Critical book review- a book review is more than a book report or summary of a book’s contents. A review is a critical essay evaluating the merits of an academic work. its purpose is not to prove that you read the book which is understood as a given but to show that you can think critically about what you’ve read. you can see examples of reviews in virtually any religious journal, and these may help you to write your own review. 1. stage one: as you read, you should consider issues while you are reading the book to help you better evaluate it. Make notes as you read, so you won’t forget your observations or have to back and hunt for reference. a. purpose/ thesis: what was the author’s purpose in writing book? did she state her purpose explicitly or did you have to infer it? The purpose for writing is usually the thesis or argument of the work. Does the book have a clear central thesis/argument? to what extent and how effectively. Does the author convince you of the validity of her thesis/argument?b. source: what types of sources does the author utilize in presenting the thesis? are they mainly published documents, or do they include archival records? Does the author draw on other material such as novels, artwork, or interviews? How are the author’s sources incorporated into the narrative? do you think she has tapped all the major sources available or are there omissions? c. contextualization: how well does the author expplain the wider context of the events or developments he is discussing? Is the book narrowly focused or does the author try to connect to wider developements? d. style: is the book well written? is it easy to understand? does it flow well? is the writing dense and heavy with jargon making it hard to grasp? e. author background : look into the author’s qualifications and expereince . Use the web to explore what other works the author has produced and what topics they have addressed. Stage two: as you prepare to write: once you have read the book and thought about it, you should start developing the main parts of your review before you start writing. think about the following elements and how to include them in your essay. then you should make a plan laying out the main points in the introduction, body and conclusion of your paper. a. profile:articulate the author’s thesis/ argument in a clear and concise way. this will be rougly one paragraph in length and should not be summary of the different setion chapter. b. major points: look ack through your notes to pull out your most important observations this may help you to find a central argument or them for your review. c. theme: your review needs a central argument like any academic essay. how can you sum up your evaluation of the book providing a theme around which you can organize your rewiew? considering the author’s purpose in writing/ the thesis/argument did you find the work generally sucessfully partially successful. state three: as you write : you rewiew is a short critical essay of approximately 1000-1100. as you write and edit your paper you should ensure that you include the following a. a brief, effective introduction that lays out the theme or central arguments of your review you need a ‘hook’ to catch the interest of your audience. c. the body of you r essay should be a servies observations about the book the major points from your outline pointing out its strengths and weaknessess.. d. a short conclusion summing up your evaluation of the book. format – no cover page, instead at the top of the first page of your review provide the following information author, title, place of publication, publisher, date of publication number of pages(including any pages numbered with roman numeral usually the preface and any addition material. you should use stand 12 point font and standard margings 1 inch on each side and one inch top and bottome of the page. use times new roman font!. after skipping three lines at the end of the rewiew , you should type your name along the right margin with the course title and semester immediately below