Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
AFAS 160A1 – The Africana Experience
Requirement of Book Reviews :
To develop/refine critical thinking, analytic and writing skills, you will be required to write a two-page review of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart . You will be penalized for having less than or exceeding 2 pages.
· Each book review essay must include the following:
· Your name, Course Number and Section (AFAS 160A1: 101), and Date on the top, left hand corner of your first page. This becomes your header.
· Any essay missing the writer’s name (student’s name) will be rejected and deemed a missed assignment.
· The title of your review essay should be: the author’s last name followed by a comma, the author’s first name followed by a colon (:) and title of the reading reviewed (e.g., Achebe, Chinua: Things Fall Apart). This title should then be underlined.
· You may also move the two items above to a title page. The title page formatted this way will not count toward the page requirement.
· Essay must be saved and submitted as a Microsoft Word Document. Essay submitted in any other format such as pdf, rtf, .Pages and others will not be evaluated.
· Formatting Guidelines for Book Review essays:
· Use, 1” margins, Times New Roman 12 point font-type and size, and double-spaced.
· Essays must be saved and submitted into the ASSIGNMENT folder as Microsoft Word document. Essay submitted in any other format (e.g., PDF; .pages; .rtf) will not be graded. You may then resubmit the assignment for half credit during the rewrite period.
· The length requirement for this assignment is TWO (2) pages. This length requirement excludes a title page or Works Cited, if used. You will be penalized for exceeding or having less than two pages.
· The rubric for the book review assignment is under.
General Book Review Guidelines
1. What is the subject matter of the reading? You may start with a broad contextualization of the subject matter, main idea, or argument.
2. What are the salient and auxiliary ideas, issues, and/or arguments? These two pointers will guide you in crafting an introduction.
3. Discuss each of the salient points/issues and their supporting facts or arguments.
4. Do you find these arguments, discussions, and expositions convincing?
5. What knowledge or experience of the issues, ideas, or events discussed in the reading do you have that supports your position above?
6. Evaluate the organization of the reading. Is it easy to understand?
Your essay should be free flowing using full sentences and paragraphs to structure and organize your thoughts and ideas. The guidelines above are just that: guidelines.
Note: The title of your review should be: the author and title of the reading being reviewed.
Additional Book Review Guidelines (Things Fall Apart)
1. Your discussion should be carried out within the context of this class.
2. The first part of this class is concerned with the early history of Africa with particular focus on ancient African civilizations. This reading and the society it referenced should be seen in the context of this early history of Africa and the ancient civilizations that emerged on the continent. In fact, about 50% of the book (all of Part I) is on aspects of Igbo civilization. The only video material we have watched in this class also weighed in on the debate on whether African peoples had any civilization before the coming of the Europeans into Africa or not. This reading and the video material will enable you focus on the theme of Igbo culture and civilization in your discussion.
3. Another theme covered in this reading that is important to us in this class (see course syllabus) is the expansion of the Europeans into Africa (colonialism) as from the 1880s. This book not only painted a vivid picture of how the Europeans carved Africa into colonial enclaves (process) but it also discussed the EFFECTS of colonialism on the African civilization referenced.
4. As far as this class is concerned, these are the issues that are important. Do not waste your time on minuscule issues like: the character of the protagonist, polygamy, the inferior status of women, masculinity, domestic violence, how repulsed you are with infanticide (e.g., killing of twin babies), etc. These issues may be mentioned to the extent that they illuminate the big picture (main themes) described in 2 & 3 above.
5. Avoid the temptation of plagiarizing the myriad of sources that are online (e.g., Wikipedia, Sparknotes, etc.). Be warned also that I have an archive of past essays on this assignment for the past 10 years. Any plagiarized work will score a zero. In addition, the student will be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students for additional sanctions.
6. Pay attention to the formatting requirements for this assignment.
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