2
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Book Title
Book Critique
Submitted to Professor’s Name, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements of the course,
YOUT 510
Developing a Philosophy of Youth Ministry
Submitted By
Your Name
Today’s Date
Author Information
Information should be placed here in order to build a brief paragraph or two about the author which is pertinent to the paper. You may obtain this information from the author’s personal website or from the book. Whichever you choose, you must make sure to paraphrase the important facts. Also make sure to cite any source that you use throughout the entire paper.
Content Summary
The purpose of this section is for you to summarize the author’s main ideas without personal commentary. This should not merely be a chapter breakdown but an overview and summary of the book. Please do not use this type of summary: Chapter 1 says this; Chapter 2 says that. Instead, break it down by main points of concern for the author and use these as your natural breaks. You need to make sure and share enough detail that someone who has not read the book could read your summary and understand the important ideas of the book. This section should be three to four pages long.
Evaluation
This will act as your critique of the book. Demonstrate that you are thinking critically about the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s ideas. That means taking an academic look at specific ideas and supporting your thoughts. Here you will interact with the text and make your positive and negative critiques in regards to the book. Make sure that what you are writing is intellectual and not merely spiteful criticism or blind consent. Your evaluation should contain a valid statement about the book’s value in the practice and study of youth ministry. How would you implement one or two of the author’s specific ideas in a youth ministry? This section should be a page to a page and a half long. That means you must carefully choose what you will cover and be concise.
Bibliography
You must make sure to follow Turabian formatting here. Bibliographies must be self-contained, starting their own page, must have consistent formatting with the rest of the paper, and the sources must be single-spaced but double-spaced between the sources. For help with using the proper format for these entries, go to bibme.org and enter the source information into their search engine. This will format that information and import it into a bibliography for you. You will need to register to use the website, but it is well worth it. Make sure to change the formatting type to Turabian if it defaults to MLA. The School of Divinity Writing Guide also gives clear examples for bibliography entries and footnotes (they are formatted differently).
You can use this document as the template for your paper by replacing the material in each section with your own.