Learning Competency 8: Identify the unique features and requirements in composing

texts that are useful across disciplines EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12

a. Book Review or Article Critique EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12.1
b. Literature Review EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12.2
c. Research Report EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12.3
d. Project Proposal EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12.4
e. Position Paper EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12.5
This part of the module discusses about the unique features of composing academic
writing. It helps you to learn the foundational concepts and to gain familiarity with the different
writing disciplines. Each writing discipline is followed by writing activities to practice and engage
your critical thinking, reading and writing.
By the end of this lesson, you are expected to:
1. identify the unique features of and requirements in composing text that are
useful across disciplines
a. Book Review or Article Critique
b. Literature Review
c. Research Report
d. Project Proposal
e. Position Paper
Directions: Read each sentence carefully. Choose your answer by writing the letter of your
choice on the space before each number.

_________ 1. It is an evaluation report of previous studies related to the subject

matter of an academic paper.
A. Book Review C. Article Review
B. Literature Review D. Movie Review

_________ 2. It is a problem-solution text that aims to persuade its reader to grant

funding on the project.
A. Project Proposal C. Project Material
B. Project Cost D. Project Budget

_________ 3. It is a critical assessment, analysis, or evaluation of a work

A. Book Review C. Article Review
B. Literature Review D. Movie Review

_________ 4. It is an expanded paper that presents interpretations and analysis of a

phenomenon based on experiments and previous information
A. Book Report C. Scientific Report
B. Research Report D. Survey Report

_________ 5. It contains a summary and synthesis of all available sources.

A. Book Review C. Article Review
B. Literature Review D. Movie Review

_________ 6. The main purpose of this writing is to persuade book readers of a

particular genre or researchers in a specific field.
A. Article Review C. Book Review
B. Literature Review D. Movie Review

_________ 7. It expresses a writer‟s position on an issue and the reasons for the
writer‟s stand.
A. Review Paper C. Position Paper
B. Book Paper D. Term Paper
_________ 8. It has a purpose to persuade or make the readers believe that the
writer‟s opinion is probable or should be considered by a decision-
making group.
A. Position Paper C. Book Paper
B. Review Paper D. Term Paper
_________ 9. It is a laborious work produced through formal investigation and
scientific inquiry.
A. Book Report C. Scientific Report
B. Research Report D. Survey Report

_________ 10. It is highly persuasive and informative document that aims to address
a particular problem or issue.
A. Project Proposal C. Project Material
B. Project Cost D. Project Budget

_________ 11. This is a form of criticism in which a book is analyzed based on

content, style and merit.
A. Book Review C. Literature Review
B. Position Paper D. Research Report

_________ 12. This is an essay that presents an opinion about an issue, typically that of the
author or another specific entity, such as political party.
A. Book Review C. Research Report
B. Position Paper D. Project Proposal

_________ 13. This is a detailed description of a series of activities aimed at solving

a certain problem.
A. Book Review C. Research Report
B. Position Paper D. Project Proposal

_________ 14. This is a written document or oral presentation based on a written

document that communicates the purpose, scope, objectives,
hypotheses, methodology, findings, limitations and recommendations
A. Book Review C. Research Report
B. Position Paper D. Project Proposal

________ 15. This is the objective analysis of a literary or scientific article that
emphasizes on whether or not the author supported his main points
with reasonable and applicable arguments based on facts.
A. Book Review C. Literature Review
B. Article Critique D. Research Report

What is a Book Review or Article Critique?

A book review or article critique is a specialized form of academic writing in which a

reviewer evaluates the contribution to knowledge of scholarly works such as academic books
and journal article. A book review or article critique, which is usually ranges from 250 to 750
words, is not simply a summary. It is a critical assessment, analysis, or evaluation of a work.
However, take care not to equate the word “critique” to cynicism and pessimism. As an advance
form of writing, it involves your skills in critical thinking and recognizing arguments. A book
review or article critique is different in movie review that you
see in a newspaper. Although movie review involves the analysis of one‟s work, it is written for
a general audience and primarily aims to offer a persuasive opinion. An academic book review
or article critique, on the other hand, addresses a more specific audience and usually offers a
critical response to a published scholarly work. Moreover, book review must not be mistaken for
book reports. Book reports focus on describing the plot, characters, or idea of a certain work.

