1302bookreview

History Book Report (DIL)
B-Level

Refer to Chapter IV “Writing a Book Report”

in Andrés Tijerina, How to Pass History

Mimimum Requirement: To make a B in this course you must have an OVERALL TEST AVERAGE OF 80% on ALL 5 TESTS AND write a critical book report.

NOTE that the Book Report is NOT allowed unless you qualify with an overall test average of 80%. You cannot use the Book Report in order TO RAISE your average up to 80%. The Book Report is done over and above the course average of 80%.

APPROVAL: You must have PRIOR APPROVAL for the topic by the DEADLINE posted on the Syllabus, or the report will not be accepted.

Rationale: This analytical book report will critically examine an important scholarly book covering some aspect of History during the time period and scope covered by the history course in which you are enrolled. The purpose of the report is twofold: first, to acquaint the student with this method of historical scholarship and second, to allow the student to think critically about an important facet of American history and then to organize your thoughts in clear, cogent prose.

Format: Each book report will be submitted as a standard software program like MS WORD, and submitted as an attachment by e-mail, approximately 1500 typewritten or word-processed words long. The grade will be based on the quality of the three parts of the book report assignment.

Part I: OUTLINE (Required)

You must submit the 1-page Annotated Outline along with your Book Report. This is an outline of YOUR REPORT. It is NOT an outline of the book.

Just read STEP 2 of Chapter IV “Writing a Book Report” in Tijerina, How to Pass History and copy STEP 3 the SAMPLE ANNOTATED OUTLINE format.

Exception: You may omit the author’s bio and the book review if you cannot find them online.

Step 3. Author’s Bio

Step 8. Book Review

If you do want to find the Author’s Bio and Book Review for your book, follow the instructions in the ACC LIBRARY RESEARCH section at the end of the BOOK LIST below.

Part II: Write your book report in the same order as the OUTLINE. Just read STEP 4 and Step 5 of Chapter IV “Writing a Book Report” in Tijerina, How to Pass History to convert the outline into your ROUGH DRAFT. Then REVISE it to the FINAL DRAFT. Remember that your themes are not themes that the professor dictates. The theme is the point that YOU learned from your book. If you want to quote portions of the book, you must cite the page in a footnote. If you use footnotes, the form can be found in Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

Part III: This is nothing more than the last paragraph of your book report. It is not a separate report. The third component of a book report is simply your personal evaluation of the book and is an important part of your analytical book review. It contains specific elements.

This component is a list of descriptive sentences about the book, like the genre or type of book, the writing method, and style of the author. For example, you state that the book is a narrative history or an autobiography, and that it uses very technical vocabulary. Finally, state whether or not the author succeeded in accomplishing the purpose stated in the “Author’s Purpose.” State that the author succeeded in proving that point, and tell why you think he succeeded.

If you find a book review on your book, cite only one brief phrase from that review, i.e., “The best book on the subject.” Try to cite the reviewer’s name, title, and the publication if possible in your statement, for example, “John Smith, distinguished historian of Yale University, stated in the American Historical Review that this is ‘the best book on the subject.’”

Finally, tell your opinion. The educated opinion has three parts: your approval, your favorite part, and what you got out of it. You should make a simple statement that you like the book or that you did not like it. You should state the reason that you liked it or not. And finally, you should state how it impacted you. For example, you can say, “The book makes a believer that slavery was an evil institution.”

Grading:

The book report will be graded "ACCEPTED" or "NOT ACCEPTED." Recognize that a paper rife with misspellings and grammatical errors will not be considered acceptable. If you submit your book report before the deadline date in the syllabus and it is graded "NOT ACCEPTED" you may revise it and resubmit it prior to the deadline date. NO ANALYTICAL BOOK REVIEWS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE DEADLINE.

The book report is to be e-mailed to me as a TEXT FILE attachment.

NOTE: Any form of scholastic dishonesty, especially plagiarism, in the production of this paper or in any other part of the course WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! Any student committing any form of scholastic dishonesty WILL AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE AN "F" FOR THE COURSE and be reported to ACC authorities for further disciplinary action. The college policy states: "Acts prohibited by the College for which discipline may be administered include scholastic dishonesty. including but not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research, or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes, whether taken electronically or on paper; projects, either individual or group; classroom presentations, and homework."

ACC LIBRARY RESEARCH

These step-by-step instructions were written specifically for you by the ACC Library Reference Librarian, who is very helpful by Online CHAT or if you prefer to visit the Reference Desk.

For Author’s Bio and Book Reviews:

CLICK on the ACC library homepage (Iibrary.austincc.edu)

CLICK on "Articles & Research" in the left-hand sidebar.

Then CLICK on "Articles & Research" and select one of the sources below by clicking on the initial letter of the titles listed below using the “Alphabetical list of database titles.”

SEARCH the book's title to find reviews on the book.

NOTE: If you are not on campus, your name and ACC eID will allow access to these indexes.)

LOCATING AUTHOR AND REVIEW INFORMATION

The online Gale Literary Databases comprises the following three databases:

Contemporary Authors is available in print and on line. Check the library catalog to see which libraries have copies in print. Contains biographies of both fiction and nonfiction authors.

Contemporary Literary Criticism provides both reviews and in-depth critiques on the works of modern authors.

Dictionary of Literary Biography generally contains a list of the author's works, a biographical and critical essay, additional resources such as photos and illustrations and biographical references.

To search all three databases at once:

· Go to library home page http://library.austincc.edu

· Open the "Articles & Research" link in the left-hand sidebar

· Choose "Articles & More"

· Select Gale Literary Databases under G from the “Alphabetical list of database titles”

· Make sure the "Search All Literature Databases" tab is selected

· Enter either the name of your author (last name first) or book title in the appropriate search box