...The Writing Center Book Reviews Like 17 people like this. What this handout is about This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews. What is a review? A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews. Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features: First...
Words: 2547 - Pages: 11
...1 cm. below) P. J. O’Rourke, the political satirist, reviews in this issue a new book about Starbucks. He told us, in an e-mail exchange, how he brews his own reviews: “I read something I’m reviewing the same way I read other things except more so. That is, I already keep a commonplace book (a file folder, really) for quotations, ideas, information, etc. If I’m going to write a review I mark the work for myself, but besides underlining what interests me I also underline what — as far as I can tell — interested the author. By the time I’m done I have an outline for the review. All I have to do is figure out a smart-aleck lead sentence and a wiseacre ending.”[1] 2. Then read the “How to write a Book Review” article on the very next page. Yes, it is a bit long but the information is really quite good. 3. Over the week go to www.salon.com or to http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books read at least five reviews and then divide them into good and bad reviews. Think about the specific qualities that define the better ones. The article from step two of this process will be helpful at this point. At the end of the day a good book review sees an interesting pattern or spins your understanding of the book in a new and delightful way…and importantly is enjoyable to read (as a writer you need to have fun savaging the book, exploring it, dwelling on it, falling in love with it, etc.). Finally remember that your job is to convince a reader of the book’s relative merit. 4. Read...
Words: 2230 - Pages: 9
...|Unit Title: |Unit No:1 |Date Issued | |Business Environment | |Week beginning 11/02/13 | |Student Name |Student ID |Due Date – 03/06/13 | |Lecturer Name: Ibrahim kevin, Sujata,& Issac |Internal Verifier Name | | |Mr. M. Azam | Rules and regulations: |Plagiarism is presenting somebody else’s work as your own. It includes: copying information directly from the Web or books without | |referencing the material; submitting joint coursework as an individual effort; copying another student’s coursework; stealing coursework from| |another student and submitting it as your own work. Suspected plagiarism will be investigated and if found to have occurred will be dealt | |with according to the procedures set down by the College. Please see your student handbook for further details of what is / isn’t plagiarism.| Coursework Regulations 1. Submission of coursework must be undertaken according to the relevant procedure – whether online or paper-based. Lecturers will give information as to which procedure must be followed, and details of submission procedures and penalty fees can be obtained...
Words: 2134 - Pages: 9
...STAYING ON COURSE Kendra Harvey Pre 100 sect. 7116 October 12, 2013 Kendra Harvey Pre 100 Sect. 7116 12 October 2013 STAYING ON COURSE Enrolling in college at 26 years old was very intimidating to me. Although I graduated from high school, I have a real problem with self confidence. Keeping up with my classmates from high school on social media sites, I became discouraged and depressed from seeing how successful some of them had become. I often wondered why I haven’t become successful. Why was I made to be a failure? Then it dawned on me that I, myself was my own problem. At different points in my life I’ve often given up when I was faced with a challenge. I always took interest in the healthcare field, and I pursued and completed a certification in nursing. When certain circumstances caused for me to have to go back to school to recertify, instead of pressing on I choose defeat. My greatest obstacles now are my children, for I don’t have a strong support system and because of this I have allowed myself to be defeated by other obstacles in life. When I got into college, my biggest challenge was staying focused and motivated. I continued to stay out late, I would put off assignments until the last minute, I did cram study sessions, I was lazy all the time and couldn’t concentrate, and I missed classes and fell behind on home assignments. This caused a major problem for me like receiving failing grades. I blamed everything and...
Words: 890 - Pages: 4
...be UNDER the desk. Required materials: Charged tablet, charged back-up battery, tablet pen, red pens, pencils, blue or black pens, binder Homework expectations: You will have a variety of different homework assignments. It is imperative that you check RenWeb on a consistent basis, as well as write down the homework from the board every day. Most of the assignments will be completed on your tablet. Many assignments will be graded together in class, and then uploaded to Moodle. Late policy: Daily homework will not be accepted late. If homework is not turned in on the day it is due it will receive a zero. The first zero will result in an email sent to your parents. The second zero will result in a referral to a dean. For projects, book reports, and for the research paper the late policy is a little different than the daily homework policy. The first day that it is late it will get 10% taken off of its overall grade earned. For the second day that it is late it will get 20% taken off of the overall grade earned. On the third day that it is late 30% of the grade will be taken off of its overall grade earned. It will receive a zero if it is not turned in after the third day. Absence policy: You are responsible for completing all work that they have missed. You will have as many days as you have missed to complete the work. Missed quizzes or tests will be made up on the day the you return to school. It is your...
