SYLLABUS of BOOK REPORT I and BOOK REPORT II

BOOK REPORT is a non-class, research-oriented literary course designated as a support to the other literary classes in the
English Department curriculum. Whereas the latter provides, among other things, referential knowledge about English
literature. Book Report aims to supplement such knowledge with pertinent reading exposure and exploration. Therefore this
course is designed as a guided reading project in which the student is allowed to independently and individually explore major
works and major writers which are enlisted in the regular literary classes but lack time and other necessary resources for any
significant exploration.

AIMS OF BOOK REPORT I and BOOK REPORT II

These courses aim to enable the students to:
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read, interpret and evaluate texts through the study of literature in English.
develop an understanding of literal and implicit meaning, relevant contexts and the deeper themes or attitudes that may be
expressed.
recognise and appreciate the ways in which writers use English to achieve various effects.
present an informed, personal response to materials they have studied.
explore wider and universal issues, promoting better understanding of themselves and of the world around them.
communicate accurately, appropriately and effectively in speech and writing.
enjoy literature and appreciate its contribution to aesthetic and imaginative growth.

To provide greater focus and to underline the guided nature of this course, each literary course lecturer is expected to issue
his or her own list of approved major writers and major works to be assigned to the Book Report project. This list of
approved works should pertain to each literary class, and should be organized and engineered in such a way as to stimulate
further exploration in its own specific area.
The student is expected to perform well on an inter-related combination of some of the above objectives.
STUDY OBJECTS
A list of approved major writers and their pertinent works would be issued by each lecturer of the other literary courses in the
department curriculum. The student should select his or her works from these lists, taking care to choose no more than one
work from each major writer. Five original works should be taken for each Book Report project. A final 4-5 page report
with double space should be written for each chosen work.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH AND REPORTING:

The report should consist of (a) a brief description of the book as a whole and (b) an in-depth and well-developed
discussion of one or two issues, themes, topics, or aspects of the book that the student considers important.
The student should not attempt to summarize the entire book. Instead, he or she is expected to investigate a few selected
points in the book and to see how the author deals with them.
The student should not simply write an essay on something that the book happens to cover. Instead, he or she should focus
directly on the book and on the authors distinctive approach to the matters that the student has chosen to investigate.
The report should not simply retell what a critic says about the book, or what an editor or translator says about it in the
introduction of the book. It should show the students personal acquaintance with the chosen works.
The student should write the report in HIS OR HER OWN WORDS.
Quotations should be appropriately limited, and given in quotation marks in parentheses. Any use of some critics views or
words should be acknowledged. Use the latest MLA method of parenthetical citations.
At the beginning of each report, the student should give the standard bibliographical information on the book he or she is
writing about: the authors name, the books title, the editor or translator (if any), the city of publication, the publisher, and
the year of publication.
The student should document the implementation of his or project in a Book Report Card.
The student should consult the supervisor regularly to report on his or her progress.

ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES:
At the final assessment at the end of the semester, the student should be able to communicate a sensitive and informed personal
response to what is read. This response should reflect the students

detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts

understanding of the ways in which literary texts can be interpreted, from surface level to deeper awareness of ideas and
attitudes
recognition and appreciation of the ways in which writers use the English language for special (aesthetic and intellectual)
purposes
recognition and appreciation of other ways in which writers achieve their effects (e.g. by means of special structure, plot,
characterization, dramatic tension, imagery, rhythm, setting and mood).
NOTES ON USING OTHER PEOPLES IDEAS

Students are expected to learn a lot by reading books. Students are also encouraged to develop other peoples ideas, or to
borrow other peoples ideas. When they do this, however, they are expected to obtain permission from the owner of the
original idea, or to give credit to the owner. Failure to do so is called plagiarism.

When using a quotation in a nonscholarly work, acknowledge your original source with a casual citation. But include
enough information to help readers track down the original if they want to do so.

Use quoted material only when it says something important and is well-phrased. Otherwise, paraphrase the quotations
content IN YOUR OWN WORDS. A paraphrase should thoroughly rework the material. Changing only a few insignificant
words and repeating the quotation without citing its source is plagiarism, not paraphrasing.

