IB English A Lang & Lit How to Write About Reviews Notes

Building an Analytical Argument About a Review

1. When analysing a review in the IB exam, the task is not to evaluate whether the reviewer's verdict is correct.
2. The task is to analyse how the reviewer constructs their argument and establishes authority over the work being judged.

Start From the Verdict

1. Establishing the overall verdict is the first move, before any device is named. Is the judgement positive, negative, or mixed?
2. Precision matters: "they liked it" says nothing, while "the review praises the novel's ambition while noting its structural weaknesses" gives the analysis something to build on.
3. The verdict anchors everything that follows, since every device identified afterward should be linked back to how it serves the reviewer's case; a device named without that connection remains an isolated observation rather than analysis.
4. Reviewers also often hedge their verdict with qualifications such as "flawed but compelling" or "uneven yet essential." These hedges reveal the complexity of the judgement and repay close attention.

Separate Description From Evaluation

1. Every review mixes descriptive passages, what is in the work, with evaluative ones, whether it succeeds.
2. The evaluative sections carry the richest analysis, but the descriptive sections are not filler: when a reviewer devotes space to pure description, they are usually building context before passing judgement, and that structural choice is itself worth commenting on.
3. The balance between description and evaluation is informative in its own right: a verdict-heavy review signals strong opinion, while a heavily descriptive one may be aiming to inform rather than persuade.

Moving From Device to Effect to Purpose

1. Naming a device is only the first step. The device must be connected to its effect on meaning, and the effect connected to the reviewer's evaluative purpose.
2. Analysis that stops at naming the device, "the reviewer uses negative adjectives," never moves past description of the review itself.

Useful Phrases for Review Analysis

1. "The verdict is established early by... / is withheld until the closing paragraph, creating..." This phrasing shows an understanding of how structure serves the evaluative argument.
2. "The evaluative adjective [X] implies more than simple positive or negative judgement: it specifically suggests..." This phrasing connects word choice to critical meaning.
3. "By comparing this work to [X], the reviewer calibrates the reader's expectations by..." This phrasing shows how comparison serves the reviewer's argument.
4. "The specific reference to [scene/passage] functions as evidence by..." This phrasing links textual detail to the analytical purpose it serves.
5. "The reviewer's measured, sardonic, or enthusiastic tone positions them as..." Naming tone precisely, and explaining the authority it claims, is the mark of a high-band Paper 1 response.