Research Project: Book Review

You will work with a partner on this assignment. Your partner can come from any American Studies class your teachers teach. You will read a historical non-fiction book and a fictional novel that are written about a given time period and do a thorough review of both books. You will sign up for one of the time periods below: Founding to 1789 1790 1850 1850 1877 1878 - 1919 1920 1939 1940 1960 1961 - Present Your review will contain four central elements: 1. A summary of the subject matter, structure, and thesis of nonfiction book 2. A critique of the nonfiction book including book reviews 3. An evaluation of the fictional novel 4. A comparison of the novel and the nonfiction book Format your paper into these four distinct parts. Clearly label each part with the appropriate heading. Part 1: Summary of the subject matter, structure, and thesis of the nonfiction book (approximately 2 to 3 pages) Begin your review by summarizing the subject. This should be a brief overview of the subject that should provide some context for the reader. Identify the authors purpose for writing the book what questions did the author seek to answer by doing this analysis? This may be explicit (often in preface) or may be implicit (you must draw a conclusion based on your knowledge of the subject matter and of larger patterns of historical developments). Identify the thesis and clearly state it. This is the books most important element. It is NOT the same thing as the subject. It is instead the authors interpretation or explanation of the subject. The thesis is the authors conclusion about the reasons things happened as they did or the authors analysis of the motivation of major figures. The thesis is directly related to the authors purpose. If you can state the authors PURPOSE in the form of a question, the authors THESIS can then usually be stated as the answer to that question. Sometimes the author will leave the thesis implicit. Regardless of whether or not the historian is explicit about his or her thesis, you should be explicit in your review. Describe how the book is arranged and organized (chronologically, thematically, etc.). Evaluate the effectiveness of this organization in the overall summary of the book. Part 2: Critique of the nonfiction book (approximately 2 to 3 pages) Your critique of the book is the next element in your review. The critique is your evaluation of the book. While evaluating the book, you MUST include RESEARCH from other BOOK REVIEWS from CREDIBLE, SCHOLARLY JOURNALS and clearly identify the reviewers opinions and reasoning. Analyze the effectiveness to which the author convinced the reader of the validity of the thesis and describe how the author achieved this. Just like your essays, the nonfiction book will be evaluated on how well the author develops his/her thesis. Among the points to be considered in the critique are such things as: o Authors qualifications, background, and bias (You must do some research on the background of the author in order to ascertain this information be sure to include this research in your bibliography.) o The type of evidence employed (statistics, quotations, summaries of works by other historians bibliographies, footnotes/endnotes). The use of blended quotes is essential to this part. o Effectiveness of presentation; literary quality of the work o Does the author convince YOU of his/her thesis? Why or why not? Part 3: Review of Fictional Novel (approximately 2 to 3 pages)

Include information about the author to establish his/her viewpoint in writing the novel. This DOES NOT mean that you should devote a large portion of your essay to the development of a biography of the author. Instead, you should include relevant information about the author that would shed light on the motivation and influences that shaped the way the author wrote the novel. While you might want to include a brief overview of the storyline of the book, your objective is to discuss the novels message, not necessarily its content. The purpose of this assignment is to address what and/or how this book reflects on the time period in which/about which it was written. Be sure to address the scope of the book and identify its point of view. Questions that you might want to address include, but are not limited to: Why did the author write the book? Did the author feel that he/she had a new point of view or insight on a well-worn topic? Who is the audience for this book? What measures does the author take to reach this audience? What does the author want the audience to take away from this book? How effective is the authors rhetoric in achieving his/her purpose? How does the author interpret this time period in history in comparison to how historians have viewed it? Does the book fit into the prevailing interpretations of the subject or does it break new ground?

Part 4: Comparison of the two books (approximately 2 pages) Does the fictional work reinforce the information in the historical account? Be sure to include examples to support your answer. Which one sheds more light on the time period? Explain. How would these authors review each others works? SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:

1. You must choose two books written about your chosen time period. Each book must be AT LEAST 250 2.
pages in length. In your review of the historical work, AT LEAST 2 professional historical journals must be cited, such as book reviews or articles by the author on the same topic. If you have a hard time finding journal articles through our school, the Plano Public Library system has access to J-STOR, a valuable resource for scholarly journals. Likewise for your fictional work, you should make reference to AT LEAST 2 scholarly literary criticisms (not just a review or synopsis). You must have a thorough and thoughtful works cited list with at least six additional sources to your books. Internet sources can be included as additional resources and guidance. Your works cited must use MLA format. Approximately 10-12 pages typed, double-spaced, size 12 point Arial font, standard 1 margins. Title page and bibliography DO NOT count in page count. Title page should include: a. your book titles and authors b. researchers names and class periods c. due date Paper should be stapled in upper left hand corner (NO FOLDERS). Your grade will be based on the quality of your summary of the book, your analysis of the thesis, your critique, your comparison, as well as the quality of your writing. Errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, typing and style will be substantially penalized. You will need to submit your paper to turnitin.com before the paper is turned in. Once registered with turnitin.com, join class number ____________ (American Studies Research 2013 - password: amstud) and submit your paper.

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In a good book review, you demonstrate that you thoroughly understand the book and that you are able to present the authors interpretations more succinctly and clearly than they appear in the book itself. Read with pen in hand, noting key passages as you come to them. Then read back through the books, outlining the central points. The next step is to organize the authors thoughts and ideas more clearly than they did in the

first place. Once you have done this, you are ready to write your review. Your reviews should be filled with salient quotes from the books. You are using the books as evidence to support your analysis. While it is tempting to divide and conquer this assignment, both partners should read both books in order to truly have a dialogue about how the books compare to each other. DUE DATES: 1. You must sign up for a time period with a partner January 11th. 2. You must submit a research prospectus to your teachers before Friday, January 25th. Your prospectus must include: Your names and class periods The time period for which you signed up MLA citations for both your nonfiction book and fictional novel A description of how and why you chose these books (no more than 150 words) A copy of a scholarly literary criticism of your novel A copy of a professional review of your nonfiction book 3. Your final paper is due Monday, March 4th. NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. YOU MUST GET PAPER TURNED IN ON THIS DATE: NO EXCEPTIONS! DO NOT BLAME YOUR COMPUTER, PRINTER OR PARTNER! THIS PROJECT COUNTS AS TWO TEST GRADES ON THE FIFTH SIX WEEKS GRADING PERIOD.