Book ReviewGeneral Information
Definition: Book reviews clearly discuss a reader’s
opinion, or evaluation, of how successful a particular work is at
what it is attempting to do. They are typically brief, between 600
and 1000 words, and provide a concise summary (Cuba 2002). However,
a strong book review does more than strictly summarize a work – it
points out the good and bad qualities of a work and justifies why
these qualities should be considered good or bad. Most often, the
audience and the book review author’s background dictate what
kind of information will be included in a book review.
Purpose: A typical book review has two duties
- Describing to readers what the work is about. This is the
part where you will summarize briefly.
- Evaluating the work to
determine its worth. This is the part where you will analyze the
author’s argument critically.
The goal of a book review is to place the work being reviewed within
an established body of literature in a particular field and to help
the reader to determine whether the book has true value in that field.
A strong book review balances description and evaluation. To the reader
of the book review, excessive description and absence of evaluation
indicate that the book review author may not really understand the
work being reviewed.
REVIEW
What are some of the duties of a book review?
Continue to Book Review: Process
Copyright 2003 by the Academic Center and the
University of Houston-Victoria.
Created 2002 by Candice Chovanec Melzow. |
