national or international politics or political issues
INFORMATION FOR ASSIGNMENT – PSCI 100-991 BOOK REVIEW
(use guidelines for writing book review from Lynn’s Panic-Free Methodology)
In university, a book review is a critical analysis of an author’s argument combined with a summary of the book. Basically this means that the emphasis of the review should be on your (the student’s) interpretation of the author’s argument – not simply a reiteration of the author’s ideas.
From this perspective, read a book on national or international politics or political issues,
and in six to 8 pages maximum explain:
What is your over-all impression of the book?
What argument or point(s) was the author trying to make? (use quotes, examples from book)
How did he/she explain or prove his/her argument and/or points? (use quotes, examples from book)
Was he/she successful in making a strong case for his/her argument? (Explain how the author was successful, again using some quotes to back up your argument or, if you felt the author wasn’t successful, explain what your concerns/critiques are)
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the article or book?
Did you learn anything from this book? If so, what? If not, why not?
When quoting from the book or paraphrasing the author’s words, it is imperative that you cite your sources. Use the MLA format to cite sources, as explained at : https://library.vcc.ca/downloads/MLA.pdf
Examples:
In-Text Citations (in the body of your paper) Provide the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses immediately following a quotation or a paraphrase from a source. For sources without page numbers (like a quotation from a website), provide only the author’s last name. E.g.: The sculpture entitled Family, given to the college in 1991 and permanently exhibited in the college’s Woodland Street lobby, was carved from an enormous cherry tree that grew in the sculptor’s back yard (Rosen 5). Single author (Coulter 137) Two or three authors (Leon and Smith 231-33) More than Three authors (Mezey et al. 45) N.B. YOU WILL ALSO NEED TO REFERENCE WORKS CITED AT END OF THE BOOK REVIEW
Book,
single author
Coulter, Herbert D. Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers and Practitioners. Honesdale, PA: Body and Breath, 2001. Print.
Marks will be based on the following:
Introduction and conclusion – 5
Grammar, spelling and proper references – 5
Information and analysis