HSS 371
3-part Book Review Assignment
Fall 2011

In HSS 371 you will read an additional book, tell your classmates about it, and write a review that compares the book with other scholarly materials.

STEP ONE: Choose a book.

• Due Week 4, Sept 20/21: Let me know your choice (consult the list or visit your favorite bookstore and make a suggestion).

STEP TWO: Tell your classmates about the book and submit an outline of your book review.

• Due Week 10, Nov 2/8 or Week 11, Nov 9/15: You will have 5 minutes to summarize the contents of the book and share any insights you think are relevant to the course. Your presentation should describe the book's scope and aims, the author's thesis, and how effectively the thesis is argued. To be blunt: who cares? Should we care? Why? The outline of your review also should include compelling issues that the book has encouraged you to explore. You should bring in a printed copy of your outline to use for your presentation and turn in to me.

STEP THREE: Submit a 1000-word review essay

• Due Week 14, Dec 6/7: Your review essay should use your book, in combination with outside scholarly sources, to illuminate a particular theme or issue. You might include some account of the thesis and scope of the book you have read, but you should be more concerned with the ways that your book sheds light on an issue or discussion that reaches beyond the book's scope. It is essential for you to include in your analysis at least one external scholarly work (book, article, etc.) that gives you a differnt vantage point for evaluating an issue in the book that you find compelling or worth further analysis.
  
  Please consult me if you are having trouble finding scholarly sources. You should begin at the "Online Resource A-Z List" at the SC Williams Library. Depending on your topic, you may want to explore the ACM Digital Library, the IEEE/IEE Electronic Library, or the JSTOR Arts and Sciences I & II Collection. You might also explore the working papers at ssrn.com or use Google Scholar to find scholarly works that relate to your topic.