Writing a book report/analysis
for a college history class
By Kerry Chandler
The Prompt
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For your outside reading of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe , you
have the following prompt:
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What is the author’s intent (that is, what point
was she trying to communicate) in this book
and how does she communicate that intent to
the reader?
The Prompt
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What is the author’s intent (that is, what
point was she trying to communicate) in this
book and how does she communicate
that intent to the reader?
There are two parts to this prompt:
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What is the author’s intent?
How does she communicate that intent?
We must answer both parts of the prompt in
order to fully answer the prompt.
Thesis Statement
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The cornerstone of any good paper is a good thesis
statement.
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It needs to say exactly what the writer is going to argue in
this paper without saying “I will argue.”
It forms the framework for the rest of your paper.
Here is an example for the same prompt applied to
With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge:
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In With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge, the author
communicated to the reader the horror and sadness of
war for the common enlisted man by showing the bad
living conditions of enlisted men, the dangers they faced,
and the psychological effects of war upon them.
The Paper’s Structure
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Introduction: The first paragraph is an introduction. It might
have one or two introductory sentences (though it’s not
necessary), but should quickly get to the point with the thesis
statement.
Body Paragraphs: There should be body paragraphs that follow
the structure of the thesis. Each begins with it’s own mini-thesis
– a topic sentence.
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Sledge demonstrated the horrors of war by showing the terrible living
conditions of Marines.
Sledge demonstrated the horrors of war with examples of extreme
dangers he faced in the war.
Sledge demonstrated the horrors of war by detailing the psychological
trauma it caused him and many of his fellow Marines.
Conclusion: The conclusion should basically just repeat the
thesis (worded differently when possible). Loading your
conclusion with a lot of flowery rhetoric is a crutch that college
professors will see through immediately.
Body Paragraphs
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Begin with a topic sentence.
Sledge demonstrated the horrors of war by detailing the psychological trauma it
caused him and many of his fellow Marines.
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Are built up of concrete examples.
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One example of this psychological trauma was how new
Marines would recoil at dead bodies, while veterans would
often desecrate them. For instance, Sledge expressed horror
at seeing fellow Marines harvest gold teeth from dead
Japanese soldiers on Pelelieu (pg. 220), but by the end of
the Okinawa campaign, he had become so desensitized to
death that he started to do it himself until shamed out of it
by a friend (pg. 342).
Should never take up an entire page of paper –
– if you need more than one page to make the argument in
your topic sentence, then try to break that up into two
separate points instead.
Citations
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It sometimes seems like every professor has different
requirements for citations in papers. History professors
typically want you to use the Turabian/Chicago style.
For this paper, since it’s over a single book, you can
just use the following: (pg. 320)
At the very end of your paper, put the correct Turabian
or Chicago style citation for the book (Google it, folks)
you read.
Note on quotes: When possible, avoid any long
quotations. It’s better to just use your own wording
and then cite where you are getting it from.
Other Tips and Tricks
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Don’t ever:
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Write in the first or second person
Use passive voice (this is sometimes unavoidable,
really, but try to avoid it as much as you can)
Change tenses mid sentence or paragraph. I really
hate it when people had been changing their tenses
in the middle of sentences that they will be writing.
Have a quote that goes for more than 2 lines (and
even that is really pushing it – the best quotes are
3-5 words and only one or two in a paper at most)
Always:
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Cite anything that isn’t 100% from your own brain.