According to Linda Yellin (2009), “A book review describes and evaluates a work, assesses its strengths and weaknesses, and places it within an established literature” (p. 168). You may be familiar with another type of review, the movie review, which is similar genre, although shorter and designed for a different audience. NOTE: A book review is NOT a book report.
For this assignment, will write an 1400-word book review analyzing this semester’s book.
Contents of a book review
Generally, a book review has more space devoted to analysis and evaluation than summary. Keep in mind that your audience generally has not read the book in question.
In the introduction, you should
Briefly introduce the topic of the book
Identify the book and author
State/describe what you think was the author’s project (what did they set out to accomplish?)
Present your thesis statement. Your thesis should address your analysis of the book rather than just a summary or a set of strengths or weaknesses.
Body: 4-6 paragraphs
(1) In the first body paragraph you should describe and summarize of the books’ contents. Rather than summarize each chapter at length, try to give the reader an overall sense of the book. Here you might also include how it compares to other books on the same topic. This paragraph should be the only summary in the body of the essay.
(1-3) This should be followed by one to three body paragraphs analyzing the work and developing your thesis statement. (I.e. What is/are the main theme(s) of the book? What was the author’s project, and how well did they accomplish it? What is the book’s contribution? How does it relate to current events?) Remember, it is not just a summary, but a careful analysis of the work. Choose your own themes.
(2) You should also have at least two paragraphs evaluating the book and discussing its strengths, weaknesses, and/or limitations. Each strength, weakness, or limitation should be developed in a separate paragraph.
All body paragraphs should make a claim about the book, its author, or its audience. Be careful not to makes general claims about the topic. For example, rather than writing “college students should manage their online reputations” you should write something along the lines of: “Matt Ivester demonstrates the importance of managing online reputations.”
Be sure to support each point with quotes or specific evidence from the book. Remember, you have to illustrate to your audience why your point is a valid one.
Conclusion
Restate your thesis.
Describe how the book contributes to sociological and/or public knowledge on this topic.
State who might be interesting in reading such a book, or who might benefit from reading it.
End the essay.
Formats and titles
Please include a title page and an appropriate and interesting title. In other words, I would prefer not to read 25 papers entitled “lol . . .OMG: A Review.”
Your paper should be typed, double-space, in 12 point font with 1” margins.
Please include your last name in the upper-right header and page numbers on the bottom right.
Please include a complete reference of the work, either at the beginning or end of the review (Yellin and the OWL have different approaches) such as the following:
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy. New York: Free Press, 2005. 212 pp. $14.00 paper. ISBN: 0743284283
Writing the Review
First, read about book reviews.
Start with the handout on writing book reviews from the Purdue Online Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/704/01/Links to an external site..
Read Chapter 10 of Yellin on book reviews.
Stage 1: Research to find a topic
You will need to read the book several times. During the first reading you will be noting details to use for finding a topic. Pay attention to the people, the major themes or motifs in the content, the author’s style or tone, and the author’s argument. Also use the questions in the Purdue OWL handout to guide your reading. Additionally, Yellin suggests you note “the author’s assumptions and conclusions, and your reaction to the book. If you have a strong reaction, think about why” (p. 170).
Make sure to annotate your text: underline key passages and write notes/questions in the margins. Take notes, either on a notebook, with a computer, or jot down ideas on the inside cover. Thorough work at this stage will make later stages of writing easier.
Stage 2: Research to develop a working thesis
what do you have to say about this book?
In this stage your job is to analyze and evaluate the book. To do this, you need to use invention strategies to come up with ideas. Start by brainstorming or freewriting. Then ask more systematic questions, re-reading sections of the book to answer them.
What genre of book is this?
What does the title mean? Why do you think the author chose it?
What is the book about? What major themes/motifs do you notice?
What was the author’s project? In other words, what did he or she set out to do? How well did they accomplish it?
Why would a book on this topic come out at this time?
What point(s) do you think the author is trying to get across to the readers?
What did the author reveal about the experiences of those studied?
Which examples really capture this experience?
Why do you think the author chose these examples to write about?
How does it relate to recent historical events?
How does it relate to sociology and sociological perspectives?
Who is/are the intended audience(s) for this book? Who would you recommend read it?
What style of writing does the author use? What did you think of this style?
Was the book enjoyable? Useful? Why/or why not?
For more questions, consult the Purdue OWL handout.
After you have come up with ideas, analyze them. Which ones seem the most promising or interesting to write about? Which ones seem to fit together to form a unified paper? Select a few ideas and use them to write a working thesis statement – one or two sentences summarizing your analysis and evaluation of the work. Then write out a sketch outline of your main points. Use this tentative thesis and outline to guide the next stage of the process.
Stage 3: Research to find evidence to support your thesis
why should the reader believe you?
In this stage, your job is to find evidence to support your working thesis, and also evidence that might contradict it. For each point you will need several pieces of specific evidence rather than general observations. Consider these two examples from Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed.
The workers at Merry Maids worked long hours under tough conditions, as when Holly hurt her ankle and insisted she keep working.
Ehrenreich describes her work at Merry Maids as “a world of pain, managed by Exedrin and Advil, compensated for with cigarettes and, in one or two cases, and then only on weekends, with booze” (p.89). Even extreme injuries must be tolerated and “worked through,” as her boss Ted puts it. When coworker Holly sprains and possibly breaks her ankle she refuses to go home or seek medical care despite the “wicked” pain. “All she’ll consent to is calling Ted from the next house,” explains Ehrenreich, because she has “already missed so many days of work” and cannot afford to miss more (p.110).
Notice how the second one gives the reader a feel for the experience and the book, while the first just states a bland generalization about it.
For each paragraph, you will also have to explain the main point of your evidence. For instance, the example 2 above could begin or conclude with this claim:
Nickel and Dimed shows how Merry Maids risk their health and torture themselves daily so that middle-class Americans can have the luxury of having a housekeeper to take care of their own personal mess.
Stage 4: Writing the paper
At this stage you have already done a considerable amount of writing in the form of note-taking and invention. At this stage you will organize, compose, revise, and edit your work.
Organize — make a topic sentence outline.
At stage 3 you made a sketch outline to help you find information. At this stage, write a topic sentence outline. In other words, write one topic sentence claim for each paragraph you intend to write. Then go through your notes and add evidence under each of these topic sentences. Find more evidence from the book if you do not have enough. Bring your outline to office hours if you would like feedback.
Compose.
Using your outline and notes, quickly draft your essay. Don’t worry about punctuation, grammar, or word choice at this point, you can correct those later.
Revise.
At this point, work on the structure of your argument. Revise your thesis statement and topic sentences first. To do this, write a reverse outline. You can read about writing reverse outlines at the Purdue Online Writing Lab — http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/689/1/Links to an external site.. Then, consider the evidence for each claim. Is it specific? Have you explained how it supports the claim? Do you need more evidence? Finally, go through Yellin’s revision cycles 1 and 2. Turn this draft in for review by your peers. You can also bring your draft to my office hours for help.
Repeat this process after reading the comments.
Edit
When we edit, we make small-scale changes to our writing to make our points clearer. Many students think editing means changing a few words and then correcting spelling and grammar. This is NOT the case. Instead, you must consider each and every word in a sentence (see Becker 74-76 for a detailed description of this process). In revision cycles 3-10 Yellin breaks this process up into small steps so that each time you go through your paper you can attend to different problems. This step includes formatting and proofreading. Do not forget to include a title page on the front and the purchasing information at end.
Format
See Yellin for how to reference the book. It is different from usual references and includes and ISBN number.
