Writing book reviews

Postgraduate students may be given the task of reviewing new books in their subjects, and all students need to read reviews to keep up-to-date with new writing in their field. So how should book reviews be organised? 

  

Reviews should begin with the basic details:

• Names of authors or editors
• Year of publication
• Title
• Place of publication
• Publisher
• Number of pages
• Price
• ISBN (International standard book number)

 A review normally begins by summarising the main aims of the work, perhaps mentioning the author's specialisation and previous work. It is important to explain whether the book is written by one or more authors, or is an edited collection made up of essays by various contributors. 

  

The main section of a review generally provides more details of the book's contents, summarising the contents of the chapters, and commenting on the author's method and approach. The reviewer should discuss how successful the writer has been in achieving his or her aims. If quotations are used, they should be short.  

 

In addition, it is common to mention the kind of audience the book is suitable for, e.g. post-graduate, undergraduate, etc. Although reviews tend to be broadly positive, if reviewers feels that a book is not worth reading they should say so!

Using quotations in academic writing

A quotation is a piece of text taken from another writer that you use to illustrate or explain a point that you wish to make in your work. It is important that you show that you are using a quotation, and to make clear where it is taken from:

As Friedman stated: 'Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation' (1974:93).

Here the quotation marks '...' show the extent of the quotation, and the citation explains that it is from page 93 of the work by Friedman published in 1974, with full details in the reference list.

Quotations should be used carefully, and must not be over-used, or your teacher may think you are being lazy! They can be useful when:

a) the original words express an idea very clearly
b) the original is more concise than your summary could be
c) the original is well-known

Short quotes of 2-3 lines are normally shown by single quotations marks, while quotations inside quotations (nested quotations) use double:

As James remarked: 'Martin's concept of "internal space" requires close analysis.' (2011:32)
 
Longer quotations are either indented (i.e. given a wider margin) or printed in smaller type.

NB You must make sure that the quotes contain the exact words of the original.