Teenagers as Critics: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writing a Review

Overview

So you want to write a review. Whether you are planning on entering our Student Review Contest, writing an assignment for class, or submitting a piece to a school, local or online publication, this guide can help.

We’ll walk you through the review-writing process, from brainstorming a topic to experiencing a work as a critic, to finally putting your review on paper or online. Along the way, we’ll give you tons of free links to New York Times and student-written criticism, as well as advice from the experts on how to write a piece that is honest, engaging and fair.

Students can use this guide on their own or teachers can adapt it for their classrooms. For more, watch our on-demand webinar “How to Teach Review Writing With The New York Times.”

Is there a work of art or culture you’ve experienced this year — a movie you’ve watched, a book you’ve read, an album you’ve listened to, a video game you’ve played, a new art exhibition you’ve visited — that you think is so meaningful or memorable that you would urge everyone to experience it? Is there something you’ve experienced that was so bad you would warn others to avoid it?

Tell us about it by responding to one or both of these writing prompts:

Try to think, specifically, about what you loved — or loathed — about this work. What could you say to convince others that the experience is worth having or avoiding? What details would you focus on? How does this work compare with others like it? What ideas and questions does it raise?

Post your response in the comments section of the corresponding prompt. Then read what other students have posted, and reply to, or “recommend,” some of the most interesting comments. What can you learn from what other teenagers wrote?

Step 2: Consider the role of criticism in our culture.

If you completed Step 1, congratulations! You just wrote the start of a review.

Now ask yourself: Why might this genre of writing be important? How do you use reviews in your everyday life? Do you turn to them when deciding on a movie to see, a book to check out at the library or a restaurant to go to?

And how do you know whom to trust? Is everyone qualified to be a critic? Or is there a difference between user-submitted reviews you read online and cultural criticism by a professional critic?

Don’t worry if you’re not sure. In our prompt “Do You Read Reviews?” we’ve rounded up several pieces from The Times that ask questions about the role of reviewers and cultural criticism in our world today. Read what these writers have to say and then weigh in on the comments with your own thoughts.

Step 3: Read some reviews to better understand the form.

You’ve reflected on why and how people use reviews. Now let’s take a look at some.

Read at least two reviews of your choice. You can pick from our selections below, which include reviews from The Times and past winners of our Student Review Contest. You can also search for a specific review of a work or topic you’re interested in via the Times search tool, or take a look at all of our contest winners from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015. You can go beyond The Times to read reviews in a local or school paper, or on your favorite website or app.

As you read your chosen review or reviews, answer the questions below, reproduced on this student handout (PDF), before discussing with your classmates any patterns or differences you found across the reviews you read:

• What is being reviewed?

• What factual or explanatory information does the reviewer provide to inform the reader about the subject? How does the reviewer avoid spoilers that are relevant to the piece?

• What is the reviewer’s opinion of the subject? How do you know?

• What supporting evidence or details does the reviewer provide to support that opinion?

• What do you notice about how the reviewer structured the review and organized the ideas in it?

• Do you think the review is informative? Is it entertaining to read? Does it make you want (or not want) to experience the subject? Explain.

• Underline or highlight a few lines from the review to share with your group that illustrate the critic’s approach to the subject.

Art, dance, fashion and theater reviews

Derrick Adams Takes Off, by Roberta Smith
Gunpowder: A Symbol of Violence or a Beautiful Ritual for Humankind?, by Yiyun Hu (Student Review)
This Dance About Refugees Has Flow and a Groove, by Brian Seibert
A Boogie That Stomps but Doesn’t Soar, by Brian Seibert
Multiverse Chic, by Vanessa Friedman
Balenciaga’s 2023 Spring/Summer Line: Dull as Mud?, by Kaixin Cassie Zheng (Student Review)
In ‘Bite Me,’ Taking Aim at Familiar Teenage Tropes, by Naveen Kumar
‘Futurity’: Innovative Exploration of the Civil War, by Toby Berggruen (Student Review)

Technology, video game and car reviews

Steam Deck Review: A Game Console for the Quintessential Gamer, by Brian X. Chen
The Functional Art at Your Fingertips, by Simon Levien (Student Review)
Grand Theft Auto V Is a Return to the Comedy of Violence, by Chris Suellentrop
Breath of the Wild: A Gamer’s Cookie Jar, by Gabriel Kantor (Student Review)
Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo Review: ‘Silence Is the New Power’, by Tom Voelk

