In order to write a good review, you must think carefully about the book. Since reviews are to be between 2000 and 2500 words long, you must take pains to organize and present your thoughts with precision, clarity, and conciseness. Begin your review with the author, title, and facts of publication for each book using standard bibliographical form, for example: Jules R. Benjamin. A Student''s Guide to History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin''s, 2001. Eric Foner. Give Me Liberty! An American History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Answers to the following seven sections must form the substance of your review. Answer each of them in the order given, each with a separate paragraph or series of paragraphs. 1. What are the authors’ purposes in writing the books? 2. What are the books’ theses? 3. How do the authors organize material? What is the logic behind the topics of the chapters, and how do the chapters go together to form the book? You should be aware that there is almost always a fit between the thesis of a book and the logic of the book’s organization. Each points to the other. Thus, if you are in doubt about the thesis, pay attention to the organizational logic. In your review, include an explicit statement about the fit between the book’s organization and its thesis. This section can also include a brief summary of the book, but make sure that the summary is tied into the issue of organization. 4. How do the authors place his or her work into the historiography of the subject? What methodologies do the authors employ? Do any particular theories (such as feminist or postmodern theories, for example) guide the authors, and, if so, which ones? Often, an author will explicitly explain his or her use of methodologies and theories. But do not give just a list; instead, discuss leading or secondary ones, explicit or implicit ones. 5. What sources do the authors use to develop the theses of the books, and why are these sources used? Again, do not give just a list of sources. Discuss types of sources used, types not used, and the reasons for turning to some kinds of sources rather than others. Include an explicit statement about the pertinence of types of sources in light of the authors’ theses. 6. Here you must relate the books to the subject of the course: How do they fit in with the issues raised and discussed in the course? In particular, how, beyond adding more detail, do the books add new perspectives to the assigned course reading? 7. How well are the authors’ purposes accomplished? In this section, you have an opportunity to make an original, critical evaluation of the books. You will want to address the issues of what is well done, poorly done, and originally done. Are the books’ arguments and uses of evidence clear or unclear, strong or weak, convincing or unconvincing? Should a reader agree or disagree with the authors’ assumptions and conclusions? What are the books’ overall strengths and weaknesses? If a reader is curious about a subject, should he or she choose these particular books? In writing a comparative review, do not review one book completely and then the other; instead, use each section to blend together your examination of the books. Number the pages of your paper and use parenthetical citations to make reference to the book''s page numbers, such as (Benjamin, 23-24). Double-space the essay. Do not skip a line between paragraphs. No title page or report cover is necessary for a short paper. Write in complete sentences; avoid sentence fragments. Avoid the first- or second-person point of view; write instead in the third person. Write in the present tense when referring to a book''s author (“Benjamin describes the various forms of evidence”), and write in the past tense when referring to past events (“The candidate traveled thousands of miles during the campaign”). Avoid using contractions. With abbreviations, use the full name for the first reference (such as, Federal Bureau of Investigation) and abbreviations for subsequent references (FBI). When referring to a person’s name, use the first and last name for the first reference and the surname for subsequent references. Use two hyphens--with no spaces before or after--to form a dash. Avoid dropped quotations: quotations without reference to a speaker or a writer. Avoid block quotations in short papers. Block quotations are long quotations separated out from the main text of the paper. In general, try to limit the use of quotations, but be sure to cite any information taken from the book