TIP Sheet
WRITING ABOUT NON-FICTION BOOKS

在你大学生涯的某个阶段，你可能会被要求复习一本非小说类书籍，以使你对课程的某些方面有更多的了解. 这个作业要求很高，因为你需要描述和评价一位作者对一个你可能知之甚少的主题的贡献. How should you proceed?

Your instructor will usually offer some guidance, 比如推荐的书单或选择作品时要遵循的一些指导方针. Generally, 你应该找一份最近的，大约200-350页的，关于你特别感兴趣的课程方面的作品.

Describe and evaluate
You are expected to describe the book, 这是, to summarize some major points of interest, and to evaluate it, 这是, to make judgments about it. 的 areas to address include the following:

Description

• Information about the 作者
• Background information about the book
• Author's 目的-to inform? Entertain? 说服?
• Author's 论文
• Organization
• Summary

Evaluation

• Other reviews
• Scholarship
• Strengths and weaknesses

Later you may decide to omit some of these points. 它们的顺序可能会改变，更重要或更引人注目的事情会先出现. Usually the descriptive section appears first in non-fiction reviews, especially in scholarly journals. 所有这些组织决策都是主观的，可以根据需要进行修改.

While reading the book, 记下与你如何描述和评价作品有关的段落和页码. In particular, be on the lookout for 论文 statements, chapter summaries, striking quotations, discussions of methodology, conclusions, and 作者's recommendations. If you question whether or not to take a particular note, remember that it would be wiser to err on the side of having too many, rather than too few. You can always eliminate notes that appear unnecessary.

Points of description
Information about the 作者 可能会出现在书的封面上，还是可以从序言中得到或推断出来. 为了确定作者在多大程度上是这个主题的权威, you should do some library research into the 作者's present position, background, experience, and qualifications. 传记资源，如GaleNet数据库中的传记中心，将帮助您找到这些信息. It need not be much, perhaps just a sentence; at most, it might consist of a short paragraph.

Background information about a book consists of the historical, sociological, economic, 可能影响或促成其出版的科学或其他情况. 这些信息可能与这本书的重要性或趣味性有关.

Often the 作者's 目的从序言或引言中就能明显地看出——娱乐、告知、说服.

的 论文 本书的中心思想可能会在引言或结束语中陈述. 获得本书的概览，这将有助于你了解本书的目的和主要思想, read the preface and the introductory and concluding chapters first.

的 organization 非虚构的程度部分取决于它是什么类型的非虚构——哲学? 生物学?–and partly on the 作者's 目的. 例如，历史可以按时间顺序或围绕中心问题进行组织. Or, if the 作者's 目的 is to challenge a widely-held position, he may choose to refute ideas point-by-point. Look at the table of contents and, as you read, refer back to it.

Because so much depends on your audience, 摘要可能是复习中最难写的部分之一. Are you writing only for your instructor who has probably already read, or is familiar with, the book? Are you writing for your classmates who have not read it? 或者你是为没有上过这门课的人写的，因此对这个主题不熟悉? Your instructor can tell you what audience the paper should address. 然后你将能够判断你的总结应该有多彻底，是否应该定义术语和详细解释要点.

Points of evaluation
At the same time that you gather information to describe the work, you should be thinking about your evaluation of it. Read a few other reviews 来表达你自己的观点——其他评论者提到了哪些观点? 专业评论家的评价是一致的，还是意见不同? Of course, 从这些评论中获得的任何观点或引用都应在论文中注明其所有者. To consult published reviews of the book, ask the reference librarian to help you find an appropriate index, or check an online database. 以下是十大网赌正规平台学生可以使用的数据库的部分列表:

• Proquest Direct–for general disciplines including health, humanities, sciences, social sciences, 艺术, business, education, women's and multicultural issues.
• SIRS研究员-主题包括科学，历史，政治和全球问题.
• 威尔逊网站为传记，讣告，科学，教育，时事和社会科学.
• GaleNet–for biographies, 作者s, history, science, and literature.
• Health Reference Center–for topics in health, medicine, and nursing.

Some online databases offer full text articles; others offer abstracts (summaries) and information on how to find the full text in other publications; you can quickly scan abstracts to determine which articles are most likely to be useful to you. Advanced search features allow you to search using Boolean operators (and, or, not) for either full texts or abstracts. 你也可以将搜索范围缩小到学术期刊，以获得更好的搜索结果. (From the Butte College home page, http://www.孤峰.edu，使用图书馆链接搜索文章，并从字母顺序列表中选择一个数据库.)

《全国十大赌博官网》印刷版(十大网赌正规平台图书馆, 1959 to the present) may also be helpful. This index also summarizes and tells you where to find the texts. 的 names and dates of the publications in which they appear are listed, 你应该可以毫不费力地参考你选择的评论. 的 different indexes are usually organized by year, 但请记住，一篇在今年晚些时候发表的文章可能要到下一年才会被评论.

You may find it difficult to judge the scholarship 因为你对某件作品或作者的专业知识的理解有限. 但它不需要高度专业的知识来标注作者使用的来源(查找注释或参考书目部分)。, how much and what kind of evidence he provides, or how he analyzes data and justifies his conclusions. 仔细阅读，找出遗漏，明显的偏见，或不支持的概括. For example, someone reviewing a work entitled War in the Falklands 不难指出，这种对1982年英阿战争的描述是亲英的, containing little information about the Argentine politicians, participants, and 目的s.

When considering a book's strengths and weaknesses, discuss the following points:

• 的 tone and style of the writing
• 的 importance of the book in its field
• 的 value of the book for its intended audience
• 的 effectiveness of the 作者's argument
• 的 soundness of the 作者's conclusions
• 的 practicality of the 作者's recommendations.

你对这本书的优点和缺点的讨论可能与你对学术的讨论重叠. 当你修改你的评论时，计划把这些整理出来，这样你的文章就会以你的总体反应结束. If your overall evaluation is favorable, 首先承认这本书的几个缺点，然后总结它的许多优点. 如果不喜欢，先说出这本书的优点，然后总结它的许多缺点.

Mention any particularly interesting or memorable points or passages, and support your opinions with references to the book, but use quotations sparingly.

在你的评估中，你可能会反思这本书是如何与你的课程联系起来的. 考虑作者批评或捍卫的问题、思想或制度. Note the methodology and evaluate how it shapes or restricts the topic. 也, 评估作者对你的知识和对主题的理解增加了多少, 尤其是它如何补充课本上的观点和老师的观点.