Your term assignment for this class is to write a critical review of Chiara Frugoni's book Books, Banks, Buttons, and Other Inventions from the Middle Ages.
Due date: 4 December. (Penalties for late submission: 1% per working day. Note: this late submission date means extensions cannot be granted.)
Length: Around 1500 words: no less than 1300, no more than 1700.
- Critically analyze the assigned book, justifying your argument with material from the book, as well as from your textbooks, lectures, and any other books you may have read on the subject.
- Document the sources of all your evidence - provide footnotes with page numbers.
- Proofread your paper before handing it in! Grammar and spelling matter in an essay, if not as much as the content does.
- Please submit a typed final draft in a legible 12 point font, doublespaced.
- Number your pages! If you forget before printing it out, write them in afterwards.
- Keep a copy of your finished paper.
A critical review is not just a summary of a book (although you should include a brief one), nor is it a list of all faults and errors that a book contains. A critical review is an evaluation of the key aspects of a book, and an assessment of the book's coherency and audience. You must decide what is good and what is bad about the book, and explain why in all cases.
When writing a critical review, consider the following questions. You do not need to limit yourself to this list.
1. Thesis. What is the main argument that the author is trying to make? Is it easily apparent? Are you convinced by it?
2. Scope. What does the book cover? Should there have been more or less of it? Why?
3. Organization. Is the book logically constructed, or is it confusing? Does it frequently repeat its points? How could it have been done better?
4. Objectivity. Does the author have a bias or an agenda which affects the book? Does this help or hurt the book? How does it affect other elements of the book, such as scope and organization?
5. Style. Is the level appropriate? Is the book easy to read, or was it frustrating and slow going?
6. Sources. Where does the proof and the evidence for the author's claims come from? Primary materials (documents, letters, diaries), the author's personal experience, or is it all drawn from second-hand general texts? You may need to do a little research on the author's background. Could this person really know what he or she is discussing in this book? How? By education? Experience?
7. Use of images, charts, graphs etc. How is any additional material incorporated into the book used? Are pictures used effectively to make points or are they purely decorative? Are they clearly labeled? Do they function as the author intends them to? Remember, images, charts, and graphs can be just as much a part of an argument as the words in a book are.
8. Documentation. Anytime you or the author provides a quote, unusual evidence, or controversial points, you (and the author) should cite the source in a footnote, so that the reader can easily refer back to your (or the author's) supporting evidence. Does the author do this correctly? Did the author get his or her facts right?
9. Conclusions. What are some of the general points which emerge from the book? (There are often points other than the thesis.) Are they useful? Interesting?
10. General value. What is this book's intended purpose and audience? Describe and define its value. Is it aimed at a beginner, a general audience, a specialist in the field?
You have access to other sources of information which you will naturally use or choose to use as part of writing a critical review. This includes material given in lecture; the course readings; any other books you have read on the subject; other courses you have taken. One of the best ways to write a good book review is to read several well-written ones. These are widely available in academic journals (which the U of T library is full of), and a few samples of reviews will be handed out in class. You will be expected to refer to this additional material in the process of writing your review.
In the Humanities, footnotes should include the author and title of the book or article you are citing, along with the relevant page number(s). Always include the page numbers. All footnote information except the page numbers can be abbreviated as long as you provide a bibliography (such as just including the author's last name). Footnotes should be numbered sequentially.
Your textbooks (Gies & Gies) provides good citations, in the form of endnotes. Look at the back of the book for examples of how to format the author, title, page number sequence. You do not have to follow this model, but you must be consistent and clear in the way you use footnotes. Parenthetical citations are not appropriate in the discipline of history.
1. Start early. Don't leave this until the last minute. Make sure you have enough time to read the book AND write a good review of it. This assignment is worth 30% of your grade.
2. Do a rough outline. Scribble down your initial thoughts while reading the book, or just after finishing. If you think of a point you'd like to make in your review while reading the book, write it down immediately. You might forget your brilliant idea later on when you need it.
3. Do a rough draft. Every essay needs to go through a few rounds of editing and proofreading before it is polished. Always make backup copies of draft versions. You can go back to these and rework them if you don't like the way your paper is evolving.
4. If possible, let the rough draft sit for a few days, so you can go back and proofread it with fresh eyes. If you proofread the same document too frequently, you already know what it says, so it's hard to see what's actually there.
5. Format your paper. Type it if it is not already typed. Use a clear, legible 12 point font with double-spaced lines. Leave margins.
6. Proofread. You can never proofread too many times. If you have not submitted an essay in a university-level humanities course before, your paper may benefit from one of the many writing-centres located all over the U of T campus. Make an appointment with a writing counselor. Ask a friend to proofread your paper. Spell-checkers alone will not save you from spelling errors and grammatical mistakes.
7. Always, always, always keep a copy of your finished paper. Papers are sometimes - if rarely - lost. Your copy is proof that at least you did the work. If you rely on a digital copy of your finished paper, make sure you keep backups of it.
[This writing advice and critical review advice was adapted and revised from versions written by B. Hall and W.S. Allen.]
Never let quotes speak on your behalf. Use quotes to provide an illustration of a point you are also making in your own words.
Never begin a sentence "Throughout history...", or "Since the beginning of time..." It will almost always be wrong.