| 1. The monograph is comprised of... 2. Part two discusses... 3. The second section deals with... 4....is presented in the second chapter. 5....is analyzed in the final chapter. 6. The last part covers a very important problem of... 7. A great number of illustrations are presented... 8. You can find a lot of references. 9. A list of literature... 10. The book covers... 11. The material is arranged... 12. Introduction is followed by the chapters devoted to... 13. The main achievement of the work lies in profound treatment of the experimental material. | a. . b. . c. d. . e. f. g. . h. i. j. . k. l. , m. |
Text 1: What is a review?
Book reviews typically evaluate recently-written works. A book review is both a description and an evaluation of a book. It should focus on the book purpose, contents, and authority.
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.
There is no right way to write a book review. Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer. A review can be as short as 50-100 words, or as long as 1500 words, depending on the purpose of the review. The following are standard procedures for writing book reviews; they are suggestions, not formulae that must be used.
While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:
- first, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
- second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
- finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.
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 dont have to look up to find this information. 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.
You should then move into a section of background information that helps place the book in context and discusses criteria for judging the book. Next, you should give a summary of the main points of the book, quoting and paraphrasing key phrases from the author. Finally, you get to the heart of your review your evaluation of the book. In this section, you might discuss some of the following 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;
- what personal experiences youve had related to the subject.
Then, like other essays, you can end with a direct comment on the book, and tie together issues raised in the review in a conclusion. 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 authors main ideas and at least one-third should evaluate the book. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.
