Book Review Outline
Heading
Bibliographic Entry
Title
Section 1: Introduction
Identify the Author and the Title of the book
Identify the Author’s thesis
Develop your own thesis for the review
Section 2: Brief Summary of the Book
Identify the structure of the book
Does the structure help/hurt the author’s argument
What methodology does the author use?
What is the scope of the book
Section 3: Strengths of the thesis/book
Identify the strengths of the book
Use quotations to support your argument
What are the sources?
Section 4: Weakness of thesis/book
Identify the weaknesses of the author’s argument
What is missing from the argument?
Scope? Limited or too big?
Did the evidence fall short?
Lack of sources or evidence?
Is the thesis successful or not?
Section 5: Wrap up/ Conclusion
What is the audience of the book?
Is it worth reading in a class?
Where does it fit into the historiography?
Readdress the author’s thesis
Each section can have multiple paragraphs
Word limit: 900-1100 words.
A = Publishable – few typos
B= Almost Publishable with some edits
C= Not Publishable and needs major edits and revisions
D or Below = Needs major work and does not follow the basic outline.