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Book reviews Structure and language
Book reviews are sometimes used on undergraduate courses, and frequently appear in academic journals. This page considers what a book review is , how to structure one , and provides some language for writing a book review .
What is a book review?
A book review describes and critically evaluates a (usually recent) book. Like any kind of review, for example a review of a film or television programme, it will offer a description of the main points, consider the strengths and weaknesses, and give an overall evaluation, in order to allow the reader to decide whether or not it will be of interest to them and therefore a good investment of their time and money. Book reviews are sometimes used as assignments on undergraduate courses, and are a common component of academic journals. They are typically short pieces of work, around 500-750 words in length. They may sometimes be shorter or longer, but will rarely exceed 1000 words. A book review should not be confused with a book report, which is a relatively short and purely descriptive assignment, common in high school (rather than university) courses.
Structure of book reviews
A book review will usually begin with bibliographic information . This means details such as the name of the book, the name(s) of the author(s), and the publisher. Other details may be helpful, for example date and place of publication, format, edition, number of pages, price and ISBN.
The text of the review should begin with an introduction . As the review will be fairly brief, it is common to begin with an anecdote or quotation which captures the main idea of the book. The introduction will identify the author and title, specify the type of book, and state the book's subject matter. Further background detail to place the book in context may be given, for example previous work by the author in the same field, prior work by other writers in the same field, or information about the book series (if the book is part of a series). The thesis of the book, i.e. its specific contribution, may also be given, along with your own thesis, i.e. your initial appraisal of the work and key observations.
The main body of the review will provide description and critical evaluation of the text. These may be dealt with separately, with description first and evaluation next, or in combination. Although the evaluation is the more important part, the description may still take up half or two thirds of the content of the main body, in order to lay the foundation for the evaluation.
The description of the text will summarise the book. Evidence from the book, such as quotations, may be used to support the points. This part might give information on the following areas, which can later be used as criteria for evaluating the book:
- content of the book (possibly by chapter-by-chapter);
- the author's purpose;
- the intended audience;
- the author's arguments and themes;
- sources used in the book;
- how the book is organised or laid out.
The critical evaluation will present your reaction to the book. You might compare it to other (similar) books in the field, and consider its relative strengths and weaknesses. In this part you may respond to the areas above by considering key questions, as follows, to further highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the book.
- Content of the book . Is everything included? Is there too much information? Is anything essential left out?
- The author's purpose . Has the author succeeded in their purpose?
- The intended audience . Is the book appropriate for the intended audience? Why (not)? Who else might benefit from reading it?
- The author's arguments and themes . How valid or effective are the arguments and themes? Do you agree with the author's opinions? Why (not)?
- Sources used in the book . How strong are the sources? Are there enough?
- How the book is organised or laid out . Is it organised in a logical or useful way? Are there any problems? Is the layout clear and easy to use?
Finally, there should be a conclusion to the book review. This will sum up your thoughts on the book. This means summarising the book's strengths and weaknesses, indicating whether this is a useful book, whether it will make a lasting contribution to its field, whether you recommend it, and who will benefit from reading it.
Note that the above is the structure for a book review for a non-fiction work, which is the most common kind of review for university study. For a work of fiction, a similar approach can be used, though in place of the points for argument and sources, you would consider setting, plot, characters, use of language and voice when describing the book, and consider how effective each of these elements are when evaluating it.
Language for book reviews
It is important is to make sure that your views are distinct from the author's. This can be done by using the author's name, or referring to 'The author' or 'The book'.
The following phrases might be useful for summarising the contents of the book.
- The book is divided into the following parts.
- This text is divided into four main chapters focusing on...
- Section one of the book details...
- The opening chapter focuses on...
- The second section explores...
- Chapter three...
- The next chapter...
- The final chapter...
The following phrases can be used to highlight weaknesses.
- The book would benefit from...
- A nice addition to the book would be...
- The weakest area of the book is...
- The only/main/greatest weakness/drawback of the book is...
The following phrases can be used to indicate a suitable audience for the book.
- The book should appeal to those who...
- This book is applicable to...
- It would be an excellent resource for...
- The book is particularly interesting for...
- The book will be of interest to...
- This book is highly recommended to...
- ... are likely to find the book useful.
- ... would find it valuable.
The following adjectives can be used to give a positive review (negatives of these can be used for a negative review).
- informative
- interesting
- well-organised
- substantial
- comprehensive
Example review
An example book review, as well as exercises for book reviews, can be found in the book Academic Writing Genres: Essays, Reports & Other Genres , part of the EAP Foundation series of books. You can use the form below to download a sample of the book .
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Below is a checklist for book reviews. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.
Next section
Find out more about research proposals in the next section.
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Go back to the previous section about literature reviews .
Author: Sheldon Smith ‖ Last modified: 27 December 2022.
Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .
Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.
Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).
Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.
Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).
Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.
Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.
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Writing book reviews.
A book review tells not only what a book is about, but also how successful it is at what it is trying to do. Professors often assign book reviews as practice in careful analytical reading.
As a reviewer, you bring together the two strands of accurate, analytical reading and strong, personal response when you indicate what the book is about and what it might mean to a reader (by explaining what it meant to you). In other words, reviewers answer not only the WHAT but the SO WHAT question about a book. Thus, in writing a review, you combine the skills of describing what is on the page, analyzing how the book tried to achieve its purpose, and expressing your own reactions.
