Terms

Zinn

One-Pager

Top 10 Major Events

Hall of Fame (Word)

Creating a DBQ

Levels of Questions

Harvard Outline

Philosophical Chairs

Position Paper

Article Review

Book Review

Primary Source

Secondary Source

MLA Citation

1. Title: List the title of the book you read together with the pertinent information concerning that book- e.g. author, place of publication, date of publication, and number of pages.
   
   
2. Introduction: The opening statement of your introduction should be very much like the introduction of an essay. The opening statement takes the readers from where they presumably stand in point of knowledge and brings them to the book under review.
   
   
3. Summary of the Contents of the Book: This should be in your own words and should be a discussion of the subject matter of the book, not a mere enumeration of topics treated by the author. The briefest possible description of the aim, scope, and place in the world follows the baited opening sentence and completes the first paragraph.
   1. The second paragraph classifies the book. What is its thesis, tendency or bias?
   2. Paragraphs 3-5 go into the author’s main contentions and discusses them. Do not repeat anything you said in the classificatory paragraph, but rather give detailed evidence of the grounds for your classification.
   3. Paragraphs 6-7 may deal with additional or contrary points to be found in other authors or in your own research, but these only amend or qualify what is acceptable in the book under consideration.
   4. Paragraphs 8-9 contain your chief objections and summarize the shortcoming of the book. Do not be trivial…the book is boring, too long, too short… These shortcomings should demonstrate the kinds of things the book needed to tell you as a reader and did not. In what ways could the book of been more helpful in understanding the topic?
   5. Paragraphs 10-11 tell how your conception of the historical period is changed by reading this book. Be very specific. What further work is needed to clear doubtful points? Where have gaps been left that hinder your understanding of the historical period?
   6. Paragraph 12 is the concluding paragraph and should strike a balance of the merits and faults of the book and resemble the conclusion to an essay. Try to end with some broad statement of general importance about the relevance of the book and its place in the overall scheme of United States history.
      
      
4. Format: Your book review should consist of 3-5 pages, preferably typewritten, double-spaced. It should be written in essay form using your best syntax, grammar and spelling. My evaluation of your review will be based on its content, your analysis of the book and the procedure outlined above.