Everything You Should Know about Writing Book Reviews

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EVERYTHING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WRITING BOOK
REVIEWS
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• A book review is not simply a summary of some
  work its about critical discussion, presenting
  books strengths and weaknesses. Usually, it is a
  brief description of authors key points and your
  own evaluation of the work. If you need help with
  writing a literature review, here are some useful
  tips.

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• Read the book carefully
• If its possible, read it several times because
  this will help to see books characters and key
  aspects from a different perspective. Then, take
  notes. The main point here is to brainstorm all
  your thoughts and impressions after reading.

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• Research about the author
• Everything is important who the author is, what
  other publications he/she has composed, what
  style he/she usually uses, whether the author is
  famous or just a beginner in the writing field.

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• Look at a books genre
• You need to find out the genre of the book
  (fiction, drama, mystery, biography, fantasy,
  etc), determine its audience and the purpose of
  the work.

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• Define the main themes of the work
• There can be several themes in the book,
  especially if it is a fiction. Estimate how well
  the author develops them, what areas he/she has
  covered and which ones the author has missed.

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• Look at the books format
• The books layout, binding, fonts, typography, a
  presence of visual materials such as maps,
  drawings, diagrams and so on can say a lot about
  the author and his/her writing manner. Define
  whether these materials support ideas or not.

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• Define whether the book is original
• Does it give the reader new information? Is it
  similar to other works in this genre or does the
  author breaks existing rules in the genre?

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• Stick to the reviews structure
• Opening paragraph of a cheap dissertation
  literature review includes the main thesis, the
  author, comparison to other works, and the
  importance of the work.

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• Body paragraphs should contain your main points
  and impressions. Here you develop your thesis.
• Conclusions sum up everything youve written and
  estimate the whole work. Its time to give a
  final judgment about the book.

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• Come up with a heading
• This part of your systematic literature review
  should include bibliographic information its
  title, the author, publisher and the year when
  this work was published as well as pages number.

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• Create a catchy introduction
• You should catch the attention of your readers so
  they will be engaged in reading your review as
  well as inform them what your work is going to be
  about. You can begin with an intriguing
  statement, joke or impressive historical moment.
  Keep it concise and to the point.

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• If you have troubles with composing an
  eye-catching introduction, leave it and craft
  later. After youll write your main ideas and
  critique the work, it will be much easier to
  compose an introduction which will definitely
  match the body paragraphs of APA lit review.

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• Create a summary of the book
• Write authors main ideas and themes. It should
  be brief, informative and clear. Cite and quote
  where it is appropriate. If have some writing
  issues, hire literature review writers.

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• Its time to critique the book
• Critical discussion is probably the heart of any
  book reviews. Writing book reviews demands your
  own opinion on whether the author has achieved
  his/her purpose, how the work differs from others
  in this genre, define some aspects which were not
  convincing or weakly developed. Support your
  points with quotes and passages.

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• Finish your journal article review
• Sum up your critical discussion. Write down
  books strengths and weaknesses. Decide whether
  you will recommend this book to read or not.
  Dont include in this section any new
  information if you come up with some brilliant
  ideas, put them in the body.

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• Polish your piece of writing
• Dont be afraid if your first draft is not
  perfect. Keep calm and revise what youve
  written. Ideally, give yourself a few hours or
  even days before you start revision in order to
  look at your written piece from a fresh
  perspective.

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• Use spell checker, fix grammar, and punctuation
  mistakes. There is nothing worse, than bad
  English and poorly written paper. Also, double
  check citations. Choose one format and stick to
  it (APA, Chicago, etc).

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• Ask somebody else to proofread for you
• Some people find it difficult to critique their
  own works so you should consider asking your
  friends or tutors to read your thesis literature
  review and give a feedback. A fresh pair of eyes
  is always a good idea.
• More useful information you can find in this
  Google book.

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• Still need lit review writing help?
• Check
• litreview.net
• right away!