Hist 490/590 Book Review Paper Guidelines

Fa05, Pennock

Assignment: Write a 4-6 page book review essay about the book you have selected. The paper is due on Wednesday, November 30. Please see the syllabus for my policy regarding late assignments. During class on Nov. 30, each student will give a presentation that summarizes and critically evaluates the book. The paper is worth 20% of the course grade, and the presentation is worth an additional 5%.

Guidelines for writing the book review essay

First, the nuts & bolts: the paper should be typed, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman font, 1” margins, no extra spaces between paragraphs (but subheadings are fine.)

A book review is a critical (a word that does not necessarily mean “negative”) evaluation of a book. An added purpose for your book review is to evaluate how the book adds to (or does not add to) our understanding of American consumer culture – even if that is not the main purpose of the book. At this point, you are now an advanced student in the field of consumer culture studies, so bring that knowledge to bear on your review of this book.

Similar to your journal assignments in which you identify and articulate the essential points of the articles, in this paper you should do the same for this book. In your introduction paragraph you should state the author’s main questions/purpose and thesis. You may choose to organize the remainder of your paper so that the first part consists of summary and the second part consists of your evaluation; or you may choose to integrate your evaluation with the summary. Caution: when “summarizing,” concentrate on identifying overall themes and arguments; do not get caught up in recounting little details. Remember that your paper has a 6 page limit and that I am more interested in your ability to analyze the book than in your presentation of a detailed summary of its contents.

When evaluating the book, pay attention to the following elements (which will be important to varying degrees, depending upon the book in question):

- the author’s values and perspectives/biases

- the author’s methodology and use of evidence

- how well the author makes and supports his/her arguments; how well the author achieves his/her purpose

** how the author’s arguments fit into and/or challenge other studies by consumer culture scholars (in other words, conduct an historiographical analysis)

- miscellaneous elements of the book: organization of material and chapters, writing style, images; the scholarly apparatus: appendix, index, footnotes, bibliography.