Analytical Book Review of Alain De Bottons Status Anxiety

Alain deBotton, Status Anxiety

Analytical Book Review

The term paper assignment for this course is an analytical review of Alain DeBotton’s book Status Anxiety. We will discuss this book extensively throughout the course and you will read a chapter from the book for 10 weeks during the middle part of the course. I do not expect you to draft your review until you have had the benefit of the readings and discussion. An analytical book review is one that does considerably more than summarize the work. I do not want a summary. Instead, what we are after here is a reasoned and thoughtful reaction to the book; an analysis of both its content and its larger meaning. The assignment you turn in should be at least 2,000 of your words on the subject. If you need a model to follow, get a copy of the New York Review of Books, or any other periodical that does extensive essay reviews of scholarly works.

This work must be your own. Ideas not your own, paraphrases of the ideas of others, or quotes from other works must clearly be cited as such. There are many reviews on the internet of this book. You may consult them, but plagiarizing them will immediately be flagged by the system. Make this your own work.

For those of you not familiar with formatting and writing social science papers, I suggest you follow the APA or ASA formats for referencing and style and your paper will be in compliance. If you do not have a copy of the APA guidelines, any general manual used in writing for the social sciences will be helpful. Also, students in previous classes have found APA format guidelines online. ASA or MLA is acceptable, only be consistent when choosing a writing style. I pay attention to grammar and punctuation so be thorough and use proper English when writing your paper.