Professional Book Review: Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
Book Review Clarity
1. Your book must be approved by Dr. DL Reed! The E.185 section of the Thurgood Marshall Library contains African American history titles. Also, go the Bowie State University website, click Library, and then click the E-Resources (EBSCO E-book Collection or EBL Library) for online sources.
2. The book review is two to three double spaced typed pages using size 12 font and Arial print or Times New Roman.
3. The “masthead” is the bibliographic citation that is placed at the top of the page and contains the following information:
Blank Example [you plug in your book’s information in this exact same order as below]
Full Book Title. By Author’s name. (City of the publisher: Publishing company name, year published. Earliest page of the book + last page number of the book pp. other component parts such as illustrations, appendix, index, glossary, etc.) price of the book, ISBN #
Real Example
Prince Hall: Life and Legacy. By Charles Wesley. (Washington, D.C.: The United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation, 1977. Xvii + 228pp. Illustrations, appendix, bibliography, and index.) $15.00, ISBN 999-456-987472
4. Your name ONLY GOES ON THE LAST BACK PAGE of the review with the name of your institution two spaces below your last sentence.
Ex.
DL Reed
Bowie State University
5. In general, after identifying the author’s central thesis in the first paragraph, the rest of the review is 2 ½ pages of summation with examples that support the author’s thesis….tell the story….then conclude with at least a half page of critique….which is your analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Use third person voice and its okay if you think the book is all good, all bad or a combination of both. Please explain how well you think the author achieved their task based on their purpose for writing the book.
6. You can find professional book reviews in the Journal of Negro History, Journal of Southern History, Journal of American History or the American Historical Review. [ALL IN THURGOOD MARSHALL LIBRARY ON THE FIRST FLOOR] Normally articles are in the front of an issue and the book review are after the main articles.
7. There is a good reference book that explains how to do a book review as well called The Modern Researcher by Jacques Barzun in a section called “The Short Piece and the Paragraph.”