Purposeful Writing in the

Disciplines and for Professions

BOOK REVIEW OR
ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Learning Objective
At the end of the lesson, the students
will be able to:
1. Determine the main purpose in
writing a book review or article
critique.
2. Identify the unique features of a
book review or an article critique.
 ARTICLE
BOOK REVIEW
CRITIQUE
 A type of literary  It analyzes and
criticism in which a comments on an article
book’s content and or text, instead of an
style is evaluated and entire book.
analyzed.  It is more a commentary.
 It could be a single It presents a critical
paragraph or may be assessment of the
as long as a substantial article’s content, and may
essay. offer agreement or
disagreement about the
 It may also be used to
ideas written in the
present idea or display article.
learning.
 Purpose in Writing a Book Review
 The main purpose in writing a book
review or an article critique is to
argue for or against the ideas
presented by the author.
 To objectively evaluate a book and
give your honest reflections and
thoughts about the book’s main
message, content, merit, and style.
 Requirements In Making An Effective
Book Review
1. The critic must report what the book does.
2. The critic must judge how well the author
has done his job.
3. The critic must provide enough evidence
from the book itself to support or illustrate
his judgement.
4. The critic must be fair in making his own
judgement about somebody else’s written
work.
 Pre-Writing of Book Review
1. Read and understand the material/book.
You hare to go beyond the content of
the book.
2. Take down notes. Write down the
elements which will be useful in your
review: title, theme of the book,
characters, mood and tone, author’s
style of writing and language and the
purpose.
 Pre-Writing of Book Review
3. Formulate questions about the
content.

4. Read the material more than once

fro an in-depth understanding of
what the author is trying to convey.
 Writing of a Book Review/Article
Critique
I. INTRODUCTION
 Know the author’s background information
(Life, beliefs).
 Mention the title of the material.
 State the author’s main purpose or
argument.
 Come up with a thesis statement. Are you
in the positive side or in the negative side?
Are you for or against the main argument?
 Writing of a Book Review/Article
Critique
II. BODY
 This is the analysis and evaluation part of
the review.
 Mention setting, theme, plot,
characterization, and other significant
literary devices used by the author.
 What are the strength and weakness of the
book?
 State whether the book is informative,
entertaining or meaningful. Would you
recommend it to others?
 Writing of a Book Review/Article
Critique
II. BODY
Present your ideas clearly.
Support your ideas with pieces of
evidences.
State if there is any significant
human experience and
relationships that you can relate
with in the material.
 Writing of a Book Review/Article
Critique
III. CONCLUSION
This is the brief summary of your
overall evaluation of the material.

Include here the main reasons why

you agree or disagree with the
author.
 Writing of a Book Review/Article
Critique
III. CONCLUSION
You can also write a memorable
statement here or repeat a key word
from the introduction.

After writing the review or critique, do

not forget to cite the references you
used for your paper.