sells it to CBS.

It is therefore the perfect soap to WRITING TUTORIAL SERVICES

study for a history of the changing daytime serial. But WRITING GUIDES
that is not Intintoli’s project . . . .
Writing Book Reviews
Taking Soaps Seriously is a good introduction to the
production of the daily soap opera. It analyzes soap
conventions, reveals the hierarchy of soap production,
This guide online: go.iu.edu/3LXd
and describes a slice of the corporate production of
mass culture. 1. About
A book review tells not only what a book is about, but
Regrettably, it reads like an unrevised dissertation also how successfully the book explains itself. Professors
and misses an important opportunity to probe often assign book reviews as practice in careful, analytical
the changing nature of soap production and the reading.
unarticulated ideological framework in which soaps
are created. As a reviewer, you bring together the two strands
of accurate, analytical reading and strong, personal
4. Polishing the Book Review response when you indicate what the book is about and
After you’ve completed your review, be sure to proofread what it might mean to a reader (by explaining what it
it carefully for errors and typos. Double-check your meant to you). In other words, reviewers answer not only
bibliographic heading—author, title, publisher—for the what but the so what question about a book. Thus, in
accuracy and correct spelling as well. writing a review, you combine the skills of
describing what is on the page, analyzing how the book
tried to achieve its purpose, and expressing your own
reactions.

2. Reading the Book

As you are reading or preparing to write the review, ask
yourself these questions:

What are the author’s viewpoint and purpose?

Are they appropriate? The viewpoint or purpose may be
implied rather than stated, but often a good place to look
for what the author says about his or her purpose and
viewpoint is the introduction or preface.

For free help at any stage of the writing process, What are the author’s main points?
contact us at the following address: Again, these will often be stated in the introduction.

Writing Tutorial Services What kind of evidence does the author use to prove
Wells Library Information Commons his or her points?
Indiana University Is the evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does the
Phone: (812) 855-6738 author support his or her points adequately?
Website: go.iu.edu/3LYi
Support WTS: go.iu.edu/3LYj How does this book relate to other books on the same
topic?
See our website for more writing guides, hours, Is the book unique? Does it add new information? What
times, and locations. group of readers, if any, would find this book most useful?
Does the author have the necessary expertise to write 4. Example
the book? Title. Author. Place of publication: publisher, date of Below is a review of Taking Soaps Seriously by Michael
What credentials or background does the author have publication. Number of pages. Intintoli, written by Ruth Rosen in the Journal of
that qualify him or her to write the book? Has the author Communication. Note that Rosen begins with a context
written other books or papers on this topic? Do others in Like most pieces of writing, the review itself usually for Intintoli’s book, showing how it is different from other
this field consider this author to be an expert? begins with an introduction that lets your readers know books about soap operas. She finds a strength in the
what the review will say. The first paragraph usually kind of details that his methodology enables him to see.
What are the most appropriate criteria by which to includes the author and title again, so your readers don’t However, she disagrees with his choice of case study. All
judge the book? How successful do you think the have to look up to find this information. You should also in all, Rosen finds Intintoli’s book most useful for novices,
author was in carrying out the overall purposes of the include a very brief overview of the contents of the book, but not one that advances our ability to critique soap
book? the purpose or audience for the book, and your reaction operas very much.
Depending on your book’s purpose, you should select and evaluation.
appropriate criteria by which to judge its success. Use Taking Soaps Seriously: The World of Guiding Light.
any criteria your instructor has given you in lecture or on You should then move into a section of background Michael Intintoli. New York: Praeger, 1984. 248 pp.
your assignment sheet. Otherwise, here are some criteria information that helps place the book in context and
to consider. discusses criteria for judging the book. Ever since the U.S. public began listening to radio
Next, you should give a summary of the main points of soaps in the 1930s, cultural critics have explored
For example, if an author says his or her purpose is to the book, quoting and paraphrasing key phrases from the the content, form, and popularity of daytime serials.
argue for a particular solution to a public problem, then author. Today, media critics take a variety of approaches.
the review should judge whether the author has defined Some explore audience response and find that,
the problem, identified causes, planned points of attack, Finally, you get to the heart of your review—your depending on sex, race, or even nationality, people
provided necessary background information, and offered evaluation of the book. In this section, you might discuss “decode” the same story in different ways. Others
specific solutions. A review should also indicate the some of the following issues: regard soaps as a kind of subversive form of popular
author’s professional expertise. culture that supports women’s deepest grievances.
• how well the book has achieved its goal Still others view the soap as a “text” and attempt to
In other books, however, the authors may argue for their • what possibilities are suggested by the book “deconstruct” it, much as a literary critic dissects
theory about a particular phenomenon. Reviews of these • what the book has left out a work of literature. Michael Intintoli’s project is
books should evaluate what kind of theory the book is • how the book compares to others on the subject somewhat different. For him, the soap is a cultural
arguing for, how much and what kind of evidence the • what specific points are not convincing product mediated and created by corporate interests.
author uses to support his or her scholarly claims, how • what personal experiences you’ve had related to the It is the production of soaps, then, that is at the center
valid the evidence seems, how expert the author is, and subject. of his Taking Soaps Seriously.
how much the book contributes to the knowledge of the
field. It is important to use labels to carefully distinguish your To understand the creation of soap operas, Intintoli
views from the author’s, so that you don’t confuse your adopted an ethnographic methodology that required
3. Writing the Book Review reader. a rather long siege on the set of “Guiding Light.” Like a
Book reviews generally include the following kinds of good anthropologist, he picked up a great deal about
information; keep in mind, though, that you may need to Then, like other essays, you can end with a direct the concerns and problems that drive the production
include other information to explain your assessment of comment on the book, and tie together issues raised in of a daily soap opera. For the novice there is much to
a book. the review in a conclusion. be learned here . . . .

Most reviews start off with a heading that includes all There is, of course, no set formula, but a general rule of But the book stops short of where it should ideally
the bibliographic information about the book. If your thumb is that the first one-half to two-thirds of the begin. In many ways, “Guiding Light” was simply the
assignment sheet does not indicate which form you review should summarize the author’s main ideas and wrong soap to study. First broadcast in 1937, “Guiding
should use, you can use the following: at least one-third should evaluate the book. Check Light” is the oldest soap opera in the United States,
with your instructor. owned and produced by Procter and Gamble, which