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Book Critique Guidelines: Follow the Steps, be Objective
General book critique guidelines
If you are assigned to write a book critique and you are not sure what to do, the book critique guidelines presented in this article will definitely help you become more confident in your work. Thus, the basic guidelines for book critique writing include the need to first read the book you are to critique and only then formulate the outline of the pros and cons you observed in this book. For more detail, follow the next sections.
Book critique guideline 1: read
Thus, the basic book critique guideline is to read what you will then critique. It is impolite to argue about something you do not know much about, and so is it with books and their authors. While reading, be attentive to the book title, author, year and context of publishing, possible target audience, and reasons for writing this book. As well, pay attention to the book structure, main characters, and topics the book touches upon. Having read the book, you can move on to the second, and the last, book critique guideline.
Book critique guideline 2: write
The task of writing is not less challenging than reading. The University of Oklahoma singles out five subsections of book critique guidelines concerning the writing portion. These subsections include the need to:
- Introduce the topic and provide background information on the book and the author;
- Present the book argument summary;
- Consider if the author’s techniques of building the argument are successful and why;
- Add your reaction to the arguments of the book and author’s techniques;
- Assess the strong and weak points of the book.
Only following these book critique guidelines you will be able to develop a professional book critique that would assess the book objectively.