Formal Book Review, 4-5 pages, on Brooks, Karl Boyd. Before Earth Day: The Origins of American Environmental Law, 1945-1970. . No cover or title page. Works cited page does not count toward page total.
Use Reading Response Template (on Moodle) as model for the review. That is, the content of the book review is the same content for the reading responses, just in formal writing, with paragraphs organized along the RR template format.
This is formal writing, so you will be graded on content and writing. Normal writing conventions apply. Please use Times New Roman, 12 pt font, one inch margins, double spaced.
Use the full citation for your book as the title.
You do NOT need to include outside references/research.
Use the Chicago/Turabian citation system. There are multiple guides online that show exactly how to use this system.
I highly encourage you to use the JSTOR database to search for ACADEMIC book reviews of your selected book. Cite the book reviews you read on a works cited page at the end of your paper. You are not required to cited the reviews directly in your own paper, but may do so if you wish. You should find that the structure of the book reviews you read looks a whole lot like the reading response template. If you have questions about finding review, which to read, how to cite them, etc… please ask.
Citations: when quoting directly from your book, or citing material covered in the book, you may use the page number in paratheses, i.e. the author said “blah, blah, blah.” (3) or examples included blah, blah, blah (57, 83, 120).
You are NOT required to reference any other works directly in your book review. However, if you choose to do so, you must provide proper citations. If you just reference a work, that can be in-text (ex: this book builds on works such as Crosby’s Columbian Exchange and Ecological Imperialism) then provide a full citation for the books on your works cited page. If you use direct quotes, then you need to drop a footnote with the citation. Use the footnote/endnote function in your word processing program (all of them have this function). Then cite the work in your works cited page.
This purpose of this assignment is to translate the skill of gleaning the important material from a monograph (i.e. the content of the RR) into a formal book review (NOT a book report).
Also, you are all reading academic works of history. Therefore, they are referred to as a book or monograph. None of these are works for fiction, so DO NOT CALL THEM NOVELS.
Normal Writing Conventions include: no use of passive voice, complete sentences, no run-on sentences, no use of contractions (can’t, won’t, etc…), no use of “I”/first person, refer to authors by the full name or last name only, organized paragraphs, proper spelling and punctuation. If you have any questions about the writing process, I’m happy to help and all you need to do is ask
Use the template given below to structure the review the book you must review is before earth day by Karl Boyd.
Topic: What is the author’s chosen subject matter? Give the dates covered, area studied and themes chosen for investigation.
Thesis: What is the author’s main argument? What point is the author trying to get across about the topic?
Implications: What are the underlying conclusions one would draw if the author succeeds in convincing the reader? What are the author’s assumptions? What are the political or social views and goals of the author? What fields might this book contribute to, and why? (Don’t have to address all questions)
Source Material: What are the various sources the author is using to get the point across? Does the author rely on primary research? Which other historians does the author cite? What kinds of potential sources does this author NOT employ? What is important about the author’s choice of sources?
Counter Arguments: What are the holes or problems in the author’s book? What would a hostile reader object to? What are the other ways of envisioning this topic? What does the author overlook (is there anything the author SHOULD have included, but did not)?
Success: Does the author succeed in proving the stated thesis? Is the book about what the author said it would be about? Is the book convincing to you? Do you find the book to be an important contribution to the field?
