Book Review Assignment for HIS 109Y 2011-2012 For many of you, this will be the first university

y assignment you hand in. Don't panic! This handout is a how-to guide, and your own T.A. will have additional advice for you. Purpose: The book review is meant to help you learn how to read critically. For this first assignment, you will be reading and analyzing a secondary source written by a modern historian. Content: The review is a critical analysis of a book, not a simple summary of its contents. It should be 750-1000 words (3-4 pages if properly formatted) in length, excluding the title page, endnotes and bibliography. You must hand in all your rough works (notes, outline, and rough drafts) or the paper will not be accepted as complete. Due: The book review is due the week of 24 October in your tutorial. Marking: Your TA will mark your paper according to the guidelines provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science, which stipulate that a 'C' paper fulfills all assignment requirements with no major problems in organization, style, or grammar. To get a higher grade, the paper must demonstrate evidence of critical ability, and for an 'A', original thought. Your TA's written comments will point out where you did well and areas in which you can improve on the next assignment. Book Selection: Consult the list of book review titles and take into account any recommendations by your TA. All of the works listed deal with the medieval and early modern eras. Since you are currently studying these periods, this should make analyzing your book easier. 1) Reading and Notetaking - First, read the introduction and conclusion of your book. This should help you discern the author's purpose when you look at the body of the text. Is there a clear thesis (a central argument where the author argues that events transpired or that a society developed in a particular way)? Or is the book more of a narrative, where the author is surveying historical events in a more general fashion (describing events or a historical period, or telling a "story")? Keep in mind that a book can and often does have elements of both, and consult your TA if you're having difficulty. - Then, skim through the book. Look at the table of contents and read the introduction and conclusion of each chapter prior to reading the chapter itself. This allows you to stay focused on the structure of the book and not get lost in the details. Examine the bibliography to determine what kind of primary and second sources the author used. - Then, start taking notes. Concentrate on the author's arguments and ideas, his or her use of sources and references to other scholarship on the subject - don't attempt to summarize the content of the book! The more focused your notes are, the more useful they will be.

- Ensure you write the page number next to each point so that you can cite it properly in your review. Write down your points in your own words; paraphrasing at this stage minimizes the chances of inadvertent plagiarism. 2) The Review Itself There are a number of different elements that must be present in your review for it to receive a passing mark. The checklists below will help you organize your material, as well as give you clues as to what to look for while you're reading. Before Writing __ Before writing your review, did you prepare an outline in point form covering the introduction, each body paragraph, and the conclusion? This is an essential step and should be included in your rough work. Introduction __ Did you set the historical framework of the book? What is the importance of the period or subject the book examines? __ Did you give the author's name and the title of the book? __ Do you clearly state the author's thesis or the timeframe and major theme of the survey? Summary __ Do you outline the major arguments the author gives to support the thesis, or the major areas covered by the survey? Please note: this should take no more than half a page! The vast majority of your marks go towards your analysis, and you should structure your review accordingly. Analysis __ Do you assess the author's use of sources? What role do primary sources (documents from the time period in question) and secondary sources (modern works written by historians) play in the author's analysis? How are quotes or facts from primary sources used? How does the author incorporate the opinions of other historians? __ Do you explain why you believe the author has or has not made proper use of their sources? Pay close attention to footnotes/endnotes; they should help you answer these questions. If your book has neither, what does that tell you about its intended audience? __ If the book is primarily argumentative, have you discussed how effectively the argument is presented? What parts of the book worked most effectively to prove the author's thesis, and why? Were there any omissions or areas that you would have preferred to see the author treat in more detail, or any questions raised and left answered? How does the author deal with opposing viewpoints? __ If the book is primarily narrative (a survey), have you assessed how effectively it introduces its subject to the reader? If the author chose a particular timeframe for their survey, why did they begin and end their examination of the subject where they did? What did the author believe was most important about their subject; what events, people, or influential factors received the most focus? Were 'chunks' of that timeframe omitted; if so, why? How did this hurt/help the overall effectiveness of the book?

Conclusion __ Do you discuss how successful the author was in accomplishing their purpose? __ Do you discuss what you learned from reading this book and how it added to your understanding of the period/subject? __ Do you discuss why you would or would not recommend this book to others, and what its intended audience is? Style and Grammar __ Do you make the topic of each paragraph clear in the first sentence? __ Does each paragraph flow logically from the former, with effective transitions? __ Did you put the review aside for at least 24 hours after writing the rough draft? __ Did you get someone else to look over the review for you? Formatting __ Do you have a title page that includes the title of your review, your name and student number, the course number, the name of the person marking the paper, and the date submitted? (This page should not be numbered.) __ Are all your pages numbered at the top right hand corner, beginning with '1' on the first page of your text? __ Have you indented the first line of each paragraph and made sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs? __ Have you used formal language (no contractions) and avoided the use of 'I' except in your conclusion? __ Have you clearly cited each idea or quotation you included by page number in a footnote or endnote? Provide a citation (footnote or endnote) for all material taken from a source, even if you do not quote directly. __ Have you set your line spacing to 2.0? __ Is your font set at 12 point Times New Roman? __ Have you used black ink on white paper? Before Submitting __ Have you included all your rough work (notes, outline, rough draft)? __ Have you submitted an electronic copy to TurnItIn.Com? Quotations Use quotations sparingly! In the book review, you should only quote the author's words directly if there is something highly significant about the wording. In the vast majority of cases, you should paraphrase the author's idea in your own words and provide a footnote (or endnote). Excessive use of quotations from secondary sources implies that you do not have faith in your own analysis; be confident and prioritize your own comments! You can incorporate quotations within a sentence, or by introducing the quotation with a colon. Any quotation used must be incorporated in a grammatically correct fashion. For example: - John Smith is quoted as saying "All historians lie", but most historians disagree.

- Smith, in a later article, retracted his earlier statement: "Historians do not lie, and I am very ashamed to have said such a thing." Citation You must provide citations not merely for any direct quotations and any statistics, but also any arguments, ideas, opinions, or facts that required research to establish. For example, you would not cite that World War I began in 1914, but you would cite an author's explanation of the war's causes. When in doubt, always cite. Unless your tutor specifies another style guide, you are required to use the Chicago Manual of Style method of citation, where footnotes/endnotes and bibliographical entries are formatted differently. Here are a few models to help you with this assignment. Footnote/ endnote models are numbered and include the page number of the reference; bibliography models are not numbered. All footnotes/endnotes and bibliographies should be singlespaced. Books with one author Footnote/Endnote: 1. J. Ambrose Raftis, Peasant Economic Development Within the English Manorial System (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996), 76. Bibliographical Entry: Raftis, J. Ambrose. Peasant Economic Development Within the English Manorial System. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996. Books with two authors Footnote/Endnote: 16. David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and Their Families: A Study of the Florentine Catasto of 1427 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 115. Bibliographical Entry: Herlihy, David and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber. Tuscans and Their Families: A Study of the Florentine Catasto of 1427. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1985. Books with a translator Footnote/Endnote: 25. Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms : The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller, trans. John and Anne Tedeschi (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1980), 55. Bibliographical Entry: Ginzburg, Carlo. The Cheese and the Worms : The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. Translated by John and Anne Tedeschi. Baltimore : John Hopkins University Press, 1980.

You only need to cite a book in the footnotes/endnotes fully the first time you use it. For each additional citation from a source, provide an abbreviated citation: Author, Abbreviated Title, page. Example: Raftis, Peasant Economic Development, 76. We hope that you find this outline useful. Please make sure you consult your TA for additional advice or clarification if necessary. Good luck!