The 4MAT Review is a way of responding to readings, lectures, and life experiences that requires you, the learner, to interact with new ideas on several levels. You will write 1 review for the Entwistle text and 1 review for the McMinn text. In preparing your 4MAT Reviews, use each of the 4 sections listed below with corresponding APA-style, Level One headings:
- Summary: After introducing the name of the book and author, summarize the book in at least 500 words but limited to a maximum of two pages; be adequately complete in your ideas but appropriately concise in wording. Prove that you comprehend the main ideas by writing a clear and to the point summary. The summary is not a commentary or listing of topics but rather a discussion of the core ideas in the entire book (the main ideas on which the entire book hangs). If you miss the main ideas, you lack an understanding of the complete message of the book. The summary provides the foundation for the rest of your 4MAT paper. Cite the book in-text at least once per paragraph and include page numbers for direct quotations.
- Concrete Responses: Be vulnerable. In at least 250 words (it is suggested that this be no more than 1 page), write about a personal life episode that this book triggered in your memory. Relate your story in first person, describing action and quoting exact words you remember hearing or saying. In the teaching style of Jesus, this is your own parable, case study, or personal connection to the main ideas of the book. Your comments in this section need to be clearly tied to main points from the book, not tangential ideas. Connect your comments to the main points for the reader.
- Reflection: This section is a short critique or evaluation of the author’s main ideas; include positives/negatives and strengths/weaknesses. You could consider new questions that arose for you in response to what you have read and explore concerns, implications, etc. Limit this section to 250 words (it is suggested that this be no more than 1 page).
- Action: What are you going to do about it? Develop action steps based on the core points of the book. This section must be a description of how the main ideas will affect your counseling. What professional changes will you implement and share with others? Be precise in summarizing your action steps and clearly connect your action steps to main points. Again, connect your comments to the main points for the reader. Present these comments in at least 200 words (it is suggested that this be no more than 1 page).
Create and submit these assignments in Microsoft Word documents; these assignments must be written on a graduate-level and must be in current APA format. Provide a title page in current APA format including only your name, the paper title (referring to the book title), and the institutional affiliation (Liberty University). Keep in mind that current APA standards recommend the title length not exceed 12 words. All pages must include a running head and page number, and all pages are double spaced. You are also required to create a references page; on this page, you must provide the complete reference citation for the book in compliance with current APA standards.
Note: Use quotations strategically and sparingly; in a paper this size, do not use longer (block) quotations.
Submit the 4MAT Review on the Entwistle textbook by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of Module/Week 3.
Submit the 4MAT Review on the McMinn textbook by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of Module/Week 7.
