WHAT IS A REPORT ON A BOOK?

An essay or research project that is based on a book you've read is called a book report. Writing a book report requires a substantial amount of description, in contrast to writing a book review. Instead of being asked to critically evaluate the book you have been assigned, you will be required to write a book report in which you will provide an objective description of the book in a style akin to that of an expository essay. Writing a book report through objective description, like writing an expository essay, means that, unless your professor instructs you otherwise, your opinion is not needed in the report. A book report should instead be an overview of the book meant to prove that you have read it.

Term papers are frequently assigned to book reports. A lot of lecturers may assign book report tasks to ensure that you have read the book because books might be lengthy. Writing a book report is quite similar to writing a synopsis because it requires you to comprehend the thesis of the book as well as the various ways in which the author supports it. Having stated that, there are various methods to arrange this synopsis. Writing a book report occasionally requires chapter-by-chapter summaries. Sometimes writing a book report entails a theme summary. The method you use to write a book report is determined by you and the guidelines provided by your lecturer.

You will be expected to report the book's contents objectively while writing a book report. This implies that you shouldn't be evaluating the author's motivations when writing a book report. When you write a book report, you should definitely highlight if the author admits to having a prejudice or that there is a problem in their work. If, on the other hand, you only think that the author was biased in creating the book, you shouldn't bring this up in your book report. A book report should objectively summarize the contents of a book; while such contents would be important for writing a book review, they have no place in one.

Writing a book report is ultimately similar to writing an essay or research paper in that you will create a thesis and paragraphs that support it by detailing the author's writing process. Having said that, the only goal of your book report will be to provide an objective description of the given book, unless you have been instructed to include information from outside sources. This implies that you need to be an expert on the material in the book in order to write a book report. On the other hand, unless your professor specifically requests it, you should never force your opinion on the book or conduct a critical analysis of it when writing a book report.

SUMMARY OF A BOOK REPORT WRITING

Reading the book is the first stage in writing a book report. You should do more than just read a book description because book reports usually account for a large percentage of your grade. Even while it's possible for a skilled writer at Unemployed Professors to quickly produce a custom book report utilizing just a synopsis and excerpts from the book, this is a hard skill to master. If you rely on a synopsis of the book when writing a book report, your professor will likely be able to determine that you haven't read the book. Therefore, reading the book and figuring out how the author supports their thesis should be your first step in producing a book report.

You will next move on to create body paragraphs in your book report that explain how the author supports the thesis that they are making in the book. Writing a book report involves first arranging these body paragraphs in a chronological order. By employing this method, you will compose a book report according to the sequence in which the author makes their points. Grouping the ways in which the author supports their thesis according to themes is the alternative strategy for producing a book report. By doing this, when you write your book report, these elements will come together to form a coherent story.

Lastly, keep in mind that the only purpose of writing a book report is to summarize the book. Unless your professor specifically requests it, you cannot incorporate class materials or outside sources in a book report. Writing a book report involves summarizing the author's work in an objective manner, much like when writing an explanatory essay. Quotations from the book can be used to emphasize key points, but they shouldn't account for more than 10% of your book report. In the end, the purpose of writing a book report is to demonstrate to your instructor or professor that you have read the book by providing an unbiased summary of its contents.

FORMULATING A BOOK REPORT

You will probably be requested to format your book report in one of the following formats: Turabian, MLA, APA, Chicago, or Harvard. It's crucial that you locate a book report template for the style you've been assigned, or you should locate a style guide for the required citation style, depending on the style that has been assigned to you. Making sure you properly credit your sources throughout your book report—especially if you use quotations—will save you from losing a lot of points for poor formatting or sourcing. When writing a book report, it's crucial to make sure you properly credit all of your sources to prevent being accused of plagiarism. Make sure all of your citations are accurate while writing a book report before turning it in.

Make sure your thesis is clear and that each of the report's body paragraphs offers unique evidence supporting it in relation to the book's structure and the author's argument after you have formatted and referenced your book report. It is not appropriate to reiterate arguments from one paragraph in another. Your professor does not want you to repeat the same description in each paragraph of your book report, so in this way, writing a book report is similar to writing an expository essay. When writing a book report, make sure that each paragraph summarizes a different aspect of the book and that you are just summarizing the book—rather than critically analyzing it.

DISTINGUISHING A BOOK REPORT   FROM A BOOK REVIEW: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

A book report and a book review differ mostly in their content. While writing a book report and writing a book review both center on books, writing a book report is mostly a descriptive assignment. To ensure that you have read the book, your professor or teacher would want you to provide a summary of it when you are given a book report assignment. On the other hand, your professor wants to know that you comprehend how the book connects to the subject covered in class as well as that you read it when you write a book review. Writing a book report is an exercise in description; you should not include any critical analysis, but writing a book review is primarily a critical exercise.