Book reviews can be anywhere from 300-1000 words. A review should summarize the major claims of a book and discuss the author’s methodology. A review should detail the author’s evidence and analyses, as well as the citational community that the author draws upon. A good review will not necessarily include all of the information below; the best reviews draw out the aspects that make a book unique and develop quality analyses of these points. Nor does an effective review need to work sequentially through this outline; often a writer will use the organization of the book to structure the review, touching upon relevant points from below as they appear in the course of the author’s argument.

1. Citation
2. Topic
   1. Texts: What object(s) has the author chosen to interpret?
   2. Historical Period: In what way do these texts participate in the general trends of their time?
3. Audience
   1. Based on the author’s texts, arguments, and tone, what kind of reader does he or she write to, and how does he or she appeal to or offend the values of this readership?
   2. What kind of reader does the book’s publisher generally target?
4. Situate the Book/Article in its Critical Tradition
   1. Author: How does the author position his work in the tradition he or she works in and against?
   2. Your Own: Are there any relevant critical works that the author has not cited and discussed, and how does the book relate to those interpretations?
5. Methodology
   1. The Author’s Theoretical Framework: What does the author explicitly say about his or her interpretive approach to these texts?
   2. The Author’s Assumptions: What approaches are analogous to the author’s theoretical framework, even though he or she does not explicitly reference them?
   3. The Implications of this Kind of Criticism: How does this approach enable and/or limit the author’s interpretations of his or her texts?
   4. The Portability of this Method: Can this interpretive approach effectively be systematized and redeployed to interpret other texts?
6. Argument
   1. Organization: How does the author order the points in his or her argument (and, perhaps, is this an effective structure)?
   2. Summary of the Argument: Briefly recap the author’s thesis and supporting evidence, using quotes of the most profound assertions and offering paradigmatic analyses.
   3. Evaluation of the Argument: After addressing the legitimacy of the author’s analysis, the logic of his or her reasoning, and raising points that may complicate the author’s case, state how effective the author’s argument is in interpreting the text.
7. Language and Print Quality
   1. The Author’s Prosody: Is the work free from grammatical errors? Is the author’s phrasing elegant and enjoyable to read?
   2. Material Quality: Is the book easy to read and sturdily bound?
8. Conclusion
   1. The Work’s Primary Contribution: What will be the biggest impact of this book/article?
   2. Interpretive Work Left to Do: What aspects of this argument need further development, and what areas of investigation has this book/article opened?