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This book reviews guide is intended to outline the review process to make your studies easier and more pleasant. A book review is not the same as a report that just presents a summary of one or several books on some topic. This page examines the book reviews writing and offers basic strategies for it.
A review is a critical analysis of the author’s thoughts and ideas presented in a book. It follows a standard essay structure or can be written in an informal way using your own creative ideas. The first thing to consider while writing book reviews is creation of a strong argument. Thesis statement that is usually placed in the introduction section is the most significant part of reviews. If you are able to create a good argument, you can be sure you have completed the most important task of work.
Reviews are usually brief. They are written to the point with author’s name and title in introductive paragraph. Introduction gives general data on what you are going to write about, while your thesis statement contains information on what you are going to argue about in the paper.
If you know something about the author, you can include this information into your review. Besides, you can write about your attitude to the book, what issues impressed you most in it. However, if you have negative impression from the reading, be careful – do not show your absolutely negative attitude to the book as many professors like giving a list of favorite books for review writing.
One more aspect to take into account is the problem covered in the book. You should take a broad problem and analyze it. The author usually describes some cases as examples which relate to an issue. The main issue should be organized in a form of a question that is connected with your reflection on a review topic. Your analysis of the text is the most difficult part of book reviews. Think about the audience and write about your conclusions, why this issue is of interest to you. Moreover, you should mention whether the problem is up-to-date or not.
It is necessary to analyze the problem covered in the source. When you express your opinion on various aspects from the text, always explain why you think this way, why you agree or disagree with the author. These are some questions to consider when writing book reviews.
- What is the author’s approach to this issue?
- What is the basis for this book?
- What facts does the author point out? Why?
- What impression does it make on the reader?
- What is the author’s mood?
- What aspects does the author emphasize?
- What conclusions does he make?
In summary, to make your book reviews successful you should be brief, use simple language, create logical connections between paper sections, use a strong argument and thesis statement, give answers to the questions put in your review, evaluate the author’s work, criticize some vague parts, express your point of view at the end of your review.
At our website you may find additional information about book reviews.
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