Writers who review or evaluate on a regular basis establish or adopt criteria over time, and many of their readers know from experience what the reviewers praise or condemn in a book, movie, or concert. As a novice writer, you will have to be more explicit about the criteria you bring to bear on your evaluation. This is not to say that you should decide on your criteria for evaluation before you read your book, watch your video, or experience your concert. You may find that you are particularly struck by the setting of a novel, for example, so you might want to highlight that as an important criterion for success. In any case, you’ll want to read, view, or listen very carefully, taking lots of notes, and then bounce your ideas off several others before you decide on the particular angle you want to take in your evaluation. Be sure you state your criteria of evaluation clearly. And you will include outside sources—published reviewers or biographers, scholarly critics, or people you survey or interview locally to use as supporting…