How to write a book report
Many students don’t like to write book reports because it takes a lot of time, and it’s difficult to cheat with this task. You also need to analyze a large amount of information, delve into the essence of the story, conclude, and be able to write interestingly about the book. At the same time, a book report is a good tool that will allow you to show the lecturer that you, firstly, really read the book, secondly, thought it over and understood the nuances of the text.
In this post, you will find out what types of reports are available, what is their peculiarity, how to adhere to the structure of the text and a few more tips that will answer your question: “How to write a book report?”
What A Book Report Actually Is
A book report is a type of paper in which student talks about a book he has read. This is a common assignment in the college, something like a book review. A book report is a kind of description and written conclusions from fiction or scientific literature.
In this paper, the student can express his opinion about the book or its aspects – the plot, the characters, the style of writing. Thus, writing a book report helps students to develop analytical thinking, attention to detail, ability to focus, and competently express their thoughts.
What Kind of Elements You Can Find in Book Reports
The task “to write a book report,” a lot depends on how exactly the lecturer set the task? Sometimes you need to read a particular book, but sometimes you can make a choice yourself. The lecturer can clarify what type of report he wants to see or allow you to write what you want. In any case, you should be aware of three basic types of report.
Plot summary
Don’t fall into the trap of the name of this type! The task is not only to retell the plot of the book. Otherwise, you could read a summary. You need to analyze the work, to tell about your opinion.
- Why is this story unique?
- What does the book make you think about?
- Why did certain actions lead to such consequences?
Confirm your opinion with facts – quotes from the book or data from the authors’ biography.
Character analysis
This type of book report is more understandable. Your task is to single out one character of the book and tell about it in your paper. You analyze it from head to toe: his appearance, history, personality, behavior, interaction with other characters, his personal growth.
You can follow the questions:
- What do you know about the appearance of the character? Why does the author emphasize specific details?
- What can you say about the nature of this character? How does he behave with other people? What is his opinion of himself?
- How does his storyline evolve? What is happening to him, and how does he react to it?
- What positive and negative features of the character can you name? Don’t forget about the examples!
- What role did your character play in the plot of the book?
- What is your personal opinion about this character?
Thematic analysis
This book report format involves your researching a particular topic in a book. Sometimes the topic is determined by the lecturer, and sometimes you can choose it yourself. It is important that this topic is close to you, and it was clear what to write about. Therefore, if you have any questions about the task, be sure to ask. This type of report has fewer restrictions, so you have more freedom to choose what to focus on. Determine the answers to the questions:
- What is special about your research topic?
- How does the author affect this topic – through which characters or events?
- What is the connection between the theme and the background of the book? Is there an influence of historical events?
- What is your attitude to this topic? How do you think the author treats it?
The Book Report Structure
Like many other academic papers, writing a book report, you should remember of the structure. It is simple, and you know it from fairy tales: introduction, based part, conclusions.
The introduction. In the first part of the report, you have to designate the title of the book, the author, and your report subject. The reader should understand what will be discussed in your paper. You need to tell about all the details that will be important for understanding the report. Don’t forget that the beginning is the very moment where you need to interest the reader. Therefore, write simply, do not try to hit the audience with the knowledge of all literary terminology.
The body part. The main part of the report – your finest hour and the opportunity to show your writing skills. When writing, keep a book next to you, look through your notes – it is important not to miss anything! Stick to the logical chain of narration. Make sure that every paragraph expresses a complete thought. And the paragraphs themselves complemented each other. Do not make sentences too long. Remember the quotes. They confirm your ideas and show that you were engaged in the text.
The conclusion. In the final part, your task is to summarize the above. Tell us what this story teaches. Would you recommend reading this book to friends? The information that you write at the end should confirm what you said earlier. Don’t confuse the reader. Sometimes students can complete the paper by asking a question to readers. This is also an interesting trick, you can try. Writing a book report can be exciting if you have an interesting book and you know what you want to tell your reader. We hope that our advice helped you a little to find out how to do a book report, and you will get the best mark!
