Supplemental Reading Assignment Sheet
BIOL 119 Emerging Diseases
Introduction to the Assignment
Your IUP Liberal Studies requirements include a supplemental non-textbook reading as a part of the course content in Liberal Studies elective courses. The supplemental reading provides additional depth and an alternate point of view to that of your textbook. In BIOL 119 Emerging Diseases you can choose from among four options for your supplemental reading. This is the assignment sheet for all four of those options.
Instructions for the Assignment
Your assignment is to read the supplemental non-textbook reading of your choice and to write a critical review of the book. Your critical review is not the same thing as a book report. In a book report you simply write down information and facts from the reading. In your critical review assignment you will analyze and evaluate the book.
In general, you are not expected to write as an expert in the field for whichever of the books you choose to read. However, you are expected to show a basic understanding of the content of the book (appropriate for a person who is completing BIOL 119) and you are expected to write your own opinions for a general audience.
Choose one of the four non-textbook supplemental reading options listed in your semester syllabus (and copied at the end of this assignment sheet) and read the book. Pace yourself and read a little each day so that you get finished in plenty of time.
Write your critical review according to the following guidelines.See the grading rubric for more details and paraphrases.
1. Organization of the Review: The critical review must be organized with the following sections: Introduction, Body, Conclusion.
1A: Introduction: This is a very brief statement describing the thesis or the theme of the book. One or two sentences is sufficient here.
1B: Body:Present, discuss and summarize the author’s key points, themes and ideas. This will take about a paragraph and is not meant to be a point-by-point listing of chapter topics or headings or an abstract of the author’s narrative. This section is about what you the reader see as the most important message of the book.
The next section of the review is the most important. In this section you critically review these points mentioned in the paragraph above and explain to your reader whether the author’s presentation was effective. Did the author get the message across clearly and decisively? What were the anecdotes, narratives, stories, examples or writing techniques that you found to be the best and why? Was the writing clear or did you have a hard time following it? Did the author use technical terms and scientific jargon well? Was the book written at a level appropriate for its intended audience? This critical evaluation is meant to be thorough but also constructive and positive. Do not focus on negatives (as you might on a Tripadvisor restaurant review).
1C: Conclusion:This is the section in which you the reviewer need to focus on your take-home message.In this section you briefly summarize how well the author got his or her message across to the intended audience. Also you should indicate whether you think the book would be useful to its intended audience or if not-what audience would find it to be useful.
2. Format Requirements for the Review:Use the following format for your critical book review.
Write your review for an audience of IUP students who are not Biology or science majors. In structure and organization your review must follow the outline given in Section 1 above. Use complete sentences organized into paragraphs in writing your review. Use standard English and spelling for the most part in your review but you can also use scientific jargon if appropriate. Reviews with a large number of spelling or other errors or otherwise not in compliance with format requirements will not be graded. Your word count must be at least 750 words up to about 1250 words: roughly 3-5 pages of text.
3. Turning in the Review:
Turn in the completed review in hard copy format. You must turn in a hard copy to receive full credit for the assignment. The due date for the review is Friday, December 8 at 4:00 PM. I will try to set up a D2L dropbox for submission of electronic version as backup in addition to hard copy. No email submissions accepted.
Supplemental/Non-textbookReadings (Choose and complete writing assignment on one)
Kolata, Gina. 1999. Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It.Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York, ISBN # 0-374-15706- 5.
Nagami, Pamela. 2002. The Woman with a Worm in Her Head: And Other True Stories of Infectious Disease. St. Martin’s Griffin, New York, ISBN #0-312-30601-6
Quammen, David. 2012. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. W. W. Norton, New York, ISBN #978-0-393-06680-7.
Sachs, Jessica S. 2007. Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World. Hill and Wang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), New York, ISBN-13: 978-0-8090-5063-5.