Music, book and podcast reviews

Taylor Swift, Pop’s Maestro of Memory, Returns to the Stage, by Jon Caramanica
Bad Bunny Looks Back and Hunkers Down, by Jon Pareles
An Exercise in Genius Stupidity, by David Chmielewski (Student Review)
Angie Thomas’s Middle Grade Debut Celebrates Black Girl Magic, by Veronica Chambers
‘Devotions’: Poems From a ‘Wild and Precious Life,’ by Davin Faris (Student Review)
Audiobook of the Week: A Rich Family Saga Set in 1950s Maine, by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Best Podcasts of 2022, by Reggie Ugwu

Movie, TV and comedy reviews

‘Barbie’ Review: Out of the Box and On the Road, by Manohla Dargis
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Review: Women on the Home Front, by A.O. Scott
Tonight, Tonight, ‘West Side Story’ Is Full of Light, by Edward Simon Cruz (Student Review)
‘American Born Chinese’ Review: We’re All Walt’s Children, by Mike Hale
Review: ‘The Last of Us’ Is a Zombie Thriller About Single Parenting, by James Poniewozik
‘Big Mouth’: A Well-Done Teen Romp with an Unexpected Side of Good Advice, by Maya Mukherjee (Student Review)
Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’: A Comedy Special and an Inspired Experiment, by Jason Zinoman
Sticks and Stones: All Edge With No Point, by Clare Zhang (Student Review)

Restaurant, architecture and hotel reviews

As Not Seen on TV | Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square, by Pete Wells
At La Piraña Lechonera, a Machete, a Shower of Pork and Other Magic, by Pete Wells
China Canteen: A Humble Shrine to the Sichuan Kitchen, by Emily Tian (Student Review)
Coney Island’s Newest Wonder: Sharkitecture!, by Michael Kimmelman
Little Island With a Not-So-Little Ego, by Colin Kim (Student Review)
432 Park Avenue — A Splinter in the Sky, by Gabriel Gonzalez (Student Review)
Hotel Review: Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark, Monticello, N.Y., by Elisabeth Goodridge

Step 4: Decide what you want to review.

Finding the right subject to review is essential. You should pick something that you feel strongly about, and that you will be able to experience in person.

Here is how Times editors and critics decide what to review, according to A.O. Scott, a critic at large for the Book Review:

As a practical matter, we begin the critical process with choices of our own, since we can’t cover everything. Some selections are obvious. There’s no way to ignore the latest big Hollywood movies, Broadway shows, premium cable dramas, blockbuster museum retrospectives or whatever Jay-Z and Beyoncé are up to. But we don’t want the shape or scope of our critical coverage to be determined by hype and publicity. At the assigning stage — as editors and chief critics decide what to review — we make room for discovery and surprise. We pay significant attention to small triumphs as well as grand ambitions, to interesting failures as well as astonishing successes.

Also consider how Parul Sehgal, a former book critic for The Times, chose the books she reviewed:

I make a decision about what to review based on a number of factors: Is the book newsworthy? Is it a book that I think our readers should know about? Is it a novel that’s doing something new, or a nonfiction book that has an interesting argument? Is the author important? Then, of course, there are my own tastes — what’s exciting and enticing to me.

Or how Pete Wells, The Times’s restaurant critic, finds his subjects, beyond those with buzz:

I’ll look for something a little unusual, like a neighborhood that isn’t really on the foodie radar, or a cuisine that hasn’t reached market saturation yet, or an idea that just sounds novel.

I also look for restaurants that might serve as a diving board from which I can launch into discussion of some idea that seems interesting or important.

Now that you know how critics choose their subjects, brainstorm ideas for your review by discussing or writing about the following questions, either on your own or with a class. Then choose one that you think would make for a compelling review.

• For the purposes of our Student Review Contest, students can choose from any area of creative expression that The Times reviews. Look at the list of subjects below. What are the categories that interest you most?

  — Architecture
  — Art
  — Books (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s books and audiobooks)
  — Cars
  — Comedy
  — Dance
  — Fashion
  — Hotels
  — Movies
  — Music (albums and events, popular and classical)
  — Podcasts
  — Restaurants
  — Technology
  — Theater
  — TV shows
  — Video games

• What can you choose for this project — whether a movie, a concert, a show, a restaurant, an art exhibit, a book you’d like to read or a game you’d like to play — that you will enjoy and that you know you can experience in person? Write down as many subjects as you can think of. Remember, if you are submitting to our contest, you must choose something that debuted this year.

