Elements of the Review. Your review should include the following elements: • (a)

Elements of the Review. Your review should include the following elements:
• (a) well-crafted synopsis of the major points of the book,
• (b) the strengths and weaknesses of the book
• (c) what you most learned new about psychology
• (d) an evaluation of how successful the author(s) have/have been in meeting the goals states
for the book.
Style. I will want to know whether you liked or didn’t like the book and why. You should adopt a
formal and measured tone in reviewing. You should not be too colloquial, shout, become excessively
emotional, or lose sight of your audience: me and others like me as educated readers. Good grammar,
care in spelling, and orderly progression of critical thinking and reasoning will be important positive
criteria in evaluating your report. This is both an exercise in critical thinking and in writing. I want to
see that you can think and that you can express those thoughts well.
What does the author tell me about the biological bases of psychology that I didn’t know before?
Am I struck in particular by specific new insights or examples that I found in the book?
Does anything the author write about lead me to think about connections to experiences in my own life or the experiences of those whom I know?
Does anything the author writes about lead me to wonder or think about something I hadn’t thought about before?
What are the strongest and the weakest qualities of the book that I read?
Mechanics. Mechanics of the paper include
• Margins of 1 inch on all sides
• Typeface must be in 10, 11, or 12 point
• All pages must be numbered
• Pages should be stapled or paper-clipped together in the top left corner; you may not use a
plastic cover for the review.
Your name and the complete book reference must be included at the top of the first page. The top of
your first page would look something like this:
• Remember to give page numbers for pages 2 and following.
The number of pages in a review should be at least 3, but not more than 10.