Words: 2409 - Pages: 10
...Writing a Book Report Summary: This resource discusses book reports and how to write them. Contributors: Purdue OWL (owl.English.purdue.edu) Book reports are informative reports that discuss a book from an objective stance. They are similar to book reviews but focus more on a summary of the work than an evaluation of it. Book reports commonly describe what happens in a work; their focus is primarily on giving an account of the major plot, characters, thesis, and/or main idea of the work. Most often, book reports range from 250 to 500 words. Before You Read Before you begin to read, consider what types of things you will need to write your book report. First, you will need to get some basic information from the book: • Author • Title • Publisher location, name of publisher, year published • Number of Pages You can either begin your report with some sort of citation, or you can incorporate some of these items into the report itself. Next, try to answer the following questions to get you started thinking about the book: • Author: Who is the author? Have you read any other works by this author? • Genre: What type of book is this: fiction, nonfiction, biography, etc.? What types of people would like to read this kind of book? Do you typically read these kinds of books? Do you like them? • Title: What does the title do for you? Does it spark your interest? Does it fit well with the text of the book? • Pictures/Book Jacket/Cover/Printing:...
Words: 645 - Pages: 3
...Brunel Business School Bachelor of Science TITLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP & MARKETING IN BUSINESS MODULE CODE MG2049 Written Coursework: Deadline (12.00 noon, UK time) on Blackboard Learn. The learning outcomes for this module are as follows: * 1. Critically discuss the theories surrounding entrepreneurship and business ventures and how they relate to the global business environment. 2. Identify the impact that corporate communications have on internal and external audiences and their role in the development of integrated marketing communications. 3. Critically analyse issues around new business formation and growth of national and multinational enterprises. 4. Evaluate the application of theories in entrepreneurship and marketing communications ------------------------------------------------- The coursework comprises two elements which include the groupwork and individual essay (100%). The groupwork element attracts formative assessment while the individual element attracts summative assessment (3000 words). The individual element poses questions on your experience as regards the groupwork element and the ‘entrepreneurial journey’ of well-known enterprises. In order to benefit from the experiential learning inherent in the groupwork, it is important that you set about forming groups as early...
Words: 1335 - Pages: 6
...smile and a crooked ponytail. The white walls contain nothing but a solitary poster that reads, "Books are gateways to another life" in bright green letters drawn on a cartoon brain. I can never guess what it means. I walk in to that class after lunch every day, sit at my desk, and stare at it for an hour and a half, yet I can never relate to it in any way. My teacher, strict and on the heavy side, was the type of teacher you didn’t want to get on her bad side. If she even had sides. She was giving us a lecture on how to infer poems with the chalk screeching like nails on the board. Our eyes widened with horror while she talked to us like we were foreigners that didn’t understand the concept of the language. “Songs. Are. Poems.” Not only did I hate poems I hated analyzing them as well. Rock was never in my interest so I detested “Fully Alive” when Ms. Brock first played it for us to analyze. It was impossible to even concentrate on the first verse of the song due to the icicle forming on my nose. I guess since she was a heavy-set lady she got warm very easily and insisted on keeping the room temperature in the forties. The song itself was depressing but it only made it worse that I was having a flash back. My uncle was lying on the hospital bed, quiet and without energy. He had just come out of getting the monstrous tumor removed that was growing inside of him. Cancer. There was finally something I could sadly relate to. "Earth to Jessica. Earth to Jessica. I would enjoy it if...
Words: 1113 - Pages: 5
...Accounting is the process of identifying the transactions and events, measuring the transactions and events in terms of money, recording them in a systematic manner in the books of accounts, classifying or grouping them and finally summarizing the transactions in a manner useful to the users of accounting information . Let’s now discuss these accounting processes one by one: 1. Identifying the transactions and events: This is the first step of accounting process. It identifies the transactions of financial character that is required to be recorded In the books of accounts. Transactions is transfer of money or goods or services from one person or account to another person or account. 2. Measuring: This denotes expressing the values of business transactions and events in terms of money 3. Recording: It deals with recording of identifiable and measurable transaction and events in a systematic manner in the books of original entry that are in accordance with principles of accountancy. 4. Classifying: It deals with periodic grouping of transactions of similar nature that appear in the books of original entry into appropriate heads by posting or transfer entries 5. Summarizing: It deals with summarizing or condensing transactions in a manner useful to the users. This function involves the preparation of financial statements such as income statement, balance sheet, statement of changes in financial position and cash flow statement 6. Analyzing: It deals with the...
Words: 544 - Pages: 3
...Things that worked in my prototype was the completion of it, the switch I put on it, and I think it also was a good idea. Things that I needed to improve on in my presentation was speaking louder and slower. One thing I could improve on my prototype is that I could add different buttons that do different things. I think I could have thought of better solutions now that I’ve gone through and made it and watched what kinds of things other people did. First, we chose a book. I really enjoyed my book and I read it in one night. Next, I read the book a second time and gathered quotes that showed what the conflict was. After that, I made a challenge statement. Next, we thought of ideas for our prototype. This was the hardest step for me because...
