HISTORY BOOK CRITIQUE

Book Critique Grading Scale For Superior (A) the following and nothing from Meets Standards, Substandard, or Failing Standards must apply to your work. Reviews *All reviews are from academic journals or JSTOR/EBESCO. Problems, Sources, Methods *Problems, Sources, and Methods are all explained clearly. *Any of Problems, Sources, or Methods are not explained completely. *May have minor factual errors. Major Theses *Major Theses are mostly important ideas. *Some of the Major Theses may be from pages near each other. *Your comments show you mostly understand the Major Theses. *There are at least four Major Theses. *The Major Theses are quoted with page reference. *Each Major Thesis is commented on in your own words. Scholarly Dialogue *Scholarly Dialogue shows you understand the book’s importance *The Scholarly Dialogue contains comments in your own words. Sources *Shows a clear mastery of using and citing sources. (any or all of below apply) A variety of sources are used (print, Ebesco or J-Stor or Academic Search premiere). Sources are cited correctly both in footnotes and bibliography Sources used throughout the critique Sources show serious thought Book is compared with sources throughout the critique Grammar *Shows good use of grammar, well written.

For Meets Standards (B or C) any of the following and nothing from Substandard or Failing Standards must apply to your work. Reviews *At least one review is from a refereed journal or from JSTOR/EBESCO. *Reviews are not cited clearly. * It is not clear where the reviews are from. *Only one review used. Problems, Sources, Methods *Problems, Sources, and Methods are explained less than clearly. *Any of Problems, Sources, or Methods are incomplete or brief. *Some factual errors. Major Theses *Some Major Theses are important ideas, others are not or are not clear. *Several of the Major Theses are from pages near each other. *Your comments show you don’t completely understand the Major Theses. *There are at least four Major Theses. *The Major Theses are not quoted or are without page reference. *Each Major Thesis is briefly or incompletely commented on in your own words. Scholarly Dialogue *Scholarly Dialogue shows you partially understand the book’s importance * The Scholarly Dialogue section or your comment on it is brief. *The Scholarly Dialogue contains comments in your own words. Sources *Shows basic or adequate use and citing of sources. (any or all of below apply) Sources used are half or mostly online (Ebesco or J-Stor or Academic Search Premiere). Sources are cited incorrectly or unclearly. Sources are not cited or cited incompletely (no footnotes or no bibliography etc.) Sources used in a small part of the critique or used very sparsely. Book is compared with sources a little or incompletely or unclearly. Grammar *Some grammatical errors, poorly written. In the event your critique is judged to Meet Standards whether you get a B or a C is based on my opinion of your work. I try to be as fair as I can. I look for important insights, thorough understanding, and clarity among other things.

Substandard (D) Any of the following means a Substandard grade as long as nothing from the Failing Standard also applies. This is true even if something from one of the higher standards also applies. Reviews *None of the reviews are from a refereed journal *There are no reviews cited *Reviews are not cited clearly or completely. * Reviews are from places like Amazon.com Problems, Sources, Methods *The Problems, Sources, or Methods are very briefly, incompletely or not explained. *The critique seems unoriginal or even cut and pasted. *Serious factual errors or factually incomplete. Major Theses *The Major Theses are not important ideas at all. *There are no or very brief comments on the Major Theses. *You do not understand the Major Theses. *There are less than four Major Theses. *Several or all of the Major Theses are from a small part of the book *Just a summary of the book or a book review not a critique. Scholarly Dialogue *Your comments on Scholarly Dialogue show you do not understand the book’s importance. *You don’t comment on the Scholarly Dialogue. *There is no Scholarly Dialogue section. Sources *Shows a lack of competence in using or citing sources. (any or all of below apply) Sources are all or mostly online (websites). Sources such as book review databases (like Amazon.com) or non academic used. Only the assigned text(s) used as a source. Sources used very little. Sources are cited completely wrong (url’s embedded in the text, etc.). Book not compared with sources or no sources used. Sources not cited or cited very incompletely. Grammar * grammatical errors, badly written. Failing (F) Any of the following means a Failing even if something from one of the higher standards also applies. *There are no Major Theses. *Plagiarized *Very brief *Unreadable