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On Writing Book and Article Review

This document provides guidance on writing reviews of books and articles. It explains that a review should describe the content and arguments of the work, discuss its effectiveness, and help readers decide whether to read it. Reviews are generally 4-6 pages unless covering multiple works. The review should include bibliographic information, a summary, discussion of the main point and argument elements, the conclusion, identified strengths and weaknesses, potential effects of fixes or improvements, and potential impact of publication. Sample lengths are provided for each review element. The document encourages reading reviews from various sources to learn how others have approached different elements.

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29 views

On Writing Book and Article Review

This document provides guidance on writing reviews of books and articles. It explains that a review should describe the content and arguments of the work, discuss its effectiveness, and help readers decide whether to read it. Reviews are generally 4-6 pages unless covering multiple works. The review should include bibliographic information, a summary, discussion of the main point and argument elements, the conclusion, identified strengths and weaknesses, potential effects of fixes or improvements, and potential impact of publication. Sample lengths are provided for each review element. The document encourages reading reviews from various sources to learn how others have approached different elements.

Uploaded by

ezer joseph baco
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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On Writing Book/Article Reviews: A Guide

for the Perplexed


A review is a thoughtful account of (in this case) a piece of writing, either a book or an article.
Like other forms of academic writing, a review has certain conventions, that is, a reader will
expect certain things of them. The point of a review is to describe the book/article's content and
argument(s) and to present some kind of discussion about the presentation and its effectiveness,
supported with some quotations from the book that illustrate the points you're making. A person
who has not read the book should be able to decide, from what you have written, whether or not
to read the book.

Book or article reviews are generally fairly short (usually not more than about six pages) unless
you're writing about more than one work in the same review (a review article). Whether you're
writing a short- (say less than 1000 words or under 4 double-spaced pages) or medium-length
review (1000-1500 words or 4-6 double-spaced pages), you should include the following:

1. Bibliographical information about the book, including author(s), title, publishing


information, date, ISBN (always appears at the top of your review)
2. General summary of content (what is this book/article about)
3. Discussion of Author's Main Point (why did the author write the book/article; what's the
point(s) being made?)
4. Identification of Main Elements of Argument (summarize the reasons the author the
author cites to support the main argument)
5. Discussion of Conclusion (what does the author conclude?)
6. Identification of at least 2 problems/strengths (might be noted about the writing, the
argument(s), the sources of information, the presentation, etc.)
7. Suggests fixes/discusses strengths (for both you noted in 6.) (what might have made the
work stronger/better? what is so special about the really good aspects of the work?)
8. Discuss potential effect of fixes/problems/improvements/strengths (what results might
you expect (wider audience, easier read, better argument, etc.)?)
9. Discuss potential effect(s) of the book/article's publication (who would most benefit from
reading the work, what might it lead readers to do or think?).
Review
Description Suggested Length
Element
Precedes the text of the review
1. Title and Bibliographical information Max. four to five lines
The following should appear in the review; the order is not strict but this progression works quite
well.
2. Introduction/General summary of content ½ to ¾ page
3. Discussion of Author's Main Point ½ page
4. Identification of Main Elements of Argument ½ to ¾ page
5. Discussion of Conclusion ½ page
6. Your identification and discussion of at least 2 problems/ ¾ to 1½ pages
strengths
7. Your discussion of potential effect of fixes/problems/ ¾ to 1½ pages
improvements/strengths
8. Your discussion of potential effect(s) of the book/article's ½ page
publication
Total 4 to 5 pages

Read some book reviews from a variety of sources (newspapers, magazines, etc., as well as
academic journals) to get an idea of how other authors have approached the task. As you read
them, examine how they've handled the various elements of a review. Disciplinary journals are
often good sources of reviews when you're doing one for class or academic duty.

Amanda Graham
Yukon College, 1999 through 2007

http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~agraham/guides/bkreviews.htm

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