Book and article reviewers do not just share mere opinion; rather, they use both proofs
and logical reasoning to substantiate their opinions. They process ideas and theories, revisit
and extend ideas in a specific field of study, and present analytical responses.
Structure of a Book Review or Article Critique
Introduction (around 5% of the paper)
 Title of the book/article
 Writer‟s name
 Writer‟s thesis statement

Summary (around 10% of the paper)

 Writer‟s objective or purpose
 Methods used (if applicable)
 Major findings or claims

Review/Critique (in no particular order) (Around 75% of the paper)

 Appropriateness of methodology to support the arguments
 Theoretical soundness
 Soundness of explanation in relation to other available information and experts
 Sufficiency of explanation
 Other perspectives in explaining the concepts and ideas
 Coherence of ideas

Conclusion (around 10% of the paper)

 Overall impression of the work
 Scholarly value of the reviewed article/book
 Benefits to the intended audience
 Suggestion for future directions

When writing a book review or article critique, make sure to ask the following:

1. What is the topic of the book or article?

2. What is its purpose?
3. Who are its intended readers?
4. Does the writer explicitly state his/her thesis
statement?
5. What theoretical assumptions (i.e., a
scientific/logical explanation without evidence)
are mentioned in the book or article? Are they
explicitly discuss?
6. What are the contributions of the book or article to the field (e.g., language, psychology)
it is situated in?
7. What problems and issues are discussed in the book or article?
8. What kind of information (e.g., observation, survey, statistics, and historical accounts)
are presented in the book or article? How they are used to support the arguments or thesis?
9. Are there other ways of supporting the arguments or thesis aside from the information
used in the book or article? Is the author silent about these alternative ways of explanation?
10. What is your overall reaction to the work?
Guidelines in Writing a Book Review or Article Critique
1. Read the article or book to be reviewed carefully to get its main concept.
2. Reread it to get the arguments being presented.
3. Relate the content of the article or book to what you already know about the topic. This
will make you more engaged with the article or book.
4. Focus on discussing how the book treats the topic and not a topic itself. Start your
sentences with phrases such as “this book presents…‟ and “The author argues…”
5. Situate your review. This means that your analysis should be anchored on the theories
presented by the book or article writer.
6. Examine whether the findings are adequately supported or not.
7. Analyzed the type of analysis the writer use (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, case study)
and how its supports the arguments and claims.
8. Suggest some ways on how the writer can improve his/her reasoning or explanation.
9. Discuss how the same topic is explained from other perspective. Compare the writer‟s
explanation of the topic to another expert from the same field of study.
10. Point out other conclusion or interpretations that the writer missed out. Present other
ideas that need to be examined.
11. Examine the connections between ideas and how they affect the conclusions and
findings.
12. Show your reactions to the writer‟s idea and present an explanation. You can either
agree or disagree with the ideas, as long as you can sufficiently support your stand.
13. Suggest some alternative methods and processes of reasoning that would result in a
more conclusive interpretation.
Completing a book review or article critique means that you can pinpoint the strengths
and weaknesses of an article or book and that you can identify different perspectives. This
task also equips you with more skills to engage in discussions with an expert and makes
you a part of a community of scholars.
Activity 1: Write T if the statement is true and F if false.

_______ 1. A review or a critique involves higher-order thinking skills.

_______ 2. A book description is similar to a book review.
_______ 3. A book review or article critique uses the organization of ideas.
_______ 4. A book review or article critique presents the strengths and weaknesses
of a reading material.
_______ 5. A book review is exclusive for professionals.
_______ 6. More than half of the review should be devoted to the summary.
_______ 7. The name of the author and title of the reviewed article is placed at the
 end of article critique.
_______ 8. The purpose of an article critique is to inform and persuade readers.
_______ 9. The reviewer‟s overall impression of the work should be placed in the
introduction.
_______10. When reviewing a book or article, only one perspective should be used.

Activity 2: Analyze the following text very carefully. Then, complete the table that follows.