Avoid using too many quotations, as they would only show that you have no original ideas of your own about the subject
being discussed.

Use an MLA guide in citing sources.

HANDBOOKS:
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Kelley Griffith, Jr. Writing Essays about Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York,
1986.
Lois Tyson. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Routledge: New York, 2006.
Literary Criticism Basic Skills Guide (an 11-page compilation PDF)

GUIDELINES BOOK REPORT I and II

BOOK REPORT FORMAT
COVER PAGE: (Provide the cover of the novel)
Example:

A Book Report on Animal Farm

Author: George Orwell
Name of Student
Student Number: Date of submission: -

1.

THEME
In a short paragraph, describe the theme of the book. Does it contain universal values?

2.

SETTING:
What is the setting? Where does the story take place? Is it a real place or an imaginary setting?
TIP: It might be helpful to include maps, pictures, or historical information about the setting.

3.

MAIN CHARACTERS
Many books center on a primary character, but some books have two or more main characters.
Who are the main characters? Briefly describe their key traits.
Explain what makes each character different from the others in the book.

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PLOT
What is the plot of the story? Focus on the key events and themes. Dont get bogged down in details that arent central
to the plot.

5.

TURNING POINT
Does the main character try to overcome a problem or accomplish a goal? Does the story include a problem or a
conflict?

6.

SYMBOLS (if any)

Does the author use any recurring motifs or symbols? How do these literary devices contribute to the story?

7.

TONE
What tone does the author try to convey?

8.

ATMOSPHERE
Does the atmosphere play an important role in the story?

LIST OF AUTHORS
ELIZABETHAN

18th CENTURY

Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare
Sir Walter Raleigh
Edmund Spencer

Daniel Defoe)
Jonathan Swift
Henry Fielding

ROMANTIC

BRITISH

AMERICAN

Sir Walter Scott

Mary Shelley
Jane Austen

Charles Brockden Brown

Washington Irving
James Fenimore Cooper
Frederick Douglass
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Edgar Allan Poe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Mary Wilkins Freeman
Sarah Orne Jewett
Bret Harte
Kate Chopin

BRITISH

AMERICAN

Charles Dickens
George Eliot
William M. Thackeray
Charlotte Bronte
Emily Bronte
Anthony Trollope
Robert Louis Stevenson

Mark Twain
Louisa May Alcott
William Dean Howells
Stephen Crane
Frank Norris

BRITISH

AMERICAN

Thomas Hardy
HG Wells

Henry James
Edith Wharton

VICTORIAN (19TH CENT)

20th CENTURY

Joseph Conrad
DH Lawrence
Aldous Huxley
Rudyard Kipling
EM Forster
James Joyce
Virginia Woolf
George Orwell
William Golding

List of Books that should not be taken for Book Report I and II
World Literature Class
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Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse)

The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich ( Alexandr Solzhenitsyn)
Beloved (Toni Morrison)
My Name is Red (Orhan Pamuk )
Dora Bruder (Patrick Modiano)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Hateship, Friendship, Marriage Stories (Alice Munro )

Elizabethan Literature Class

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Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)

As You Like It (Shakespeare)
Othello (Shakespeare)

Science Fiction Class

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Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

The Time Machine (H.G. Well)
Twilight (John W. Campbell)
The Diamond Lens (Fitz-James OBrien)
Rappaccinis Daughter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Romanticism Class
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)

The Pioneer (James Fennimore Cooper)

Upton Sinclair
Theodore Dreiser
Sinclair Lewis
Abraham Cahan
Anzsia Yezierska
Henry Roth
Ernest Hemingway
F Scott Fitzgerald
Thornton Wilder
Gertrude Stein
John Dos Passos
Jean Toomer
Zora Neale Hurston
Richard Wright
Ralph Ellison
James Baldwin
Owen Wister
Zane Grey
Willa Cather
John Steinbeck
Sherwood Anderson
William Faulkner
Eudora Welty
Margaret Mitchell

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The Prairies (William Cullen Bryant)

Young Goodman Brown (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)