For researchers and postgraduates, writing a book review is a relatively easy way to get published. It’s also a good way to refine your academic writing skills and learn about the publishing process. But how do you write a good academic book review? We have a few tips to share.
Before you can write an academic book review, you need to find a suitable book. There are two main ways to do this:
The first approach works by finding a journal in your field that is soliciting reviews. This information may be available on their website (e.g. on a page titled ‘Books for Review’). However, you can also email the editor to ask if there are book review opportunities available.
Alternatively, you can find a book you want to review and pitch it to journal editors. If you want to take this approach, pick a book that:
You can then pitch your review to a journal that covers the same subject as the book. Some publishers will even give reviewers access to new books. Springer, for example, has a scheme where reviewers can access books online and receive a print copy once a review is published.
Once you know the journal you’re hoping to write for, look for the publisher’s style guide. This might be called the ‘Author Instructions’ or ‘Review Guidelines’, but it should be available somewhere on the publisher’s website; if it is not obviously available, consider checking with the editor.
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And when you have found the style guide, follow its instructions carefully. It should provide information on everything from writing style and the word count to submitting your review.
You’d be surprised how often academics begin a review by summarising the book in question, only to then abandon it in favour of explaining their own ideas about the subject matter. As such, one important tip when reviewing an academic book is to actually review the book.
This isn’t to say that you can’t offer your own thoughts on the subject matter, especially if they are relevant to what the author is arguing in the book. But remember that people read reviews to find out about the book being reviewed, so this should always be your focus.
Finally, while the content of a review will depend on the book, there are a few questions every good book review should answer. These include:
If you can cover these points, you should end up with a strong book review. All you need then is to have it proofread by the professionals.
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