Only for internal SOAS use - not for further circulation Writing a book review: Guidance notes This document provides you information and instruction for completing the book review assignment for the Cities and Development and Issues in Cities and Development courses. The book review, up to 750 words long, is worth 25% of the total mark for the module. Its deadline is 11 March 2022. Content and structure A book review is a critical evaluation of a book. Most importantly, a review makes an argument. A review is a commentary, not merely a summary. Through the review, you enter into dialogue and discussion with the author and with your audience (which is an imagined academic audience of scholars who might be professionally interested to read the selected book). You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgements, or organisation. State your opinion about the book in question clearly. A strong book review 1) gives the reader a concise summary of the book. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose. 2) A review offers a critical assessment of the book. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand. A book review is not a literature review. Bear in mind that you only have 750 words and that most book reviews do not reference other work (including the example provided at the end of this guidance document). Writing tips Reviewing can be a daunting task. We want to know what you think about a particular book. You may not be (or feel like) a scholar (yet!), but you need to pretend to be one for your particular imagined audience of scholars potentially interested in the book you selected. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the book's author, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions. Writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft. Developing an argument: 1) Read the book from cover to cover. 2) A good book review starts with detailed note making during that reading. Keep the following questions in mind: 1 Only for internal SOAS use - not for further circulation ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? What has the book accomplished? What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)? How does the author support her argument? What evidence does the author use to prove her point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author's information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you've read, courses you've taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject? How does the author structure his/her argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not? Take notes of anything that strikes as BOTH interesting OR uncovincing. Take notes of those key passages, paragraphs and sentences that helped you understand what the author is trying to say. Then, use your notes as the base of your review. Organise your notes as a way of creating the structure of your review. Writing the first draft: • Before you start to actually write your review, list out the points you want to get across (that is, the key elements of your argument/assessment and their order). These points can be derived from the note-making during the reading of the book. Assess which of these arguments are central to your review and which of these arguments are less important. If you find you have not enough space (words) to include all your points about the book you will have to select only the most important. • In structuring your review preferably use one paragraph for each point you want to make about the book. It is a good way to emphasize the importance of the point. • Try to get the main theme of the book across in the beginning of your review. Your reader should know right away what he or she is getting into should they choose to read the book. Revising the first draft: • Read through each paragraph and make sure the main point is clear. • If a sentence or paragraph seems awkward or unclear, it has to be rewritten. Often rewriting is about simplification (shorter sentences, making one point at a time etc.). • Check to make sure you are not repeating yourself. (This can happen easily to do when you're trying to get an important point across!) Make sure you state your main points clearly and emphatically. Then explain why the point is important, instead of saying it again. Repetitive writing makes for dull reading. 2
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