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Whether you’re currently in junior high or in college, sooner or later you’ll be asked to write a book report. But, while reading for pleasure is enjoyable for most people, you may already have a stack of study materials that command your attention and tire your eyes. That brings us to the most crucial element in preparing to write a book report—choosing the right book.
Unless you’re accustomed to pleasure reading several hours a day, it’s probably not a good idea to select Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ or one of Ann Rice’s gothic (and lengthy!) novels to write a book report on. Instead, visit the school or local library for some ideas from the ‘Book of the Month’ rack. Or, perhaps your teacher has provided you with a list of acceptable titles.
Once you’ve finished reading the book, you’ll need to decide what kind of book report to write (unless give specific instructions from your teacher). Will you be discussing the theme of the book, such as the complexity of relationships portrayed in Bernard Shaw’s ‘Major Barbara’? Will you write a character analysis, such as the destructive nature of Carlson, the mechanic from John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’? Or, will you be providing a plot summary? The type of book report you choose to write will determine how you will structure your thoughts.
First, make a list of some basic elements of the book. Where is it set? Is this place real or fictional? Who are the main character(s)? What time period are they living in? What challenges must they overcome? You get the idea.
The first paragraph of your book report will broaden the main ideas noted above and define your perspective. However, this isn’t the place for details. Your aim is to state the relative theme, introduce the character you’re analyzing, or to summarize the overall plot of the book without recounting the entire story.
The body of your book report should be 3-4 paragraphs in length and is where you’ll provide details and examples that support the main objective of your opening paragraph. Describe your character’s traits that affect their experiences. Discuss how the book’s theme is apparent by citing related action and dialogue. If writing a plot summary, show–not tell—how the plot affected you by providing examples from the book that support your insights into or your opinion of the story.
Finally, your last paragraph should tie-in the rest of the book report while restating the main idea of your first. Here, a conclusion should be drawn. Show how a character influenced the outcome of the story. Wrap up why you liked or didn’t like the plot based on the evidence presented in the body of the book report. Or, if you’ve chosen to explore the theme, then conclude how you benefited from reading the book.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 10:10 am and is filed under How To Write a Book Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
A reference is a list of books, magazines, newspapers, and electronic sources you specifically used to create your paper. The Modern Language Association (MLA) developed strict guidelines on citing work used in research papers.
Guidelines
• Location: Place the Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper.
• Tile: Place at the top of the page and center the words Works Cited.
• Line spacing: Use single space with in an entry and double between citations.
• Format: Indent all text but the first line of each citation one half-inch using five spaces or your computer’s hanging indent feature.
• Order: List works in alphabetical order by author or title if author is unknown.
Books
Basic Format: First or New Editions
Titles of books are italicized or underlined. The basic format is:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Shaw, Eva. Writing and Selling Magazine Articles. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1985.
Or:
Shaw, Eva. Writing and Selling Magazine Articles. 2nd ed. New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1992.
Two or More Authors
List authors in the order they appear on title page. The citation begins with the first author’s last name:
Clancy, Tom, Carl Stiner, and Tony Koltz. Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. New York: Putnam, 2002.
Or list the first author followed by et al.:
Clancy, Tom, et al. Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. New York: Putnam, 2002.
Corporate Author
List the author as the committee or group that commissioned the work.
American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine. Ed. Charles B. Clayman. New York: Random, 1989.
No Author
The Times Atlas of the World. 5th ed. New York: New York Times. 1975.
Anthology or Collection
Misner, Ivan R. and Don Morgan, eds. Masters of Success: Proven Techniques for Achieving Success in Business and Life. Canada: Eliot House Productions, 2004.
An Essay or Work in an Anthology or Collection
Cousins, Christopher. “Rod Jones: 15,000 Reasons to Follow Your Passion.” Masters of Success: Proven Techniques for Achieving Success in Business and Life. Ed. Misner, Ivan R. and Don Morgan. Canada: Eliot House Productions, 2004. 16-18.
Multivolume Work
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
Periodicals
Article in a Newspaper or Magazine
Article titles are placed in quotes. The basic format is:
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages.
Gawande, Atul. “The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Eating.” New Yorker 9 Jul. 2001: 66-75.
An Article in a Scholarly Journal
Indicate volume and issue for journals that restart page number with each issue. The basic format is:
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages.
Kralj, Mary M. “Getting out of the box.” Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 46.2 (1994): 27-28.
Electronic Sources
Web Page
Electronic address, printed between carets (<, >). The basic format is:
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of organization affiliated with the site. Date you accessed the site .
Kranz, Jonathan. “Ten Key Questions for Your Web Copy.” MarketingProfs.com. 28 Nov 2006. MarketingProfs, LLC. 22 Jan 2007
< http://www.marketingprofs.com/6/kranz19.asp>
Must indicate who wrote the message and who received the message. The basic format is:
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of the message.” E-mail to person’s name. Date of the message.
Freeman, Joseph. “Writing Case Studies” E-mail to Marie Roman. 15 Nov. 2000.
A Listserv or E-mail Discussion List Posting
Use author’s name or user name. Basic format is:
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Posting.” Online posting. Date material posted. Name of listserv. Date of access .
Hallman, Harry. “How Do Consumer Brands Sell To Retailers?” Online posting. 12 Jan 2007. MarketingProfs.com Know-How Exchange. 22 Jan 2007 < http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=16503>.
Or
harry21. “How Do Consumer Brands Sell To Retailers?” Online posting. 12 Jan 2007. MarketingProfs.com Know-How Exchange. 22 Jan 2007 < http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=16503>.
Bibliography :
MLA Style Crib Sheet http://www.docstyles.com/mlacrib.htm • OWL Materials: MLA Formatting and Style Guide http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/ • Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/works_cited.htm