Overview
BOOK REVIEW #1
Your book review will be based on the review text you select from those listed below. You may review up to a maximum of two books for credit, with each review worth up to 15 points. Reviews should be typed, 12-point font, double-spaced, 800 words minimum (no maximum). This assignment is not like a book report you may have completed in high school; you should avoid summarizing or re-stating the themes of the book. Instead, use your book review to address the following three questions.
- What does the text suggest about the social contexts, forces, and relations that shape families? In answering this question, think about what dynamics the author is addressing: How are families reflective of particular social arrangements? How do families navigate those same arrangements?
- Based on the authors’ or editors’ approach to the issues or any explicitly stated philosophy, what is the text’s underlying political and social agenda? The answer to this question should not be: “the book’s subject is…”, but rather, an identification of what the authors’ or editors’ want. What changes in policy, practice, or social structures do they want to bring about? What are they trying to persuade their readers of?
- How does the text relate to the course reserve readings, lectures or other materials? Be very explicit--- citing other readings, concepts from lectures, films, or speakers specifically. What does the text add to your understanding of the issues we are addressing in this course? Just mentioning other materials is not adequate. You should explain how they relate to the book or vice versa.
You should only review books listed below and in the syllabus; substitutions will not be accepted. Book reviews will be graded based on: a) Clearly answering each of the three questions above, and b) Demonstrating that you’ve read, engaged with and thought carefully about the book. Grammar and writing style are not specifically part of the grading criterion, although obviously your review should be read-able. You do not need to include a bibliography in your book review, unless you use materials besides your review text and the course reserve readings.
The list of approved texts for book reviews is below. You can obtain book review texts on your own. All are available for purchase online, and several are available for free through the UC or Los Angeles library systems.
- Sally Bahous, Under Olive Trees: The Odyssey of a Palestinian-American Family
- Emir Estrada, Kids At Work: Latinx Families Selling Food on the Streets of Los Angeles
- Dorothy E. Roberts, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World
- Jane Jeong Trenka & Julia Chinyere Oparah, eds., Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption
- Karen Thompson & Julie Andrzejewski, Why Can’t Sharon Kowalski Come Home?
- Christine Stark, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation
- Roberto Vargas, Family Activism: Empowering Your Community, Beginning with Family and Friends
- Brenda J. Child, Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940
- Loretta Ross & Rickie Solinger, Reproductive Justice; An Introduction
- Juliane Hammer, Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts Against Domestic Violence
Assignment Guidelines:
For written assignments, please use double-spacing, 12-point font, and insert page numbers. When citing materials, you may use any academic citation style (e.g. APA, MLA, ASA), as long as you use it consistently. You must cite all sources used. You may use footnotes, endnotes, or a bibliography, as you prefer. Uploads may be in PDF or Word only. Bruin Learn will not open documents uploaded in Pages, or other alternate word processing software.
Important: No assignments have “hidden” or unstated requirements not indicated explicitly in the syllabus, or in the assignment in Bruin Learn. There are no requirements regarding writing style or tone, and no formatting requirements besides those listed in this syllabus. Grammar and writing skill are not part of the grading criterion, although proofreading is recommended.
Assignments written using AI-software, in whole or in part, are not accepted and violate UCLA’s anti-plagiarism policy. For this course, using Grammarly in editing your paper is not recommended; if you adopt recommended text edits suggested by Grammarly, it is plagiarism.
BOOK REVIEW#2
Your book review will be based on the review text you select from those listed below. You may review up to a maximum of two books for credit, with each review worth up to 15 points. Reviews should be typed, 12-point font, double-spaced, 800 words minimum (no maximum). This assignment is not like a book report you may have completed in high school; you should avoid summarizing or re-stating the themes of the book. Instead, use your book review to address the following three questions.
- What does the text suggest about the social contexts, forces, and relations that shape families? In answering this question, think about what dynamics the author is addressing: How are families reflective of particular social arrangements? How do families navigate those same arrangements?
- Based on the authors’ or editors’ approach to the issues or any explicitly stated philosophy, what is the text’s underlying political and social agenda? The answer to this question should not be: “the book’s subject is…”, but rather, an identification of what the authors’ or editors’ want. What changes in policy, practice, or social structures do they want to bring about? What are they trying to persuade their readers of?
- How does the text relate to the course reserve readings, lectures or other materials? Be very explicit--- citing other readings, concepts from lectures, films, or speakers specifically. What does the text add to your understanding of the issues we are addressing in this course? Just mentioning other materials is not adequate. You should explain how they relate to the book or vice versa.
You should only review books listed below and in the syllabus; substitutions will not be accepted. Book reviews will be graded based on: a) Clearly answering each of the three questions above, and b) Demonstrating that you’ve read, engaged with and thought carefully about the book. Grammar and writing style are not specifically part of the grading criterion, although obviously your review should be read-able. You do not need to include a bibliography in your book review, unless you use materials besides your review text and the course reserve readings.
The list of approved texts for book reviews is below. You can obtain book review texts on your own. All are available for purchase online, and several are available for free through the UC or Los Angeles library systems.
- Emir Estrada, Kids At Work: Latinx Families Selling Food on the Streets of Los Angeles
- Dorothy E. Roberts, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World
- Jane Jeong Trenka & Julia Chinyere Oparah, eds., Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption
- Karen Thompson & Julie Andrzejewski, Why Can’t Sharon Kowalski Come Home?
- Christine Stark, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation
- Roberto Vargas, Family Activism: Empowering Your Community, Beginning with Family and Friends
- Brenda J. Child, Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940
- Loretta Ross & Rickie Solinger, Reproductive Justice; An Introduction
- Juliane Hammer, Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts Against Domestic Violence
Assignment Guidelines:
For written assignments, please use double-spacing, 12-point font, and insert page numbers. When citing materials, you may use any academic citation style (e.g. APA, MLA, ASA), as long as you use it consistently. You must cite all sources used. You may use footnotes, endnotes, or a bibliography, as you prefer. Uploads may be in PDF or Word only. Bruin Learn will not open documents uploaded in Pages, or other alternate word processing software.
Important: No assignments have “hidden” or unstated requirements not indicated explicitly in the syllabus, or in the assignment in Bruin Learn. There are no requirements regarding writing style or tone, and no formatting requirements besides those listed in this syllabus. Grammar and writing skill are not part of the grading criterion, although proofreading is recommended.
Assignments written using AI-software, in whole or in part, are not accepted and violate UCLA’s anti-plagiarism policy. For this course, using Grammarly in editing your paper is not recommended; if you adopt recommended text edits suggested by Grammarly, it is plagiarism.