out and offer suggestions to fix them.
- Finally, be sure to preview your review before submitting it. Once it’s sent, you can’t recall it. Nothing is more embarrassing than to have more punctuation problems, grammar glitches, typo troubles or ML messes than the piece you are reviewing.
I'm sure there are more aspects about reviewing that I've not mentioned. Please send me a note of anything that impacts your reviewing technique.
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Noticing Newbies: February 23, 2022 Issue [#11230]
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