CRITICAL BOOK REPORT

“CONTEXTUAL WRITTEN LANGUAGE SKILLS”

Lecturer :  Puan Suri Mira A.S. S.Pd. , M.Hum.

ARRANGED BY :

Doni Setiawan Sinaga (2191121001)

Akwila Silvania (2191121020)
Lia Sri Palomita Br. Doloksaribu (2191121023)
Dinda Ferina ( 2193121017)

CLASS : REGULER A
ENGLISH EDUCATION
MAJORING ENGLISH EDUCATION AND LITERATURE
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ART
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2019
 PREFACE

Thankfulness the author offers to show the Almighty God, because the writer can
complete the Critical Book Review to convey the assignment in the contextual Written Language
Skill lesson.

Storing things that happened during the Critical Book Review creation is broadening the
horizons in analyzing this book, adding insight, and so on. Glad to find out for Puan Suri Mira
A.S. S.Pd. , M.Hum. as a lecturer in Contextual Written Languange skill who has given her
direction Critical Book Review can be arranged on time.

The author acknowledges that in making this Critical Book Review is far from perfect.
Therefore, the author accepts growing criticism and suggestions so that the author can improve
it. Hopefully this Critical Book Review is useful for writers and readers in general. Finally, the
author says thank you.

Medan, maret 2020

Author
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………………
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION……………...…………………………………………..........
A. The Background of CBR……………………………………………………………...
B. The Purpose of CBR………………………………………………………………….
C. The Benefits of CBR………………………………………………………………......
D. Book Identity……………………………………………………………………….....

CHAPTER II THE SUMMARY OF BOOK………………………………………….………..

CHAPTER III ANALYSIS AND RESULT……………………………………………………
3.1 Analysis content of the books…………………………………………………………………
3.2 Strength and weaknesses………………………………………………………………………
CHAPTER III CLOSING……………………………………………………………………….

A. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………

B. SUGGESTION……………………………………………...............................................
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………….
 CHAPTER I
Introduction

A. The Background of CBR

Critical Book Review is an activity that criticizes books with the discussion about the
book, how about the content, systematic writing, EYD writing and also the strength and the
weakness of a book. In make Critical Book Review, it is better if we can choose books that are
worth to criticizing, reading and have to think critically. In this book, the topic is about Reading
skills. Reading skills involves more than analyzing your ability to talk and hear other people. It
is about adapting language to suit the situation and linking your listening and speaking skills to
be able to respond to any argument. Reading is the active process of receiving and responding to
spoken messages while speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth. So that reading
skills are important to study..

B. PURPOSE
1. Review the contents of the book.
2. Knowing the information of a book.
3. To fulfill assignments in contextual Written Language Skills.
4. Improve way of thinking to be more critical in reviewing books.
5. Explain the strength and weaknesses of the book.

C. BENEFITS
Benefits of Critical Book Review are know about reading and writing strategies and improve
reading with known the readings strategies and for this assignment can improve ability and write
summary of the book that can improve writers skills.

D. BOOK IDENTITY

No Item Book1 Book 2

1 Title of book Academic writing “A Academic writing course
handbook for international
Student”
2 The Author Stephen Bailey R.R Jordan
3 Publisher Routledge Pearson Education
4 City of publisher New York, United States England
5 Year of 2011 1999
publishing
6 Edition Third Edition Third Edition
7 Pages 314 162

8 ISBN 0-203-83165-9 0582400198

 Chapter II
Content of Book
“Paraphrasing”
BOOK 1

Paraphrasing means changing the wording of a text so that it is significantly different from the
original source, without changing the meaning. Effective paraphrasing is a key academic skill
needed to avoid the risk of plagiarism: it demonstrates your understanding of a source. This unit
focuses on techniques for paraphrasing as part of the note-making and summarising process.

1 The elements of effective paraphrasing

Paraphrasing and summarising are normally used together in essay writing, but while
summarising aims to reduce information to a suitable length, paraphrasing attempts to restate the
relevant information. For example, the following sentence: There has been much debate about
the reasons for the industrial revolution happening in eighteenth-century Britain, rather than in
France or Germany. could be paraphrased: Why the industrial revolution occurred in Britain in
the eighteenth century, instead of on the continent, has been the subject of considerable
discussion.

2. Techniques for paraphrasing

(a) Changing vocabulary by using synonyms:

argues > claims/ eighteenth century > 1700s/ wages > labour costs/ economise > saving
NB. Do not attempt to paraphrase every word, since some have no true synonym, e.g. demand,
economy, energy

(b) Changing word class:

explanation (n.) > explain (v.) / mechanical (adj.) > mechanise (v.) / profitable (adj.) >
profitability (n.)

(c) Changing word order

: . . . the best explanation for the British location of the industrial revolution is found by studying
demand factors.

> A focus on demand may help explain the UK origin of the industrial revolution.
THE CAUSES OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Allen (2009) argues that the best explanation for the British location of the industrial revolution
is found by studying demand factors. By the early eighteenth century high wages and cheap
energy were both features of the British economy. Consequently, the mechanisation of industry
through such inventions as the steam engine and mechanical spinning was profitable because
employers were able to economise on labour by spending on coal. At that time, no other country
had this particular combination of expensive labour and abundant fuel.

Paraphrase

(a) A focus on demand may help to explain the UK origin of the industrial revolution. At that
time workers’ pay was high, but energy from coal was inexpensive. This encouraged the
development of mechanical inventions based on steam power, which enabled bosses to save
money by mechanising production (Allen, 2009).

(b) The reason why Britain was the birthplace of the industrial revolution can be understood by
analysing demand in the early 1700s, according to Allen (2009). He maintains that, uniquely,
Britain had the critical combination of cheap energy from coal and high labour costs. This
encouraged the adoption of steam power to mechanise production, thus saving on wages and
increasing profitability.

