- How to Write a Book Review
- How to Write the Perfect Book Review
- How to Write a Book Review | Best Tips | Guide 2021
- How to Write Better Book Reviews (in 2 Steps)
- How To Write A Book Review 2020
- Guide to Academic Book Reviews
- Writing tutorial: How to write a book review in 15 minutes (with example!)
How to Write a Book Review
[Music],hey everyone im shaylyn here with,reedzy today were going to be talking,about how to write a book review now,writing book reviews is a hobby for some,a job for others but for many writers,its a very useful tool for helping you,become a more perceptive reader and,therefore a more perceptive writer,whether you run a blog want to write up,a review for amazon or even if you just,want to improve your own reading skills,not only does it really help out the,writer for you to leave a review for,them it can really help you in your own,craft to help realize what works and,what doesnt in a piece you probably,want to be aware of the general,etiquette so that you can leave a,quality review thats respectful to the,author as well as useful for anyone,looking to read the book themselves,lets take a look at how to write a book,review number one start with a summary,readers come to book reviews to know,whether or not they should pick up a,book and a book review isnt too useful,if the reader doesnt even know what the,book is about so start with a brief,summary but make sure not to spoil,anything when in doubt if its not on,the back jacket of the book it might be,considered spoiler if you ever do want,to include a spoiler in your review make,sure to hide it under a spoilers tab now,you want to keep this part short since,of course the reader can always just,look up the summary themselves so just,briefly introduce the concept main,conflict and main characters you also,want to be very clear about genre and,category now step two is to actually,evaluate the book basically what you,thought worked and what you thought,didnt opinions are of course all,subjective but try to look at the book,as objectively as you can were the,characters developed and interesting,were there any details that just simply,didnt make sense or an area of the book,that was underdeveloped was the plot,pasted well interesting was it,predictable you can also think about the,authors writing style was it enjoyable,to read how would you try to describe it,you also want to use details that are,useful for readers to find a book that,will match their tastes so is the book,heavy on action what kind of subplots,are included what kind of tropes might,the book include without spoilers was,the end satisfying did it feel well,edited were there frequent errors or,plot holes and what emotions did the,book leave you with does it compare to,any other similar books if someone sees,that the book is similar or would appeal,to fans of several books that theyve,read and enjoyed they might feel pretty,inclined to pick this one up even if you,didnt like the book you could say i,wasnt a huge fan of this but i think it,might appeal to fans of these books now,of course your evaluation is going to be,weighted based on what left an,impression on you and what didnt there,may even be things that were a drawback,for you but that you think might appeal,to other readers for example a writing,style that you dont typically vibe with,but that you know other readers enjoy or,a trope thats not your favorite but,that you know other people like or maybe,the book just didnt really fit your,expectations but might appeal well to,its proper target audience when writing,up the evaluation section of your review,its really important to remember that,the author is a person who put a lot of,time and effort into the book no matter,how much you may have disliked it you,want to treat their book with respect,even if it really wasnt to your taste,in respect for the author try not to,make assumptions about what was going on,in their head or what their writing,process was like it takes a lot of work,and time to write a book and we just,cant really infer these things based on,the end product and finally you want to,end your review by giving your,recommendation this whole review is,ultimately leading up to whether or not,you would recommend this book to other,readers and to which readers,specifically this is a great place to,include your star rating quickly,summarize while you gave the book that,writing and include any comp titles so,to summarize the structure of your,review is going to be a brief summary,followed by the bulk of the review which,will be the evaluation section and then,you want to end with a brief conclusion,that will include a star rating why you,gave her that rating and who you would,recommend the book to now thats the,general structure of the review but here,are a couple final tips first of all,dont focus too heavy on that summary it,is important but this isnt a book,report and its likely that the reader,does already know what the book is about,if theyre reading review that summary,section is really there as an,introduction piece and to summarize the,book for any readers who maybe havent,encountered this book before number two,remember that its okay to have an,opinion you dont need to be neutral nor,should you its okay to have a strong,opinion even if your opinion was just,that the book didnt really leave a,strong impression