Student Guide for Completing the Book Review Assignment
For 10% of the course grade, or 10 points, students will read and write a book review, the book selected from a list posted on the course’s home page. These books are biographies of prominent people in American politics and history, and the list is roughly chronological by subject. Students should google a potential subject and decide whether that book might be for them. If so, they should order the book through an online bookseller or find it in a library. The books are not available from the university bookstore. To save costs, students should select the cheapest edition they can find, which is probably used or paperback. Students should be sure to order the book early in the term so that they have a chance to receive it, read it, and write the review by the deadline. The review should be submitted in hard copy to their teaching assistant by the deadline of April 4th or 5th (depending on the individual student’s discussion section). Students may turn the review in early, but tardiness will result in a letter grade reduction for each lecture or discussion group that passes after the deadline. Students should be careful not to procrastinate.
The review is roughly a three-to five-page evaluation of the book. It should be typed and double-spaced in Word format and submitted to the teaching assistant in hard copy by the deadline. It should be the student’s best writing. They should proofread it! Students should be clear: this is NOT a research paper. There is no bibliography or works cited page at the end. The students are simply reading one book. The book’s bibliographic information (author, title, place of publishing, publisher and publishing date) should be listed at the top of the first page, along, of course, with the student’s name. If students want to directly quote part of the book, there is no need for footnotes or endnotes. Quotation marks should set off the quote and, at the end of the quote, the students can simply put the page number of the quote.
So what exactly is a “book review”? A book review is not simply a book report. That is to say, students are not simply summarizing the book’s subject matter, simply repeating the book in some abbreviated form. They are rather critiquing or praising the book itself and drawing conclusions about it. First, they need a summary thesis. Is the book good, bad, good in some ways and bad in others, or whatever? Does it accomplish its goals, or is it worth reading, etc.? Does it paint the person as a good guy, a bad guy, or important in some way because of some accomplishment? Does it say the person changed or evolved? Made mistakes or was lucky? The point is the student’s book review has to have a central thesis of evaluation about the book itself, its conclusions about its subject. This is the most important part of the review! It doesn’t matter what the student’s thesis is exactly, only that it is clear, evaluative about the book, and offers support for the review’s thesis drawn from the book. Students should be clear: there is no “correct” thesis, only that there is a thesis, and it is developed and supported. After all, people can read the same book and have different opinions about it.
In evaluating their book and drawing their thesis, students should be clear about why they feel the way they do. They should consider such factors as: Are the author’s conclusions about the person or subject clear? Does the author provide enough evidence to support the book’s conclusions about this person? Is the book outdated, or is it important for one reason or another? For whom is it intended? How could it improve, or what was missing? Are there mistakes? Does the author provide clear evidence of his or her sources in, say, a bibliography at the end? Is the research adequate? Is it well written or terribly boring, etc.? Why or why not to each point? Students should avoid first person. There is no need to say, “I think the book is brilliant” or whatever the thesis is. The students should just say, “The book is brilliant.” After all, the student’s name is at the top, so their readers already know who wrote the review.
So how is the review organized? Students should start with a brief introduction of a paragraph or a few sentences. Here they introduce the book, its author, and the book’s conclusions. After they have this brief summary in the introduction, they have provided enough information for them to state clearly their own thesis about the book. The student’s thesis about the book is usually at the end of this introduction. The rest of the review explains the reasons why the student thinks as he or she does, the evidence. The more evidence the student provides the stronger their book review. At the end, there should be a brief conclusion of a paragraph or two where the student wraps it all up and repeats his or her thesis, just to be clear.
How will the book review be graded? The grade will be assigned according to several factors: Has the student apparently read the book and understood its thesis and development? Does the student state the book’s topic and thesis clearly in the introduction, and is their own thesis about the book clear and forceful? How interpretive or analytical is the student’s thesis? Does the rest of the review develop adequately the student’s thesis, and how well organized is the review? Is there a clear conclusion at the end? Are there specific examples included as evidence? How well does the student write in terms of grammar and style? In general, did the student follow instructions and does the review show effort?
Plagiarism will result in automatic failure. This includes the use of AI-generated material. Students should be aware that because of the specific nature of the assignment, its evaluative component and specific organization, AI-generated reviews or even material drawn from the Internet are fairly obvious.
If students have concerns or questions, they should feel free to speak to the professor or teaching assistant. Good luck!