universidade federal de santa catarina pós-graduação em letras ...

851. description of the book - something about the author; information about howthe book fits in the context of the discipline (e.g., a comparison of the book to othersby the same author and in the same field); utility to readership;2. evaluation of strong and weak points in the book - modifications andsignificance of revised edition; spot-checking for accuracy (e.g., in bibliographicreference or physical appearance); an exposition of the aims and purposes of theauthor.According to the editors, a balanced view between description and evaluation isindeed desirable but hard to obtain:[L]It is desirable to maintain a balance between descriptive and evaluative language,with some people focusing on one over another. It is hard to separate evaluationfrom description since choosing to describe some parts and not others is alreadyan evaluation.Although all three editors can be said to agree with the descriptive-evaluativedimension of the genre, their answers to the question of what kind of information isexpected in a BR revealed different perspectives on the reviewer-reader relationship.The chemist was little demanding on reviewers, expecting more objectivity in theinformation provided:[C]A balanced review will describe the content of the book and will provide someadditional interpretation of it.