1. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca JSGS PROFESSIONAL WRITING SERIES September 13, 2016 University of Saskatchewan Copyright ©Heather McWhinney, 2016 WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW

2. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca By the end of this workshop, you will be able to: o Organize a book and an article review. o Understand and use the language of a review. o Write evaluative book and article reviews. WORKSHOP LEARNING OUTCOMES WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 2

3. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca o The purpose of a review of a book or article is to critically assess the work. o The most common organization is an introduction, followed by a summary of the work, an evaluation and a conclusion. o A good review is thorough, fair and reasonable. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A REVIEW? WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 3

4. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca o For a published review o Readers of the journal in which the review is published o For a review of a manuscript o Scholars in the field o For a review for a course assignment o Your professor WHAT IS THE AUDIENCE FOR A SCHOLARLY REVIEW? WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 4

5. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca For a published review and the review of a manuscript o Be discrete and fair; the field is small and researchers know each other. For a review for a course assignment o Consider the course content and reflect on the reason for the assignment. o Situate the work within the debates in the field. o Highlight anything treated differently than in the course. HOW DO YOU WRITE FOR THESE AUDIENCES? WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 5

6. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Most reviews have a general to specific to general structure. o The introduction starts broadly, usually by introducing the field, and then narrows down to the specific work and the review writer’s position. o The middle of the review becomes narrower with a summary and a specific critique of the work. o The end of the review concludes more generally with a recommendation (or not) and general comments about the contribution to the field. ORGANIZING YOUR REVIEW WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 6

7. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca First Paragraph: Introduces the work and the review writer’s general position Next Paragraph(s): Summarizes the content Next Paragraphs(s): Evaluates the content Final Paragraph: Concludes and gives a recommendation PARTS OF THE REVIEW WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 7

8. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Establishes the topic, presents the reviewer’s position, and does one or more of the following: o Describes the readership. o Provides information about the author(s). o Generalizes about the topic, research and/or state of field. o Establishes the place of the book or article in the field. o Presents the author’s central argument. 1 THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 8

9. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Book Review o Summarizes the book: purpose, organization, section/chapter content, visuals Article Review o Summarizes the article: research objectives, research question(s), methods, findings, evidence and conclusions 2 NEXT PARAGRAPH(S) WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 9

10. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Evaluates the work: o Addresses whether the work does what it set out to do. o Evaluates the work vs. others of its type in the field. o Looks at the coherence and effectiveness of the argument, degree of originality, and contribution. o For an article, evaluates the appropriateness of the methodology, the findings and conclusions. Does the evidence support the conclusion or central argument? o Makes general positive comments and specific negative comments. o Places positive comments before negative. 3 NEXT PARAGRAPH(S) WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 10

11. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Provides final comments and a recommendation: o Gives overall conclusion. o Often pivots from specific negative comments that conclude the previous paragraph back to general positive comments. o For a book, may comment on physical appearance, binding and production values in the concluding paragraph. o Specifies the usefulness or contribution of the book/article to the field; may reiterate limitations. o Recommends (or does not recommend) the work. 4 CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 11

12. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca 1.Who is the audience? 2.What is the author’s purpose? What is the paper about? 3.What research questions are addressed? What are the objectives? 4.Swales and Feak (2012, p. 249) suggest asking yes/no questions as you read. Rather than saying to yourself, “This paper is about herbal tea and tooth decay,” ask, “Does herbal tea cause tooth decay”? 5.What is the main argument or conclusion? How has it been constructed? Has the author examined other points of view and counter arguments? Is the author’s argument successful? 6.Does the argument build on the ideas or theories of others? 5 GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR ARTICLE REVIEWS WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 12

13. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca 7.Is the methodology appropriate for addressing the research question? 8.Does the evidence support the argument/conclusion? What evidence should have been collected or selected? 9.Has counter evidence been addressed? 10.What assumptions underlie the research? 11.Do the visuals (tables and figures) support the argument/conclusion? 12.Is this an original contribution to the field? Has the article advanced knowledge in the field? How does the article relate to others in the field? 6 GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR ARTICLE REVIEWS (continued) WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 13

14. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca o It is generally best to start with positive comments. o Transition from positive to negative. See the examples below: “The authors present a plausible case for... Less convincing is their treatment of … “The authors must be commended for taking on the difficult task of … Unfortunately, …” “The article is an ambitious undertaking... This effort, however, is not entirely successful.” “ The authors provide a detailed study of an interesting topic, but the research suffers from/exhibits/can be criticized for … “ 7 HANDLING CRITICAL COMMENTS WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 14

15. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca An inversion is the reversal of the parts of a sentence so that the last part comes first. Inversions allow you to transition easily from positive to negative comments in a review. They also help create flow. MOVING FROM POSITIVE TO NEGATIVE: INVERSIONS WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 15 REGULARINVERSION All the family’s precious goods, gold and silver were lost in the fire. Lost in the fire were all the family’s precious goods, gold and silver. The author’s argument that lower taxes create higher levels of investment is much less successful. Much less successful is the author’s argument that lower taxes create higher levels of investment.

16. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Here are some other examples of inversions from Swales and Feak (2012, pp. 266-269): o Of greater concern is/are.. o Missing from the methods/results/conclusion is … o Unusual in this kind of article/book is … o Less impressive/convincing/ is … o Particularly/Especially prominent/interesting/notable is/are … 8 INVERSIONS (continued) WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 16

17. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Modal verbs are useful because they allow you to soften criticism by expressing what the authors could have done rather than what they did not do. SOFTENING CRITICISM WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 17 WITHOUT MODAL VERBSWITH MODAL VERBS This was an impressive review of Canadian immigration policy from 2000 to 2015, but the author did not include sufficient information on the Immigration and Refugee Act. This was an impressive review of Canadian immigration policy from 2000 to 2015, but more space could have been devoted to the Immigration and Refugee Act. The use of this broad-ranging textbook is limited because the authors failed to include a chapter on the limitations of qualitative methods. This broad-ranging textbook would have been more useful if the authors had included a chapter on the limitations of qualitative methods.

18. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca Other words that soften criticism are seem, tend, appear, perhaps, likely, probable and possible. This softening is important if you want to appear to be generous in your comments. Here are some examples: o The main weakness of the study would appear to be the omission of … o The main weakness of the study appears to be the omission of … o Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this article is … o A likely/probable/possible explanation for this omission is the author’s professed objective to… SOFTENING CRITICISM (continued) WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 18

19. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca o In academic papers the personal pronoun “I” is not accepted in all fields. o In scholarly book and article reviews, the use of “I” is commonly used in the concluding paragraph to make a recommendation. o The pronoun ‘I” may also be used in other places in the review. However, most review authors refrain from using such phrases as “I think” and “I believe.” THE PERSONAL PRONOUN “I” IN REVIEWS WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 19

20. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca The Academic Phrasebank from the University of Manchester is an extremely useful resource for graduate students. Here are a few lines from the introduction: The Academic Phrasebank is a general resource for academic writers. It aims to provide you with examples of some of the phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of writing organized according to the main sections of a research paper or dissertation. Other phrases are listed under the more general communicative functions of academic writing. Here is the link to the home page: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/ Here is the link to the section on writing critiques: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/being-critical/ A RECOMMENDED WEBSITE WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 20

21. www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca 1, 2, 3, 4 Motta-Roth, D. (1998). Discourse analysis and academic book reviews: A study of text and disciplinary cultures. In Fortanet, I., Posteguillo, S. Palmer, J.C. & Coll, J.F. (Eds.) Genre Studies in English for Academic Purposes (pp. 29-58). Castello Spain: Universitat jaume 1. 5, 6, 7, 8 Swales, J.M. & Feak, C.M. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students. ( 3 rd Ed.). Ann Arbor, MI: university of Michigan Press. REFERENCES WRITING A BOOK AND ARTICLE REVIEW 21