GUIDELINES FOR WRITING A BOOK REVIEW

Your book review should be 3/4 pages.

A book review is not a book report. Your review must present

and discuss the author's main arguments.

Read the book in its entirety, including the preface, and the
annexes. You can gather information everywhere; even the
acknowledgement section may be useful.

Take notes as you read, otherwise you will forget many of your
ideas.

Include dates. Make precise reference to the periods that you

are covering, as the historical context is important to
understand why people make specific decisions at specific
moments.

Do not use the first person (neither plural nor singular).

For all papers, line spacing must be double, using Times New
Roman for your font and a12 inch font size. Do not change the
margins originally set by Word.

Do not cheat. It takes as much time as writing your own

paper!
Do not plagiarize: you will receive an F for the class.

You are entitled to use quotes, this means that you must use
quotation marks and adequately reference the work that you
are using. Whether you are quoting verbatim or rephrasing
someones thoughts you must credit your source. This is true
for any type of source, written or non-written.
Quotations should not make more than 20% of your paper.

Follow the Chicago Style:

For a brief presentation use the link below
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html.
Always use the notes and bibliography system; this means
that you will not use parenthesis but footnote to credit your
sources.

Introduction:
Your paper must start with an introduction. Since this is a book
review, the title of the book that you are reviewing as well as the
name of the author must appear at the very beginning of your
introduction. For a book review, introduction and conclusion are
much shorter than for a paper (2 to 3 sentences).
Body of your paper:
Structure your paper: this means that your paper must be
organized in a few main sections (two to four).

Each section will present one specific argument supported by

sources.

Each section is introduced by a topic sentence that connects the

section to your thesis statement.

Use footnotes to reference your sources and any other

comments. Use Word Insert menu to create your footnotes.

You must demonstrate that you have read the book, thus you
present its main points. However, since a book review is not a
summary you are expected to discuss the book main ideas.

To discuss the book you may ask yourself : what was the authors
goal when writing this book? How does she/he achieve this goal?
Was she/he able to achieve his goal? How did the historical
context influence her/his perspective?

Keep in mind that you do not have to agree with all the points
that the author is making; in fact you may strongly disagree with
her/his views. And this is fine. All perspectives are welcome! But
make sure to develop a real argument to defend your own point
of view.

In order to evaluate the book and discuss it, it is preferable that

you use outside sources (one to two preferably from course
materials), make reference to the historical context, or even to
other articles/books that discuss similar issues. All this will help
you strengthen your discussion.

Note that encyclopedia can be used as starting points, but they

are not acceptable sources.

It is best if you embed your discussion in the body of the paper,

but I understand that it is not always easy. Another option is to
discuss the book after presenting its main points.

You read your draft over, proofread and edit your paper before
submission. Make sure that each of your sentences does clearly
say what you have in mind. This means that you should first
write a draft.

Conclusion:
Do not forget your conclusion! This is where you wrap up your
argument.
Bibliography and References (not included in the 3 page count):
In this section, include all sources (written and non-written) used.
Useful resources:
Chicago style:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
How to edit a paper: http://www.wikihow.com/Edit-a-Paper
You may also be interested in:
http://library.queensu.ca/research/guide/book-reviews/how-write
http://libraries.dal.ca/writing_and_styleguides/style_guides/book_
reviews.html