Writing a book review or article critique

• book review or article critique - is a specialized form of academic writing in which a reviewer evaluates the contribution to knowledge of scholarly works such as academic books and journal articles
• It usually ranges from 250-750 words, is not simply a summary. it is a critical assessment, analysis or evaluation of work
• As an advance form of writing, it involves you skills in critical thinking and recognizing arguments
• A book review or a article critique is different in movie review that you see in a news paper. although movie review involves the analysis of one's work, it is written for general audience and primarily aims to offer persuasive opinion
• an academic book review or article critique addresses a more specific audience and usually offers a critical response to a published scholarly work
• book reports focuses on describing the plot, characters or idea of a certain point
• Questions to ask when writing a book/article critique

  • What is the topic of the book or article?
  • What is its purpose?
  • Who are its intended readers?
  • Does the writer explicitly state his/her thesis statement?
  • What theoretical assumptions are mentioned in the book or article?
  • What are the contributions of the book or article to the field it is situated in?
  • What problems or issues are discussed in the book or article?
  • What kind of information are presented in the book/article?
  • Are there other ways of supporting the arguments or thesis aside from the information used in the book/article?
  • What is your overall reaction to the work?
• Guidelines in writing a book review or article critique

  • read the article or book to be reviewed carefully to get its main concept
  • reread it to get the arguments being presented
  • relate the content from what you already know about the topic
  • focus on discussing how the book treats the topic and not a topic itself
  • situate your review
  • examine whether the findings are adequately supported or not
  • analyze the type of analysis the writer used and how it supports the arguments and claims
• Guidelines in writing a book review or article critique

  • Suggest ways on how the writer can improve his/her reasoning or explanation
  • Discuss how the same topic is explained from other perspective
  • Point out other conclusion or interpretation that the writer missed out
  • Examine the connections between ideas and present and explanation
  • Suggest some alternative methods and processes of reasoning that would result in a more conclusive interpretation
• Completing a book review or article critique

  You can pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses and that you can identify different perspectives