on you and you can,also make your stance clear from the,start you dont need to include any kind,of plot twist near the end of your,review or keep readers guessing,throughout the middle of the review,number three is to support your points,with actual evidence if you thought the,writing style was beautiful include an,excerpt if you thought there were,elements of the world building that,didnt make sense include examples its,a lot like writing an academic essay in,this way if you make a point and then,dont support it with any evidence its,hard for anyone reading review to really,take that point seriously and finally,think about where the review is going to,be posted follow guidelines and consider,how professional you should be if its,for a more professional outlet be more,professional in your tone if its for,your own personal blog or youre just,posting it on goodreads it can be a bit,more informal and maybe include a gif or,two finally if you are a book reviewer,and interested in reviewing indie book,you can check out read the discovery and,apply to be a reviewer and join our,growing community of book reviewers,there so thank you guys so much for,watching remember to turn on,notifications and subscribe so you dont,miss any videos from us weve got new,writing editing and publishing videos,every tuesday and friday until next time,bye,[Music],[Music]How to Write the Perfect Book Review
hey guys im dave chesson of,kindlepreneur and today were going to,be talking about how to write the,perfect book review now if you dont,know there are actually two types of,reviews were going to cover the first,is if youre writing an online review,like say for example for your blog or,for your website or if youre even,writing a book review report for a,teacher or professor,the second is what im going to call a,market review and thats if you decide,that you want to write a review of a,book on say amazon and you want to get,the most effective review out there so,as to help people either a decide to,write the read the book or b,maybe stay off of it now whatever your,reason is for writing a review the first,thing you should always do is think,about why youre doing it and that,should help influence exactly how you,structure this but in this video im,going to show you the four components,that you should absolutely include in,your review so that your words mean even,more to the market this could either,help out the author youre writing the,review for or get people more engaged in,your writing,or even get a better grade,but before i get into those four,important sections if youd like to,learn more about writing or book,marketing be sure to hit that subscribe,button as well as the little bell icon,to the right so you get notified when my,next video comes out and with that lets,begin,okay so when it comes to writing an,effective book review theres four,components that you need to cover,the summary,the results,the strengths and weaknesses and finally,your final recommendation lets go ahead,and cover those four the summary should,be a brief discussion about what the,book is you do not want to give away any,key information,most of the time you want to speak very,broad as youre covering it you dont,want to get into details,you need to give the reader a sense that,you have actually read through the book,and that you understand what its doing,when it comes to writing a summary for,review you dont want to go on and on,and write paragraph after paragraph you,want to keep it short and to the point,it should include like major events,characters or if its non-fiction some,strong strategic points as well as,benefits but do remember if youre,either writing an online review or a,market review that the person whos come,to read your review probably already,knows a lot of the details and has read,the book description one last point on,the summary as well is do not include,any spoilers or give away anything,thats going to ruin the readers,experience and youre probably going to,get a lot of negative feedback for that,okay so to recap do write about the main,characters and write what makes them,unique as well as major plot points,include the main conflict as well,do ask the main question that the story,answers or the benefits that it provides,if its non-fiction do not include,spoilers like plot twists or major,events do not give a full summary and go,into too many details all right lets,move to the next section which is,results for this section its going to,be very different between fiction and,non-fiction for fiction youre talking,about what kind of emotions or what kind,of path did the story bring you were you,excited scared did you care about the,characters these are all about your,mental state as well as emotional state,as you went through this journey in the,book be sure to cover those things and,what drew that out of you what made you,feel for the characters what made you,worried about the main conflict for,non-fiction youre going to talk about,more of the results for example what did,you learn from the book and how will,this affect you and your life moving,forward are you going to make any,changes because of this or has this,changed you in any way,basically youre going to take the,information that the book provided and,apply it to how it benefits you so in,recap,express the emotions the story made you,feel in the