READING THE BOOK
As you're reading or preparing to write the review, ask yourself these questions:
What are the author's viewpoint and purpose? The viewpoint or purpose may be implied rather than stated, but often a good place to look for what the author says about his or her purpose and viewpoint is the introduction or preface. What are the author's main points? Again, these will often be stated in the introduction. What kind of evidence does the author use to prove his or her points? Is the evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does the author support his or her points adequately? How does this book relate to other books on the same topic? Is the book unique? Does it add new information? What group of readers, if any, would find this book most useful? Does the author have the necessary expertise to write the book? What are the most appropriate criteria by which to judge the book? How successful do you think the author was in carrying out the overall purposes of the book? Depending on your book's purpose, you should select appropriate criteria by which to judge its success. Use any criteria your instructor has given you in lecture or on your assignment sheet. Otherwise, here are some criteria to consider. For example, if an author says his or her purpose is to argue for a particular solution to a public problem, such as school reform or international relations, then the review should judge whether the author has defined the problem, identified causes, planned points of attack, provided necessary background information and offered specific solutions. A review should also indicate the author's professional expertise. In other books, however, authors may argue for their theory about a particular phenomenon. Reviews of these books should evaluate what kind of theory the book is arguing for, how much and what kind of evidence the author uses to support his/her scholarly claims, how valid the evidence seems, how expert the author is, and how much the book contributes to the knowledge of the field.
WRITING THE BOOK REVIEW
Although you should include what you feel is appropriate for explaining your assessment of a book, reviews generally include the following kinds of information.
Most reviews start off with a heading that includes all the bibliographic information about the book. If your assignment sheet does not indicate which form you should use, you can use the following:
Title . Author. Place of publication: publisher, date of publication. Number of pages.
Like most pieces of writing, the review itself usually begins with an introduction that lets your readers know what the review will say. The first paragraph usually includes the author and title again, so your readers don't have to look up to find the title. You should also include a very brief overview of the contents of the book, the purpose or audience for the book, and your reaction and evaluation.
Reviews then generally move into a section of background information that helps place the book in context and discusses criteria for judging the book.
Next, the review gives a summary of the main points of the book, quoting and paraphrasing key phrases from the author.
Finally, reviewers get to the heart of their writing—their evaluation of the book. In this section, reviewers discuss a variety of issues:
- how well the book has achieved its goal,
- what possibilities are suggested by the book,
- what the book has left out,
- how the book compares to others on the subject,
- what specific points are not convincing, and
- what personal experiences you've had related to the subject.
It is important to carefully distinguish your views from the author's, so that you don't confuse your reader.
Like other essays, book reviews usually end with a conclusion which ties together issues raised in the review and provides a concise comment on the book.
There is, of course, no set formula, but a general rule of thumb is that the first one-half to two-thirds of the review should summarize the author's main ideas and at least one-third should evaluate the book. Check with your instructor.
Below is a review of Taking Soaps Seriously by Michael Intintoli written by Ruth Rosen in the Journal of Communication . Note that Rosen begins with a context for Intintoli's book, showing how it is different from other books about soap operas. She finds a strength in the kind of details that his methodology enables him to see. However, she disagrees with his choice of case study. All in all, Rosen finds Intintoli's book most useful for novices, but not one that advances our ability to critique soap operas very much.
Taking Soaps Seriously: The World of Guiding Light . Michael Intintoli. New York: Praeger, 1984. 248 pp. Ever since the U.S. public began listening to radio soaps in the 1930s, cultural critics have explored the content, form, and popularity of daytime serials. Today, media critics take a variety of approaches. Some explore audience response and find that, depending on sex, race, or even nationality, people "decode" the same story in different ways. Others regard soaps as a kind of subversive form of popular culture that supports women's deepest grievances. Still others view the soap as a "text" and attempt to "deconstruct" it, much as a literary critic dissects a work of literature. Michael Intintoli's project is somewhat different. For him, the soap is a cultural product mediated and created by corporate interests. It is the production of soaps, then, that is at the center of his Taking Soaps Seriously . To understand the creation of soap operas, Intintoli adopted an ethnographic methodology that required a rather long siege on the set of "Guiding Light." Like a good anthropologist, he picked up a great deal about the concerns and problems that drive the production of a daily soap opera. For the novice there is much to be learned here. . . . But the book stops short of where it should ideally begin. In many ways, "Guiding Light" was simply the wrong soap to study. First broadcast in 1937, "Guiding Light" is the oldest soap opera in the United States, owned and produced by Procter and Gamble, which sells it to CBS. It is therefore the perfect soap to study for a history of the changing daytime serial. But that is not Intintoli's project. . . . Taking Soaps Seriously is a good introduction to the production of the daily soap opera. It analyzes soap conventions, reveals the hierarchy of soap production, and describes a slice of the corporate production of mass culture. Regrettably, it reads like an unrevised dissertation and misses an important opportunity to probe the changing nature of soap production and the unarticulated ideological framework in which soaps are created.
POLISHING THE BOOK REVIEW
After you've completed your review, be sure to proofread it carefully for errors and typos. Double-check your bibliographic heading—title, author, publisher, and pages—for accuracy and correct spelling as well.
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