The Christian Librarian

Reviewers may keep the books in exchange for their reviews. The following are expectations that the TCL editorial team has for all submitted reviews. Please double-check any reviews submitted to TCL to confirm that the submitted review:

• include the subject, scope of the book, and a statement of the author’s thesis.
• reveals the nature of treatment: reference book, introductory, scholarly, textbook,etc.
• includes a synopsis of the book’s content
• evaluate the book and identify the author if he/she is not well known.
• does not use unprofessional theological labeling like “heretical” or slang language to describe the book. You may use traditional theological identifiers like: orthodox, evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, conservative, classic liberalism, etc.
• addresses the question regarding whether or not the book achieves its purpose. If it does, please explain how it does so.
• compares the book being reviewed with others of its kind.
• addresses the question regarding how this book contributes to its field of study.
• addresses issues related to the clarity and thoroughness of the book.
• addresses whether or not the book is well-documented (endnotes/footnotes, bibliography, etc.)

Please make sure that book reviews do not include content outside of the scope of the book or irrelevant information, such as:

• the length of the book.
• your preconceived idea about the book prior to requesting it for review.
• personal observations on the topic.
• or other related topics.

Please see other reviews in previous issues of The Christian Librarian as examples:

http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/tcl/vol60/iss1/21
http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/tcl/vol60/iss1/30
http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/tcl/vol60/iss1/55

Please use the following guidelines when preparing the written reviews (if the review is not formatted in this manner, it will be necessary to return to the review for adjustments):

1. Reviews should be headed with the appropriate format of the following samples:

Work
Author, A. A. (2016). Title of work. Location: Publisher. 200 pp. $20.00. ISBN
9781234567890

Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (2016). Title of work. Location: Publisher. 200 pp. $20.00. ISBN
9781234567890

Reviewer
Jane A. Smith, University of Higher Education

John A. Smith, Pastor, City Church, Chicago, IL

1. Double-spaced, with one inch margins all around.
2. General reviews should be 300 to 500 words in length, while critical reviews may go beyond 500 words and will deconstruct the thesis.
3. Longer review essays which survey the literature of a topic should be submitted as articles to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
4. Direct quotations are discouraged and please keep allusions to specific points in the text to a minimum. However, when using quotations and allusions they must be followed by page numbers in parentheses.

Reviews should be sent by email as an attached Word document (.doc or .docx) or text file (.rtf) to the Book Review Editor: Craig Kubic.

Reviewers should consider all the evaluation standards listed for non-fiction titles when appropriate. However, FICTION titles should make use of the designated form The Christian Librarian Popular Fiction Review Form. This form identifies particular genres of fiction as well as characteristics of the work which will be used to group/classify these titles in categories. Reviewers should use this Word (docx) document and return with the filled in areas to the Book Review Editor: Craig Kubic (ckubic@swbts.edu).