Instructions for Written Book Review for All Classes

All classes: see links to help with your book selection click here

for examples of book reviews click here

If you need help with writing the paper, consult Strunk and White's Elements of Style or this link http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

As I am a trained English teacher, college level grammar and style are expected and  essential.

If you need a copy of the review instructions, click on book review link.

Contents: All book reports should have these seven elements:

Information about the author (5%) It is important to know something about the author. Is he or she qualified educationally or by experience to write this book? What other books has this author written? What is the author’s political or philosophical viewpoint? This will require outside research. Start at our library, the county library or on the Internet. See me if you need help.

General Summary of the work (10%) Briefly, what is the book about? This is not a long summary of the book. Your report should never simply become a long summary of the book.

Author’s Theses, or Conclusions (40%) What is the author is trying to say about their subject. If, for instance, it is a book on American education, does the author think progress has been made? Why or why not? What does he or she think are the strength of American education?

Your Reaction to the Author’s Views (40%) Do you agree or disagree with the author’s views? Why or why not? This is the part of the paper were you can use your own creativity and express your opinions. "Gee, I don’t really know much about this subject, the author seems knowledgeable, so I agree with his or her views, " is an unacceptable answer. Even if you agree with the author you must elaborate on their conclusions using your notebook, textbook, other reading and research, other classes and personal experience.

Summary and General Recommendations (5%) Briefly, was the book well written or not? Is it footnoted? Is there a bibliography, index, maps, graphics or pictures? Would you recommend the book to anyone else? Why or why not and to whom: the general reader, a student of history, an undergraduate or graduate level student due to its complexity, or what?

Works Cited page Put the names in alphabetically order

A separate page attached to back

Last Name author, first name. Underline book title, City published in: publishing company, year published

Follow the above example exactly.

Title Pg. Include your full name, period, class name, date, teacher’s name, title of your paper.

separate page attached to front

These two pages do not count as part of the 3-5 pages.

Format : All papers should follow this format.

Reports Should be 4-7 pages in length, type double-spaced, 26-27 lines a page with one-inch margins, 12 point, easily readable font. (This worksheet is an example of a good, 12 point font)

Spelling Should be at college level. Students should not misspell any words in a formal paper. I am easy and will allow one misspelled word per page. Thus, a four page paper should have no more than 4 misspelled words.

Students will rewrite unacceptable papers.

Proofreading Never submit a paper without proofreading it carefully. Have others proofread your work, too. USE SPELLCHECK!

Citations of quotes or It is essential to let the reader know the page number non-quoted ideas of a given quote or idea. You do this immediately after the quote or idea at the end of the sentence. Put the last name of the author in parentheses and follow it with a comma, the page number and a period.

The author’s full stats should be included on your work cited page. To quote another person or use someone else’s ideas in a paper requires a citation. Otherwise, it is considered plagiarism and the paper will receive an F.