(c) Allen (2009) claims that the clearest explanation for the UK location of the industrial
revolution is seen by examining demand factors. By the eighteenth century cheap energy and
high wages were both aspects of the British economy. As a result, the mechanisation of industry
through inventions such as the steam engine and mechanical spinning was profitable because
employers were able to save money on employees by spending on coal. At that time, Britain was
the only country with significant deposits of coal.
Book 2

In academic types of academic writing it is often necessary to refer to other people’s research.
This may be done to give support to your own research or ideas. In this units we shall look at and
practice paraphrasing( using your own words to report someone else’s writing, but maintaining
and academic style) an summarizing (giving a brief account of the main points of some writing).
In both of these it will be necessary to look for topic sentences and keywords in the original texts
(the main information/points).

References must always be given to the sources of the texts you are making use of in Unit 16,
otherwise you may be accused of plagiarism ( using someone else’s ideas or words as if they
were your own). Advice on making summaries is contained in the Structure and Vocabulary Aid
at the end of this unit.

Rewriting a text for the purpose of including it in your own writing can be dones in several
ways. Look at these examples.

1. By changing the vocabulary ( verbs/nouns)

e.g She examined the difficulties that….
= She investigated the problem that…

2. By changing the verb form (e.g. from active to passive, this can change the focus or emphasis)
e.g. Johns (1987) analysed the student’s difficulties and
= The students’ difficulties were analysed by Johns (1987)

3. By changing the word class (e.g. from verb to noun phrase)

e.g. The reports were completed in April…
= The completion of the reports in April ensured that the students bad to revise before
their examination

4. By synthesis
You may need to combine two or many view points or pieces of information from othe writers
in your paraphrase and summary. Often one reference will support another, but there may be
opposing views as well.

Example of synthesis
John and Dudley-Evans (1980) touched on the problem created by the lecturers’ use of colloquial
words and phrase… This use of informal language was also noted by Jakson and Bilton (1994)
Who investigated geology lectures given in English.

Two direct quotations are given below relating to the same topic (note talking). Paraphrase and
combine them in a brief report ( not using direct quotations). See the structure and vocabulary
Aid for a selection of reporting verbs.
‘Terseness of note taking… rather than mere quantity seems tobe an essential ingradient on
effective…note taking. (Dunkel,1988)

‘several other researchers have found similar positive relationships between “terseness” of notes
and test performance…’
( Chaudron, Loschky and Cook,1994)
 CHAPTER III
ANALYSIS AND RESULT

3.1 Analysis Content of The Books

In both these books have the same topic about paraphrasing. In the first book discuss the notion
of paraphrasing as well as in the second book. The first book explains understanding and
provides steps on how to do paraphrasing correctly for the reader. The first book creates a text
and performs paraphrasing techniques in accordance with the steps in the first book. The author
of this book gives three examples of paraphrasing in the text. And after this book there is a
paraphrasing exercise for the readers of this book.
And in the second book also explains how the steps to do paraphrasing. This book explains that there are
4 correct steps in doing the right paraphrasing. Distinct with the main book that provides 3 steps in
paraphrasing. According to the author, the second book gives a more easily understood explanation than
the first book. The steps to paraphrasing described are easier to understand. And the second book gives an
example of how to do paraphrasing well and this book gives the reader an exercise in knowing
understanding about paraphrasing after reading this book.

3.2 Strength and Weaknesses

1. From the cover aspect, the first book and the second book have a good cover and display the
identity of the book on the cover such as the author's name, publisher's name and edition of the
book. but the second book has a cover that is less bright so that if seen by the reader, this book
seems less attractive to the reader. And in the second book, there are no weaknesses in the cover
aspect.

2. From the contents of the book about paraphrasing, both of these books explain the meaning of
paraphrasing, the steps of doing good paraphrasing, and provide examples of good paraphrasing
in both books. But in the first book has a weakness that is an explanation of the steps to do
paraphrasing. The explanation given in the first book is less understood by readers and writers.
So this book has a weakness in providing an explanation of the good steps to do paraphrasing
and in the second book gives good practice to the reader and the explanation of the material in
this book is easily understood by the writer and the reader. The writer found no weaknesses in
the second book in aspects of the contents of the book.

3. From the aspect of grammar language of the books, In the aspect of using grammar in the first
book, use correct grammar and there are no errors in writing or incorrect grammar usage.
Likewise in the use of grammar in the second book, but there are several use of punctuation that
the authors consider to be incorrect, namely the word "Students", the incorrect use of quotation
marks on the word that should be "Student's". and the word "Lecturers'" which should be
"Lecturer's". And that's a shortage that can be seen by the writer and readers.
4. In the writing materials of the book, the main book has a good, neat and comfortable writing
to read this book and also in the second book it has a good writing too and the reader will be easy
to read these two books. Both of these books are not have a weaknesses from this aspects.

CHAPTER IV
CLOSING
4.1 CONCLUSION
In conclusion these books are good for writing academic learners. And these books contains
much information and steps how to writing use with writing academic format. These books
almost not have weaknesses because the contents of the books so informative yet so good as
well. But in main book, there are some words that not easy to understand by reader or learner.
These books are recommended for those people who wants to learn how to writing in academic.

4.2 SUGGESTION
We suggest the author of these books to make an improvement in contents. Time goes and so
knowladge on. We all know that knowladge develop a lot. So, we as writers suggest for
improvement. Last, we suggest these books for education use, for example in university.
Contents and materials are relate in academic writing so that's why we highly recommend for
education use.
REFERENCES