GEH 1015 GEK 2042 Cultural Borrowing: Japan and China

Book Report Outline

Summary:
• Write a 700 to 1000 word individual paper;
• Write on any ONE of the books provided;
• Follow the guideline provided in luminous, lecture and tutorial;
• Due in tutorial in Week 9, at the beginning of tutorial

This is a guideline for your book report. Please read carefully and follow these
instructions when you write your report. You are always welcome to email or ask anyone of
us for directions, clarifications, or whatever questions you may have. These directions are
clear to me but I am not the one who has to write the book report. If they are not clear to you,
please ask. I prefer to answer your questions than to get a bad book report.

From,
Dr Hislop (jpssah@nus.edu.sg)

Due date:
Week 9 at the beginning of your tutorial. Please submit the paper to your tutor. (If you
wish to hand it in early you may but please consult with your tutor unless you hand it directly
to him or her).
**NO Late papers will be accepted**

Book Report :
Choose from one of the books listed below. They are all at the RBR in Central
Library or the E-Resource.

Word limit:
• 700 to 1000 words inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of bibliography
• Present a word-count in your cover information
• Papers over 1000 words will be marked down

What to include in the book review, three main parts:

• Cover information: course name and number, your name, your tutorial group, your
word count, and the title of the book you are reviewing (you do not need to print this on a
separate sheet of paper. You may begin your paper immediately below this information)
• Paper proper: please follow the documentation style listed below
• Bibliography: list all the books and articles that you have used in your review, in
alphabetical order of the writers’ family names

Documentation:
• Page numbers are to be included on either upper or lower left of the page (you may
write them in by hand)
• Use footnotes or in-line citation (instead of endnotes)
• All citations must include page numbers
• Provide your bibliography/reference at the end of the paper
• Double-line spacing
• Font 12, Serif fonts only (Times New Roman is an excellent choice)
 • Print single-sided
• Staple your paper. DO NOT use plastic folders
• Indent the first word of a paragraph and do not leave an extra line between
paragraphs (see Book Report but please double space your lines)
• Go to the following NUS library link to learn proper citation style. Please use
EITHER Chicago/Turabian: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/s/chicago.html
OR MLA: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/s/citemla.html

How to write a book report – a general guide:

• Choose a book to work on – it is critical that you choose a book that interests you
• Read the work through quickly one time. Note the basic "story" or "argument." Try
to understand what the author is saying clearly. Then read it a second time, taking careful and
extensive notes that you can use to write your report (be sure to write down the page numbers
when you take notes).
• Look for reviews of the work on JSTOR and in other sources. What have other
people thought about the book? Read these works carefully and decide how you want to use
them in your writing. Be sure to include any of these works that you use in your bibliography
and make sure you cite them if you use their ideas or words, or if you paraphrase them.
• Think about the book from the perspective of cultural borrowing. How does the book
help you in understanding cultural borrowing better?
• Plan your report: always remember who are the intended readers of the paper; what
is the length and word limit of the paper; what other requirements there are; and set up a
schedule so that you will be able to submit your paper on time.
• Write concisely: “one sentence one idea, one paragraph one expanded idea.”
• Pay attention to transition. You can use subheadings to help you organize your
thoughts if necessary but be careful since this is already an extremely short paper
• Read your paper out loud once it’s finished. If you need to catch your breath
finishing one sentence, it is too looooong. If you find a sentence which is difficult to say,
revise it. Sentences which are difficult to say out loud are almost always the sentences which
won't make sense to your reader.
• Always aim at finishing at least one day before the due date so that you can proof
read for careless mistakes.

You are always welcome to ask anyone of us any question on how to approach the essay, do
a research, or think about issues. Remember that we are here to help you. And we wouldn’t
be teachers if we didn’t enjoy teaching. So please ask. None of us are known to bite.

Books

Anthony Chambers, Tales of Moonlight and Rain: a Study and Translation by

Anthony Chambers. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. (pages 2-138). Be
careful to get this version, not an earlier translation by Zelbrod.

Yoshito S.Hakeda, Kûkai: Major Works. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.
(pages: 1-100)

Mack Horton, Traversing the Frontier: The Man’yˆôshû Account of a Japanese

Mission to Silla in 736-737, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center, 2012.
(pages: 1-116)
Inoue Yasushi. James T. Araki tr., The roof tile of Tempyo, Tokyo : University of Tokyo
Press , 1975. (pages: all)

Inoue Yasushi. Roger K. Thomas tr., Confucius. London: Peter Owen, 1992. (pages: all)

William Lafleur, The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in
Medieval Japan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

Christopher Seeley. A History of Writing in Japan. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. (pages: all)

Please note that the library has limited copies of these books so we suggest you read your
book early to avoid the crush at RBR.