Writing a Book Review Danika Rockett University of Baltimore Summer 2009

Questions to consider…  Why do people write book reviews?  Why do people read book reviews?  What are the key differences between a summary and a review/analysis?  What specifically do you analyze and evaluate in a book review?

What is a book review?  Simply stated, a book review is an evaluation of a book; the review is usually published in a periodical, such as a journal, newspaper, or magazine.  Another word for a review is a “critique” or a critical analysis.

What is an “evaluation”? (LBH, pgs )  Evaluating texts – books, films, video games, plays, etc. – requires a five-step process:  Understanding the text  Analyzing the text  Interpreting the text  Synthesizing the text  Evaluating the text

Understanding the text  The best way to understand a text is to read it “actively”. You should  Learn about the author and his or her background.  Read the entire text and make lots of notes.  Ask questions as you’re reading.  Before reading new sections, review old sections and your notes or questions.  Read or review all the information in the text including the introduction, table of contents, index, back-page reviews, illustration captions, charts, etc.

Understanding the text  For both the writer and his or her readers, the next best way to understand a text is by summarizing it.  While it is very difficult to summarize a 150-page book, you should distill its essential points and themes into a modest summary that is woven into the body of your review. Typically, in a book review a summary is the equivalent of no more than two paragraphs.  Including this summary early in the review helps readers understand text’s general meaning.

Analyzing the text  Design features: What are some general parts of a book that are worth analyzing (separating into parts, paying closer attention to, and determining how they relate with other parts)?  Title and subtitle  Cover design  Overall layout of the book such as the font, page size, margin size, etc.  Use of illustrations, charts, and graphs

Analyzing the text, cont.  What are some general parts of a book that are worth analyzing?  Chapter organization  Chapter titles  Quality of research  Author’s use of sources  Footnotes, endnotes, and documentation

Analyzing the text  What are some general parts of a book that are worth analyzing? (If you choose to analyze information on this slide, you can choose a few topics from below and form one paragraph)  Content  Thesis statements  Topic sentences  Evidence and supporting details  Use of examples  Author’s writing style and tone  Accuracy of information  Ability to explain obscure concepts

Interpreting the text  Once you’ve summarized and analyzed the text, you can begin interpreting the content.  Examine the author’s assumptions. What does the author seem to value or believe?

Testing, analyzing, and interpreting Berkun’s claims  To effectively test the quality of a claim, you should  Recognize and differentiate opinions, facts, beliefs, and prejudices.  Opinions are judgments based on evidence that can be argued.  Facts are verifiable statements that cannot be argued.  Beliefs are convictions based on cultural, ethnic, or religious values.  Prejudices are opinions based on inadequate or insufficient information.  Essentially, you should ask yourself, “How does Berkun manage counterevidence (information that opposes his main thesis)?”  Does he support his claims with good evidence?

Synthesizing  After dividing the text into parts and forming some opinions about those parts, you next need to start making connections.  Look at the text as a whole.  How do the parts complement or contradict each other?  Where do you see consistent messages? Conflicting messages?  What trends have you identified in the author’s logic, tone, style, organization, etc.?  How does your synthesizing inform your overall opinion of the book?

Evaluating the text  This section is essentially your conclusion.  The final step in a book review is to consider all the information you’ve gathered and form a final opinion about the book.  More information soon  More information soon  Now, let’s break this assignment down into chunks of information...

Components of Your Review I.An introduction (one paragraph); A summary of the author’s thesis and main points (one paragraph); An explanation of the author’s purpose for writing and some background information about the author relevant to understanding the book (one paragraph); An explanation of the author’s purpose for writing and some background information about the author relevant to understanding the book (one paragraph); II.An analysis of the most important evidence the author used to support his points. Choose three or four questions from the slides titled Analyzing, Interpreting, and Synthesizing the text slides, and answer each question in at least one good paragraph. Cite examples from Berkun’s book (three or four paragraphs); III.Conclusion (include a final evaluation of the book; mention who and in what context might find the book useful) (one paragraph)

Writing the Introduction You should start with three pieces of information: 1. Some background information about the book (this is also, in part, an assessment of the text), which may include some of the following information:  What is the author's purpose?  Who is the author's intended audience?  What evidence does the author present to support his story?  What is the primary topic of the book?  (You may find it useful to make notes about the text based on these questions as you read.) 2. Some biographical information about the author 3. A brief synopsis (summary) of the book. You will most likely want a paragraph for each of these three items.

Writing the Body  Review the previous slides that deal with analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing the text.  Choose three or four questions/concepts from those slides, and answer/discuss them thoroughly in one good paragraph each (at least one paragraph for each question)  It is imperative that you use examples from the book to support all of your claims!  Refer to handout for more information

Writing the Conclusion Here, you will evaluate the text.  You should remind the reader of the overall strengths and/or weaknesses of this book.  What did you learn from reading this book? Did you gain anything from the experience of reading this book?  Is this a book you would recommend to your friends? Why or why not?

Documenting sources for THIS assignment  Since this is not a research paper, and given the professional context of this assignment, you only need to document your information with good signal phrases and in-text citations. No Works Cited or References list is necessary.  Check my website for a handout pertaining to signal phrases.  The main outside source you should be using is Berkun’s book.  You may also refer to for biographical information about the author

Questions?