EDUC 872
BOOK REVIEW ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
For this assignment, you will write a 5-page book review in current APA format that focuses
on the required course textbook, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. You
must summarize the premise of the book, take a stance for or against the key points made,
and discuss implications for the field of education. The paper must include at least four
references to the assignment textbook in addition to the Bible.
A Book Review Template has been provided to assist you with this assignment. Please use
the following format in preparing your book review:
1. SUMMARY. Summarize what you have read, boiling the book down into 400–600 words
(no more than two pages). Prove you comprehend the readings by writing a no-nonsense
summary. The introduction is not a commentary or listing of topics but rather an
objective summary. Summary here means “clear and concise.” This section must include
a minimum of two citations of the text being reviewed in current APA format.
2. CONCRETE RESPONSE. Get vulnerable! In no less than 250 words and no more than one
page, relate a personal life experience that this book triggered in your memory. Relate
your story in first-person, describing action, and quoting exact words you remember
hearing or saying. In the teaching style of Jesus, this is a do-it-yourself parable, case
study, and/or confession. You will remember almost nothing you have read unless you
make this critical, personal connection.
3. REFLECTION. This is the critical thinking part of the review. In no less than 250 words
and no more than one page, describe what questions pop-up for you in response to what
you have read. Keep a rough-note sheet at hand as you read. Outsmart the author by
asking better questions than he or she raised in the book. Tell how the author could have
made the book better or more appealing to those in your field of service. One way to
begin this section is by stating what bothered you most about the book. This is not a place
to provide an endorsement or affirmation of the book. This section should include a
minimum of two APA citations to the text being reviewed.
4. ACTION. So, what are you going to do about it? In 400–600 words (no less than one page
and no more than two pages), provide two actions that describe what changes you are
going to do or how the book’s ideas/concepts will be applied in your professional life as a
result of your reading. Actions must be specific, measurable, and reveal a commitment to
time, certain people, identified steps, and evaluation plans.
5. Please provide an APA-style title page, citations, and reference page. The title page and
references page do not count towards the five-page minimum requirement.
