HIST 2709F
Guide to Writing the Critical Book Review
Assignment due: February 12
Length: 1200-1300 words
Your assignment is to write a critical review of either The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks or Arc of Justice.
A critical book review assignment asks you to do two things:
1. Evaluate the book on its own terms. What does the author try to prove, and does the book succeed in building a convincing case to support the author’s thesis and conclusions? How? Why or why not?
2. Evaluate the book in relation to the course material. What does the book contribute to our understanding of the history of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world? Does the book take on an important question, or not? Why does it matter?
Start by reading the book with some questions in mind:
What is the author’s point of view?
What is the author trying to accomplish?
Where does the book fit in the literature on the topic?
What are the main arguments and what evidence is used to support them?
What sources were used? Do they seem adequate?
How does it fit with other material in the course?
What is the book’s overall contribution to the field?
Begin your review with an introduction which will tell the reader what the book is about and what general argument you intend to make in your review. For example, you might want to argue that the book offered a new interpretation of familiar events, or that it didn’t offer enough evidence to support the conclusions, or that the topic was important but the research flawed by screaming biases etc. This is the most important thing to work through, but don’t be discouraged. If you don’t know what you want to argue, ask for some help.
Your argument about the book should be supported in the body of the essay by evidence from the book itself, as well as by evidence drawn from other sources as you see fit (such as other course material, or reviews of the book in scholarly journals.)
Conclude with your views on the overall value of the book, based on the argument presented in the paper. The review should present an informed opinion. Statements such as “I liked the book” or “I found the book to be a bore” may be accurate on some level, but they don’t quite measure up to the standard of informed opinion, so please don’t say this in your review.
Other tips:
Keep the rough notes used in completing the assignment until the paper is graded and returned to you.
Avoid long quotations from the book. References to the book itself may be indicated using a page number in parentheses. If you use quotations from or make reference to material other than the book itself, acknowledge those references properly with a footnote or endnote. Use Chicago style for notes and bibliography.
Style is important. Be clear and concise, and maintain a scholarly tone in the paper. By this I mean avoid using, like, cool colloquial expressions and clichés. And please don’t refer to the book as a novel. It is not a novel.
A word about using the first person (“I”) in academic writing:
The challenge of this assignment is the clarifying of your own views about the ideas in the books, and it will be impossible to do this without reflecting on your own experience. That is the point of the assignment. Usually (although there may be exceptions to this general rule) it is not necessary to preface your ideas with “I think” or “I found”…just say what you mean and let the reader recognize that by definition, your review will be based on your carefully considered opinions.
Do not paraphrase or “lift” sentences from the text, or from anywhere else. This is plagiarism (see the policy statement on the course outline for a definition and for more information on academic penalties applied in such cases.) If you do not know how to acknowledge your sources properly (“when do I need a footnote if I am not quoting directly from the source?”) please ask me for help.
Departmental late policy can be found on the course outline.
If you’ve read this set of guidelines and questions remain, ask and I will help you get started with the assignment.
Your assignment is to write a critical review of either The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks or Arc of Justice.
A critical book review assignment asks you to do two things:
1. Evaluate the book on its own terms. What does the author try to prove, and does the book succeed in building a convincing case to support the author’s thesis and conclusions? How? Why or why not?
2. Evaluate the book in relation to the course material. What does the book contribute to our understanding of the history of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world? Does the book take on an important question, or not? Why does it matter?
Start by reading the book with some questions in mind:
What is the author’s point of view?
What is the author trying to accomplish?
Where does the book fit in the literature on the topic?
What are the main arguments and what evidence is used to support them?
What sources were used? Do they seem adequate?
How does it fit with other material in the course?
What is the book’s overall contribution to the field?
Begin your review with an introduction which will tell the reader what the book is about and what general argument you intend to make in your review. For example, you might want to argue that the book offered a new interpretation of familiar events, or that it didn’t offer enough evidence to support the conclusions, or that the topic was important but the research flawed by screaming biases etc. This is the most important thing to work through, but don’t be discouraged. If you don’t know what you want to argue, ask for some help.
Your argument about the book should be supported in the body of the essay by evidence from the book itself, as well as by evidence drawn from other sources as you see fit (such as other course material, or reviews of the book in scholarly journals.)