• Which of these subject areas do you have a strong opinion about, whether positive or negative?

• What is an idea, argument or trend that you find interesting or important?

• What do you think you have a fresh perspective on that you haven’t heard in the public discourse yet?

• What do you think other students would most enjoy reading about?

Step 5: Experience the work as a critic, with guidance from the experts.

Once you’ve decided what to review, you need to experience it as a critic. Jon Pareles, The Times’s chief popular music critic, explains:

Reviews are where an experience meets ideas. You go to a concert, a movie, an art exhibition, a restaurant, and it makes you think. Maybe the experience is a catalyst for a brand-new idea; maybe it crystallizes something you’ve been thinking about for a while. It becomes something worth writing about.

The job of the reviewer is to get both the experience and the ideas into words — and into proportion. In some ways, a review is the same as reporting: The facts have to be correct and presented in a coherent way. And in some ways, a review is very different from reporting: Your subjective experience and your reactions — intellectual, emotional, visceral — are a big part of it.

It’s a complex task. How do you form your opinion of a work and also communicate it to others? How do you know what details to include and what to leave out? How can you make sure you’re doing justice to the work and its intended audience?

To start, watch the video above, which features four current and former New York Times critics who cover a variety of subjects. Write down at least three pieces of advice from these critics that you think will be helpful for you as you begin the reviewing process. How do critics approach the works they are reviewing? What are the most important things you need to pay attention to when you experience the work you have chosen to review?

Then you’ll be ready to experience the work you’ve chosen. As you do, remember to take notes, concentrating on the details you notice. You are likely to remember your overall impressions and opinions of the work when you’re ready to write, but the details that bolster them can get lost. Write as much down as you can without note-taking getting in the way of the experience itself.

If you want additional resources …

In the pieces below, Times critics across disciplines share their best tips for thoughtfully and fairly analyzing a piece of art or culture. Students can select one or more of these pieces to read or watch. If teachers are using these resources as part of a classroom exercise, they might create a jigsaw activity, where students choose one video to watch or article to read and then come together in small groups to share what they have learned and compile a class-wide list of helpful tips.

Step 6: Write and revise your review.

There is no specific formula for writing a review — and that’s what makes a good review so interesting to read. Mr. Pareles explains:

The best criticism merges the details of the individual experience — the close-up — with a much broader picture of what the experience means. It’s not just about that concert or art exhibit. It’s about how to listen or how to look. It’s about changing the perception your readers will bring to the next experience because your ideas awakened theirs.

Yes, that’s a tall order. You need to select your details. You need to make sure your ideas are clearly expressed. You need the writing itself to be engaging, to be worth that reader’s attention. It can be serious, a little poetic, even funny — whatever communicates the ideas.

Now that you’ve experienced your work and taken good notes on it, it’s time to write the rough draft of your piece. Be sure you have the basics: What is the work about? What is your opinion of it? What details from the work and your experience of it support your opinion? But also draw on what you learned from the reviewers in Step 5 about conveying your excitement, writing with an appropriate tone and using colorful descriptions.

Next, edit and revise your piece. We recommend handing your draft to a teacher, classmate, friend or family member to get reactions. Did you describe too little or give away too much? Did you assert an opinion clearly and provide details to support it? Did you write something that was entertaining to read? As you revise, you can use our Student Review Contest Rubric to help.

If you want additional resources …

We have many resources to help students hone their review-writing skills that feature both Times reviews and student-written reviews as examples to emulate. If you want to take your review to the next level, explore any of the following:

What writing techniques can you learn from these writers and incorporate into your review?

Step 7: Submit your review to our annual student contest.

We believe a review should have an audience beyond a teacher. So once you have a polished draft you are happy with, enter it into our Student Review Contest, which runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 6, 2023. Be sure to read all the rules and guidelines before submitting your entry. Note that whatever you choose to review must have debuted this calendar year.

You can also submit your review to other places that publish teenage writing: school newspapers, student blogs or any of these dozens of places that accept work from young people. You might even consider starting your own school or community site for reviews by and for people your age.

And if you’re still not convinced you should put your writing out into the world, watch the video above with two of our past contest winners — they offer advice for entering our contest, and might just persuade you that you have a point of view worth sharing.