Book Review: America Story
Book Review Instructions
-For this assignment, you will write a short book review. Your grade will be based on meeting certain requirements listed below, as well as proper format, and how well you exhibit your knowledge of the reading material.
Formatting requirements:
-12 pt Times New Roman font
-1 FULL page in length, no more no less
-Double spaced, flat
-1 inch margins all the way around
-Book citation will be the title, appearing like this:
Washington’s Spies, Alexander Rose, Bantam: New York, 2006.
-Your name needs to be in a header in the top right hand corner of the page.
Content requirements:
- Why did the author write this book, AND did they meet that goal?
- What is the book about? (in 2 or 3 sentences only)
- Is the story presented chronologically or topically?
- How does the author describe the people and events? Does their tone change for certain people?
- What part of this work stood out to you the most? (either event or person)
- What was your least favorite part?
- Did you enjoy reading this book? Why or why not?
- Would you recommend this book to someone who wanted to know more about this topic?
-All papers are expected to follow standard rules of grammar. In other words; no text speak, correct capitalization and punctuation, paragraph format, proper spelling, subject/verb agreement, etc.
**NOTE** This assignment will be turned in on Blackboard, and will be checked for plagiarism. If ANY assignment is found containing plagiarism it will receive a ZERO. NO questions asked, NO chance for makeup. If you choose to include a quote, make sure that you place quotation marks around it and the page number at the end of the sentence in parentheses. In other words, DON’T CHEAT.
-Also, if you finish your assignment early and want me to look it over and make sure you are on the right track I am happy to do so. Bring a printed copy to me at least one week before it is due and I will read it, make my comments and suggestions and give it back to you. This way you can earn the highest grade possible.
See next page for an example of formatting to ensure you get it right.
Washington’s Spies, Alexander Rose, Bantam: New York, 2006.
Begin typing here, and make sure you indent the first line. If you start any lower it will cost you points. This is how far apart double spaced lines appear. If your lines are further apart, it will cost you points. The document should be left aligned, not center aligned.
Oh, and one more thing. Make sure you don’t have extra spaces between the paragraphs. The spacing between them should be the same as between lines. This option can be chosen in the paragraph window when you set your spacing.
A full page will end down here. If yours isn’t this long, you haven’t met the requirement yet.
Grading Rubric for Book Review
Formatting requirements (20%):
Font – 4 points
Length – 4 points
Spacing/Margins – 4 points
Citation/Title – 4 points
Header – 4 points
Content requirements (80%):
Author/purpose – 8 points (4 points each)
Content – 8 points
Chronological/Topical – 8 points
Description of people – 8 points
Stand out point – 8 points
Least favorite – 8 points
Enjoy or not – 8 points
Recommend – 8 points
Miscellaneous deductions:
All one paragraph – 10 points
Typos/grammatical inaccuracies – varies depending on level of excessiveness
Quotes without page citation – 2 points
Extra space at top of paper or between paragraphs, or extra information – 2 points PER LINE
Excessive summary – 5 points