How To Write A Book Review: A Comprehensive Guide

WHAT IS A BOOK REVIEW?

A book review is an essay or research paper that is based on your reading of a book. Unlike writing a book report, writing a book review involves a significant analytical component. In writing a book review, you will not only be asked to summarize the book that has been assigned to you, but you will also be asked to critically evaluate the book in a manner similar to writing a critical essay. As with a critical essay, writing a book review through criticism does not mean just being critical. Rather, being critical when writing a book review means reviewing, interpreting and analyzing the arguments and evidence put forth by the author of the book.

Writing a book review if often assigned as a term paper. Given that a book can be long to read, many professors will assign book review assignments to not only make you read and evaluate the book but to also force you to connect the book you are writing your review on to the course material. Because writing a book review means that you must critically examine the book using the course material, your book review will be graded on a combination of your mastery of the book, in terms of your understanding of it, and your ability to apply class materials to the book so as to engage critically with it.

In writing a book review, you will sometimes be asked to simply review the book based on analysis and interpretation of the text itself and will sometimes be asked to review the book by including external sources that either agree or disagree with the argument being made in the book. Regardless of which approach to writing a book review you are asked to use; the end goal is the same. Your book review must be based on a thesis which engages with a core element of the book, and you must support your thesis or argument using either interpretation and analysis of the book, external sources, or both.

Ultimately, writing a book review is like writing an essay or research paper in that you will develop a thesis and supporting paragraphs elaborating on your position regarding the book. This said, and unless you have been asked to incorporate external sources, your sole focus in writing a book review will be to critically engage with the book assigned to you. This means that in writing a book review, you must have a mastery of what has been taught to you in the class whether it was via lectures or via mandatory readings. Integrating these as you write your book review on the basis of critical thinking is critical for obtaining a top grade for your book review assignment.

HOW TO WRITE A BOOK REVIEW

The first step in writing a book review is to actually read the book. As book reviews typically count for a very significant portion of your grade, it is very important that you go beyond merely reading a summary of a book. While an expert writer at Unemployed Professors might be able to write a custom book review on short notice while only using a summary and quotes from the book, this is a skill that is difficult to develop. When you are tasked with writing a book review, your professor will most often be able to tell that you have not read the book if you rely on a summary of the book. Your first task in writing a book review is thus to find an element of the book that you find interesting and build a thesis around this element.

In writing a book review, you will then go on to write body paragraphs which each involve a different element of support for your critical analysis of the book. Make sure that each of your body paragraphs relates both to the book and your class materials or external sources. Moreover, ensure that your different supporting paragraphs do not repeat the same content. In writing a book review, each of your body paragraphs should provide different elements of support for your thesis as it engages critically with the book. Depending on the length of your book review assignment, use strong topic sentences or headings to differentiate the different sections of your book review.

Finally, remember that writing a book review is not solely about summarizing the book. Whether or not you are writing a book review using external sources, you must critically engage with the contents of the book and make an argument pertaining to the author’s thesis or the book’s broader contents. The best rule to abide by when writing a book review is to provide 90 percent analysis and 10 percent description. If you engage in too much description when you are writing a book review, you will lose a large number of points. Because the primary goal of writing a book review is to demonstrate your understanding of both the book and the course materials, make sure that you show a mastery of both when writing your book review.

HOW TO FORMAT A BOOK REVIEW

When writing a book review, you are most likely to be asked to format your annotated bibliography in APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA or Turabian style. Based on the style that has been assigned to you, it is important that you either find a book review template for your assigned style or find a style guide for the citation style that you must use. Citing your sources appropriately throughout your book review will ensure that are not docked a lot of points. It is also important to make sure that you cite all of your sources so as to avoid being accused of plagiarism when writing a book review. When you write a book review, make sure that all of your citations are perfect before submitting.

Once you have formatted and referenced your book review, make sure that your thesis is clear and that all of the body paragraphs of your review provide distinct elements of support for your thesis. Arguments made in one paragraph should not repeat themselves in another. In this respect, writing a book review is just like writing an argumentative essay in that your professor does not want you to repeat the same argument in every paragraph of your book review. In writing a book review, make sure that your paragraphs all make distinct arguments and that you are critically engaging with the book rather than merely summarizing the book you are reviewing.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BOOK REVIEW AND A BOOK REPORT?

The main difference between a book review and a book report is one of content. While writing a book report and writing a book review are similar in that both focus on a book, writing a book report is a mostly descriptive exercise. When your teacher or professor assigns you a book report, they want you to summarize the book to make sure that you have read it. In contrast, when you are writing a book review, your professor not only wants to know that you read it but also wants to make sure that you understand how the book relates to the class material. While writing a book report is thus a mostly descriptive exercise, writing a book review is an analytical exercise in which you should use 90 percent analysis and 10 percent description.