WRITING A BOOK REVIEW

OR AN ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Purposeful Writing in the Disciplines and for Professions, Reading and Writing
Skills
 A BOOK REVIEW OR AN ARTICLE CRITIQUE GIVES ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
ABOUT A BOOK (FICTION OR NONFICTION) OR AN ARTICLE (E.G., FROM
NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINES, ACADEMIC JOURNALS) AND PROVIDES AN
EVALUATION OR A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF IT.

Read the Material

• Before you can begin writing a book review or an article critique, you have to read and
understand the material first. Academic materials demand a different way of reading from those
which require mere pleasure reading. The material that you will review or critique would require you
to read actively, intelligently, and critically. You have to go beyond the content of the material.

• As you read, take down notes. Write down the following elements which will be useful in your
review or critique: title; genre; for a book: theme(s), characters, mood, and tone; for an article:
main ideas or arguments, and presentation of ideas; author’s writing style and language; and
author’s purpose.

• Formulate questions about the content. These questions may be about concepts that you do not
fully understand or you want to elaborate later on in your analysis.

• Read the material more than once for an in-depth understanding of what the author is trying to
convey.
 WRITE THE REVIEW OR CRITIQUE PAPER

Your paper should give an informed analysis of the material. It should be

more than just a summary of the book or article.

Be mindful of the structure of your review or critique. Like all essays, a book
review or an article critique has an introduction, body, and conclusion.
 INTRODUCTION
As a starting point for your book review or article critique, use the notes that you have taken down while you were
critically reading the material. Be guided by the following when writing the introduction:

Know the context or information in which the material was written—author’s background (i.e., life, culture, and
beliefs); and social, economic, or political conditions in which the material was produced.

Mention the title of the material, year or date of publication, and author’s name.

If writing an article critique, state the main argument or author’s purpose of the material.

Come up with a thesis statement which will indicate what your evaluation of the material will be. If you are doing a
book review, is it a positive, negative, or mixed review? If you are writing an article critique, are you for or against
the main argument?

Briefly summarize the book or the main points of the article.

 BODY
This is the analysis and evaluation part of the review or critique paper. Here are some questions that can help in
your critical evaluation of the material.

When writing a book review:

What are the setting, theme(s), plot, characterization, and other significant literary devices used by the author?

How do these elements contribute to the overall meaning of the book?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the book?

What significant human experience and relationships can you relate with in light of your personal experience?

How is the book similar to and/or different from other books in the same genre?

Is the book informative, entertaining, or meaningful? Would you recommend it to others? Why or why not?
 BODY
When writing an article critique:

Are the ideas presented clear and convincing? What pieces of evidence are used to support the author’s ideas?
Are they valid or accurate?

Is the purpose of the paper achieved? If yes, how? If no, why not?

What is the overall structure of the article? Are the ideas logically organized and adequately developed?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the article?

What further issues does the article raise?

Does the article contribute to your knowledge or understanding of a particular concept or topic? How is it helpful
to other works in its discipline or to works of related topic?
 CONCLUSION

This is a brief summary of your overall evaluation of the material. You may
include here the main reasons, stated in the body paragraphs, why you agree
or disagree with the author.
After writing the review or critique, do not forget to cite the references you
used for your paper. Ask your teacher which style guide or citation format to
use.
Example 1:
Book Review: The Devil's Company by David Liss
"The Devil's Company," a treat for lovers of historical fiction, sees the return of Benjamin
Weaver in his third exciting romp through the varied and sometimes surreal landscape
of 18th-century London. Weaver is an endearing protagonist, a former pugilist and
investigator for hire whom we first met in David Liss's "A Conspiracy of Paper" (1999). His
underlying humanity saves him from the macho posturing that ultimately undermines
the moral authority of most action-adventure heroes. And he is a Jew, which imbues
him with the romance of an outsider and permits Liss to show us how anti-Semitism was
expressed in the relatively unfamiliar context of Hanoverian England.

Reference: Frank Tallis. "A Bridge to 18th Century London." The Washington Post. 2009.
Accessed March 30, 2016. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070804089.html.

Explanation:
The sample paragraph is an excerpt of Frank Tallis’s book review of The Devil’s
Company. It can be observed that he included important elements such as the
setting, theme(s), and characterization in his introduction of his book review.
Example 2:
Article Critique
Article Critique: Pesch, Udo, “Administrators and Accountability: The Plurality of Value Systems in the
Public Domain,” Public Integrity 10, Fall, no. 4 (2008): 335-343.
The article, “Administrators and Accountability: The Plurality of Value Systems in the Public Domain,”
by Udo Pesch seeks to address how accountability and value systems interact in the decisions made
by public administrators. The research problem being addressed is whether public administrators are
free from accountability for their decisions and what are the different influences that can affect their
decisions. It is clear from the abstract of the article that this is no simple issue. In fact the article is fairly
confusing for the first couple paragraphs. The author starts by saying that explicit ethics codes of
reference systems make it easier to hold individuals accountable for their actions, however a conflict
emerges when an individual’s moral values are different from such accountability policies. What can
make accountability more complicated are the motivations of the administrator and also the
individual’s inability to perceive future consequences of their decisions.

Reference: Retrieved from University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. Accessed March 30, 2016.
http://www.uwlax.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Departments/Political_Science_and_Public_Admin
/journal_article_critique_example.pdf

Explanation:
This sample paragraph is an excerpt of a critique of the article “Administrators and Accountability:
The Plurality of Value Systems in the Public Domain” by Udo Pesch. The writer’s evaluation and
analysis of the article are supported with details which can be found in the entire article critique.
 SUMMARY OF THE TOPIC
A book review or an article critique is more than just a summary of a book or
an article. It gives essential information about a book (fiction or nonfiction) or
an article (e.g., from a newspaper, magazine, academic journal) and
provides an evaluation or critical analysis of the book or article. Like other
essays, it has an introduction, body, and conclusion.