Researching Book Reviews

22
Researching Book Reviews

description

A guide to book reviews and researching

Transcript of Researching Book Reviews

  • Researching Book Reviews

  • What is a Scholarly Book Review?A scholarly book review is a critical assessment of a book.

  • Book Reviews Are Not Formal Critiques of LiteratureScholarly book reviews are published 6 months to 2 years after the books publication.

    Reviews summarize the books content.

    Reviews evaluate the overall content of the book. Critical essays usually appear long after the books publication.

    Critical essays focus on a close reading of a work such as, a theme, character, language, or theoretical approach.

  • Literary Book ReviewsThere are two types of book reviews:

    Reviews of creative works (e.g., novels)

    Reviews of secondary works (e.g., criticism of creative works)

  • Book Reviews of Creative WorksThis type of book review assesses the:themes or subplots. function of each character in the novel.characters' relationships to one another. comparison to the authors other work

  • Book Review of a Creative Work: Example

  • Book Reviews of Critical Studies in Literature

    significance of the books thesis and theoretical approach

    strengths and weaknesses of analysis, method, and research

    approach or perspective

    extent to which the book contributes to existing scholarship

    These types of book reviews critically evaluate the:

  • Book Review of a Critical Study: Example

  • See the course web page for examples of scholarly books reviews.

  • Advantages of Book Reviews to ResearchersPlace work in context to other similar worksIdentify key scholars and criticsDiscuss controversies, debates, and disagreements within an area.Determine whether the book contributes to the critical canon.

  • Who Writes Scholarly Book Reviews?Editors of literary journals seek reviewers who are experts in their field, meaning that they have contributed significantly to the field through scholarly publications.

    Most of the these experts hold advanced degrees and teach at colleges and universities.

  • Scholarly Book ReviewsScholarly book reviews are published in two venues:JournalsCultural magazines

  • Scholarly Book ReviewsScholarly press

    Cultural Press

  • Book Reviews: Cultural PressThe cultural press, a part of the popular or mainstream media, is not strictly considered scholarly. However, some cultural press periodicals often publish fine assessments of literary works.

  • Book Reviews: Cultural PressThe following cultural press magazines will be acceptable for class projects, provided the reviews are lengthy and detailed.

    Times Literary SupplementNew York Review of BooksNew York Times Book ReviewNew Yorker

  • Other Book Review Formats

    Review essay: discusses an array of books on a specific topic

    Literature review: discusses new and previous works focused on a specific topic

  • Example of a review essay:

  • Literature reviews can be either:

    be the focus of an journal article or book chapter. embedded in a critical article.

  • Example of a literature review:

  • Locating Book ReviewsBook reviews can be found in:

    Book review indexes

    Periodical databases

  • To search for book reviews for your authors creative works or related secondary works, go to the course homepage.

  • Book Reviews: SummaryEvaluates the worth of a bookDiffers from a formal literary critiqueProvides valuable information to researcher Reviews found in 3 formats: article, or as part of a review essay or literature reviewLocate book reviews in periodical databases and book review indexes