Words: 317 - Pages: 2
...A Guide to Harvard Referencing The following is a guide to writing references in essays and reports. There are several different ways of writing references according to whether they come from a book, edited book or journal article. What is the Harvard System of Referencing? Harvard referencing is a system of in–text referencing which is used by academics and others to illustrate ideas, concepts, theories and arguments by drawing attention to supporting published evidence both in the text of any essay or report and at the end in a references section. 1 How to write references in the text of an essay/report Examples of Text: Benson, Roberts and Smith (1993) have suggested that there is a relationship between academic excellence and shoe size. They have argued that a student with large feet has the capacity to learn more in a lecture than a student with small feet. Support for this theory has come from Dawson (1976) and Franks and Miller (1991) who have found that men who wear size 8–10 shoes tend to score three points higher on Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.) tests than men with shoe size ranges from 5–7. However, research suggests that women obtain a higher I.Q. score if their shoe size ranges from 3–4 in comparison to those with shoe sizes ranging from 5–7 (Bunion and Foot 1987). Despite such gender differences, Benson et al. believe that the relationship between I.Q. and foot size only occurs in industrialised societies and so “we should consider why foot size...
Words: 1517 - Pages: 7
...of GDP even they have heard about this economic term before. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living whereas there are limitations and criticisms against the belief that GDP measures a country’s living standard. Many economists (for example, who? Add sources) argue that GDP is an empty abstraction devoid of any link to the real world, and, therefore, has little or no value in economic analysis. Many environmentalists (for example, who? Add sources) argue that GDP is a poor measure of social progress because it does not take harm to the environment into account. Thus, it is important to find out the real meaning of GDP and its value to economic analysis. II. Statement of the problem First , this report intends to find out the standard definition of GDP as well as the measurement of GDP. the definition of GDP will be divided into seven parts in order to study the measurement of GDP more easily. They are “the market value”, ”of all”, ”final”, ”goods and services”, ”produced”, ”within a country”, “in a given period of time”. Then we will talk about the components of GDP, especially the U.S GDP,...
Words: 2182 - Pages: 9
...During the summer, a terrible incident occurred at a party, after which Melinda had called the police. The other kids thought she was just trying to ruin the party. Neither they nor the police--nor even Melinda's parents--would listen to her, to learn why she had called. So Melinda decides that since no one will listen to her, she will just stop talking.There is not one main idea, or theme, of the book; there are several. One theme is alienation/isolation. Melinda is alienated from the other kids in her school, and she isolates herself even more. Another theme is secrecy. The thing that is hardest for Melinda to speak about is the secret that she keeps after the party. Read the eNotes section on themes for more.Visit the links below for more...
Words: 1931 - Pages: 8
...Nature of the Assignment: Book Review The assignment will involve a book review. It will be a group based assignment in which the students from each group will have to go through a book reading, Critically analyze the book, derive the concepts embedded within and relate it to the theories studied in relation to Individual dynamics and leadership. The Objectives of the Study for the Students: * To understand and analyze the varied pattern of human behavior * To develop the ability to draw inferences with respect to work behavior and relate it to the concepts being studied in the course ‘Individual Dynamics and Leadership’ in the present Trimester Based on the above broad objective the assignment should be able to cover at least the following specific objectives: i) The critical analysis of each chapter (if written chapter wise) / part wise in the book. ii) Interpreting the behavioral theories from the writings. iii) Relating theories to practical behavior. iv) Your learning from this exercise. v) Group processes followed and peer evaluation of interpersonal skills of group members Method of Study: The students will have to identify a relevant book and take approval from the faculty for the same. The book can be selected by taking a cue from the following categories; * Autobiography or biography, * Management/business history * Motivational Guidelines for the Structure of the Report: The report is to cover the topics...
Words: 734 - Pages: 3
...important for mental health practitioners to impress upon their patients that 30 minutes of moderate exercise performed 4 times a week can also lift their mood and play a role in their recovery. Search strategy and evaluation of resources: I began my research on the purpose of the Sarbanes Oxley act by searching the ASA library online catalog for books that spoke mainly about that topic. I chose the ASA library because it is a college library; it only contains books or articles that are meant for research. Also, the library contains credible sources necessary for a research project. I chose two books to use for my research. The first being Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002: Law and Explanation. I chose this book because it is considered to be an authoritative source which contains the necessary background information one would need at the commencement of a research project. The next book I chose was Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: Conference Report. I chose this book it too spoke primarily about the SOX Act. This report is authoritative because it is written by the United States Congress also indicating that it is a credible source. Finally, I searched a discussion website on the Sarbanes and Oxley Act to see different views on the law, and came across a PDF copy of the actual Sarbanes Oxley Act. I chose to use the site because I knew it would have credible information and data about the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In addition, the PDF document of the SOX Act is a...
Words: 395 - Pages: 2