Conclude with your views on the overall value of the book, based on the argument presented in the paper. The review should present an informed opinion. Statements such as “I liked the book” or “I found the book to be a bore” may be accurate on some level, but they don’t quite measure up to the standard of informed opinion, so please don’t say this in your review.
Other tips:
Keep the rough notes used in completing the assignment until the paper is graded and returned to you.
Avoid long quotations from the book. References to the book itself may be indicated using a page number in parentheses. If you use quotations from or make reference to material other than the book itself, acknowledge those references properly with a footnote or endnote. Use Chicago style for notes and bibliography.
Style is important. Be clear and concise, and maintain a scholarly tone in the paper. By this I mean avoid using, like, cool colloquial expressions and clichés. And please don’t refer to the book as a novel. It is not a novel.
A word about using the first person (“I”) in academic writing:
The challenge of this assignment is the clarifying of your own views about the ideas in the books, and it will be impossible to do this without reflecting on your own experience. That is the point of the assignment. Usually (although there may be exceptions to this general rule) it is not necessary to preface your ideas with “I think” or “I found”…just say what you mean and let the reader recognize that by definition, your review will be based on your carefully considered opinions.
Do not paraphrase or “lift” sentences from the text, or from anywhere else. This is plagiarism (see the policy statement on the course outline for a definition and for more information on academic penalties applied in such cases.) If you do not know how to acknowledge your sources properly (“when do I need a footnote if I am not quoting directly from the source?”) please ask me for help.
Departmental late policy can be found on the course outline.
If you’ve read this set of guidelines and questions remain, ask and I will help you get started with the assignment.
Your assignment is to write a critical review of either The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks or Arc of Justice.
A critical book review assignment asks you to do two things:
1. Evaluate the book on its own terms. What does the author try to prove, and does the book succeed in building a convincing case to support the author’s thesis and conclusions? How? Why or why not?
2. Evaluate the book in relation to the course material. What does the book contribute to our understanding of the history of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world? Does the book take on an important question, or not? Why does it matter?
Start by reading the book with some questions in mind:
What is the author’s point of view?
What is the author trying to accomplish?
Where does the book fit in the literature on the topic?
What are the main arguments and what evidence is used to support them?
What sources were used? Do they seem adequate?
How does it fit with other material in the course?
What is the book’s overall contribution to the field?
Begin your review with an introduction which will tell the reader what the book is about and what general argument you intend to make in your review. For example, you might want to argue that the book offered a new interpretation of familiar events, or that it didn’t offer enough evidence to support the conclusions, or that the topic was important but the research flawed by screaming biases etc. This is the most important thing to work through, but don’t be discouraged. If you don’t know what you want to argue, ask for some help.
Your argument about the book should be supported in the body of the essay by evidence from the book itself, as well as by evidence drawn from other sources as you see fit (such as other course material, or reviews of the book in scholarly journals.)
Conclude with your views on the overall value of the book, based on the argument presented in the paper. The review should present an informed opinion. Statements such as “I liked the book” or “I found the book to be a bore” may be accurate on some level, but they don’t quite measure up to the standard of informed opinion, so please don’t say this in your review.
Other tips:
Keep the rough notes used in completing the assignment until the paper is graded and returned to you.
Avoid long quotations from the book. References to the book itself may be indicated using a page number in parentheses. If you use quotations from or make reference to material other than the book itself, acknowledge those references properly with a footnote or endnote. Use Chicago style for notes and bibliography.
Style is important. Be clear and concise, and maintain a scholarly tone in the paper. By this I mean avoid using, like, cool colloquial expressions and clichés. And please don’t refer to the book as a novel. It is not a novel.
A word about using the first person (“I”) in academic writing:
The challenge of this assignment is the clarifying of your own views about the ideas in the books, and it will be impossible to do this without reflecting on your own experience. That is the point of the assignment. Usually (although there may be exceptions to this general rule) it is not necessary to preface your ideas with “I think” or “I found”…just say what you mean and let the reader recognize that by definition, your review will be based on your carefully considered opinions.
Do not paraphrase or “lift” sentences from the text, or from anywhere else. This is plagiarism (see the policy statement on the course outline for a definition and for more information on academic penalties applied in such cases.) If you do not know how to acknowledge your sources properly (“when do I need a footnote if I am not quoting directly from the source?”) please ask me for help.
Departmental late policy can be found on the course outline.
If you’ve read this set of guidelines and questions remain, ask and I will help you get started with the assignment.