Each student will select a book considered to be one of the ‘great works’ in sociology, in the first week, to read and critique. There is a list from which to choose a book to review and critique, but students can select books outside the list in consultation with the instructor. Students will be required to write a book review and report on the review in a related Discussion Board Assignment.

This critique should be written in the style of reviews in Contemporary Sociology

Review:

A critical book review briefly describes the content of a book and, more importantly, provides an in-depth analysis and evaluation of its ideas and purpose. The descriptive element of a review should give the reader an understanding of the author’s arguments, while the evaluative element should detail your assessment of the book’s ideas.

Your review should include:

• the author’s purpose/thesis in writing the book
• the author’s key arguments and evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses
• brief summary of the methodology used, level of analysis and sample
• comments on how the book relates to other work on the same subject
• comments on how the book makes a significant contribution to the study of sociology; and the sub-field of focus (if relevant)
• information about the author’s reputation or authority in the field
• comments on future research that may be implied by (or build on) the author’s work

3.5 Pages

APA – 3 References