Formal Academic Book Review Guidelines

SOCI 3422

Guidelines:

Below are some general questions and guidelines you should review and use when writing your book review. Keep in mind this is not a book report, but a review.

When reviewing the book, think especially about what the author is presenting from a sociological perspective. Also, think about our discussions in class regarding the social construction of culture, religion and politics/political systems as well as the various social theories applicable to the work.

Structure:

Your book review should be 3-5 pages at a minimum. Make sure the review is typed, double spaced with 1 inch margins. On the first page in the upper right hand corner on the first four lines, type your name, date, SOCI 0000, and Book Review. On the first line of written text, include the title of the book you selected.

Explanation

An analytic or critical review of a book or article is not primarily a summary; rather, it comments on and evaluates the work in the light of specific issues and theoretical concerns in a course. (To help sharpen your analytical reading skills, see our file on Critical Reading.) The literature review puts together a set of such commentaries to map out the current range of positions on a topic; then the writer can define his or her own position in the rest of the paper. Keep questions like these in mind as you read, make notes, and write the review.

1. What is the specific topic of the book or article? What overall purpose does it seem to have? For what readership is it written? (The preface, acknowledgements, bibliography and index can be helpful in answering these questions. Don’t overlook facts about the author’s background and the circumstances of the book’s creation and publication.)

2. Does the author state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly? (Again, look for statements in the preface, etc. and follow them up in the rest of the work.)

3. What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general problems and concepts in your discipline and course does it engage with?

4. What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material, literary analysis, personal observation, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)?Book review