This paper purports to assess the linguistic complexity of students‟ narratives and
reading texts. However, the authors never stated the purpose behind the study. The authors
provide no motivations and goals for the study, no research questions, no strong methodological
practices, and very few findings that can be easily interpreted. While reading the study, every
new sentence is surprise. There are no details and the entire paper is completely under
referenced.
Below I will discuss some of the major problems with the paper. First, the authors never
provide a rationale for their study. They never give a reason as to why they are studying reading
and writing together and they fail to link the two skills. The authors assume that the reader
knows the narrative and made no attempt to assist them in developing the narrative of the
paper. Another major problem with the paper is the naiveté that is apparent in the literature
review, the methods, and the analysis. The literature review is perhaps two pages long and
boost up on their knowledge of L2 writing and reading theory before they submit a paper to a
professional journal.
It is interesting that the language background of the participants is never made explicit
(participants are at the mid beginners to high beginners level in using English is a second
language). The extent to which any results found in the study would be widely generalizable to
what is typically conceived as an EFL/ESL learner is not clear. Moreover, the author continually
draw on literature meant for an L1 acquisition audience and therefore of dubious extension to L2
contexts.
The methods section contains no details at all. Ten participants per grade level, in a
stratified random sample, hardly seemed enough to get much stable data. Since, there are only
ten participants per grade level on both accredited and non-accredited schools due to logistical
constraints; the paper is more on exploratory study. In other words, it seems a stretch to ask
most journal readers to generalize from such a limited sample from such a specific population.
The authors state that “pupils were not given limits as to time and number of words, for them to
be relaxed in their narrative production” (p.5). However, later the authors explain that those
written data also form the basis of the corpus used for analysis. How does this differential
production affect the results of the analysis? Surely, a participant who produces 1,000 words will
have different results from one who produce 500. It is not clear how the authors can assert any
sort of pattern from linguistic „snapshot‟ from just 10 students per school, producing such
heterogeneous data samples. Again, from such a modest sample size.
In general, the paper is hard to read. This likely goes back to the lack of research
problems. There are few transitions and, organizationally, the paper does not set up any
expectations for the reader. The first paragraph is a great example because it contains a single
sentence and at least five different clauses. The final paragraph in the introduction (right before
the methods sections) is another example. I have read that paragraph four times and am not
sure how to process it.
There are major problems with this paper, but I do not have a time or the energy to discuss
them all. The authors really need to rethink the purpose of the collected data and educate
themselves in the field of L2 reading and writing. I would highly suggest that the authors reread
issues of the journal of Second Language Writing and Reading in a Foreign Language.
Source:http://www.uwlux.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Deparments/Political_Science_and_Pu
blic_Admin/journal_article_critique_example.pdf

Type of Document
Purpose of the Review

Writer‟s Persona

Intended Reader

Strengths

Weaknesses

Activity 3: Write a book review by following the writing process outlined below. You may
assume the persona of a university professor writing a review for a particular book or
article in your chosen field.

A. Read the book or article to be reviewed. Complete the following details.

Article/ Book Title:
___________________________________________________________________
Article/Book Author:
___________________________________________________________________
Topic: ___________________________________________________________________

B. Complete the given information to come up with a writing situation for your
book review or article critique.

General purpose:
___________________________________________________________________
Specific Purpose:
___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
Target Output:
___________________________________________________________________
Audience: ___________________________________________________________________
Writer‟s Persona:
___________________________________________________________________
Tone/Formality:
___________________________________________________________________
In writing a review/critique you must:

1. Provide a summary of the contents of the piece of writing under review;

2. Provide a general evaluation of the text;
3. Discuss each point you want to make about the text; and
4. Conclude by telling the readers if the text is worth reading or not. In addition you must
polish your writing by considering the properties of a well written text.

Key to Answers
Pre- Test

1.B 4.B 7.C 10.A 13.D

2.A 5.B 8.A 11.A 14.C
3.A 6.C 9.B 12.B 15.B
Activity 1.

1.T 6.F
2.F 7.F
3.T 8.T
4.T 9.F
5.F 10.F