Watch the Videos Below:
Thomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
Thomas Sowell — Basic Economics
Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society
The Origin of Black American Culture and Ebonics | Thomas Sowell
This assignment involves writing a review. This is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft.
What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand.
1] What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
2] What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
3] How does the author support her argument? What evidence does she use to prove her point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
4] How does the author structure her argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text’s production:
Format:
The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
Relevant details about who the author is and where he/she stands in the genre or field of inquiry.
The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book.
The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments.
Summary of content: This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.
Analysis and evaluation of the book
Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book.
Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.
Conclusion: Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis. This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center’s handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.