first person or express what,you learned and how this book changed,you next is the strengths and weaknesses,imagine somebody whos reviewing book,and they say nothing but the greatest,things about it or on the other side the,person says nothing but the worst things,about it do you trust that reviewer or,do you think maybe theyre jaded thats,why its really important for a reviewer,to bring up both the strengths and the,weaknesses or the pros and the cons it,therefore shows that you have an even,keel and that youre a legitimate,reviewer who doesnt have some ulterior,motive for writing this review,furthermore in truth there really isnt,such a thing as a perfect book i know,some of you guys are probably gonna say,something in the comments about which,books are perfect but all in all there,really isnt such a thing so try to,analyze and see what could have been,done better one thing to note in your,writing style though is dont mix the,strengths and weaknesses dont go,strength weakness weakness strength,weakness no group them start off with,strengths or start off with weaknesses,but when youre finished with that then,move to the other otherwise youll,confuse your reader and it will be hard,to follow the pros and cons to the book,heres some other tips to strengthen,weaknesses you should write about,strengths and weaknesses in the first,person also use direct quotes to back up,your research do not confuse the reader,about what is a strength and what is a,weakness separate them in your review do,not use too many quotes to the point,that its no longer your own words all,right and the final and most important,part is give your actual recommendation,in the previous sections youve defined,what the book is what it did for you and,finally the pros and cons this is where,you group it together and you finally,give your personal take if however you,werent actually a fan of this book and,youre not going to recommend it one way,to really help the reader is to list,other books that you think would be good,fits this can help in two ways first off,is youre providing an outlet for people,who came to read your review on where,else they can go the second thing is is,that if that reader has read those books,before and they like them too then that,really brings in even more credit on,your review as well but one thing that,im going to say as one writer to,another writer is,if you really dont like the book do not,attack the author or the book itself i,would say be constructive and care about,the market but remember theres a human,on the other side the author so think,constructively so to recap and some,extra tips do wrap up all your thoughts,and suggestions give the reader,something to do or read next keep your,final thoughts short and to the point,and do not criticize the author or the,book only suggest alright guys so with,that using these four general areas as,well as the tips we talked about you can,create a much stronger book review,whether thats for your blog for a,report youre writing or even for an,amazon review i hope youve enjoyed this,lesson i cant wait to see some of your,reviews and by the way if you do have,some put a link to it in the comments,below so other people can check out your,review and see how you structured it and,with that im dave chesson of,kindlepreneur signing off cheers
More: dog food review
How to Write a Book Review | Best Tips | Guide 2021
how to write a book review whether it is your blog or your weekend book club knowing how to ,write a good book review is an important skill to have hey guys welcome back to essay pro ,my name is emily and we are going to look at why you need this skill how to perfectly ,structure a book review and give you some tips and tricks to make it interesting ,writing book reviews is a great way to improve your writing skills and develop your analytical ,skills its also good for providing your fellow bookworms with an insight about the book whether ,its a great book that you dont want to keep to yourself or a terrible book that you want ,to warn people about if you feel strongly about the book you can write your own thoughts about it ,and share them with others and in some cases you can even be paid to read books and write reviews ,it sounds like a dream come true if youre an avid reader but if youre going to make a living from ,reviewing books you need to know how to structure a good review the three main elements of any good ,review are a summary your evaluation of the book and your recommendation if you need a template ,heres an easy one to follow first the hook the hook is what catches your readers attention ,and intrigues them make this statement compelling dont be afraid to get a little provocative you ,want people to stop scrolling and continue reading your thoughts on ,this book you can pick their interest by taking an angle less explored or by posing a question ,for example lets take a book we all know cinderella if i were to write a review for it my ,hook would be something like the classic rags to reach tales of another girl who becomes a princess,if you didnt know the story that hook would make you want to know how an orphan ends up becoming a ,princess once youve hooked them its time to give them some essential information about the book ,the title and the awesome are obvious choices but you must also mention when ,it was published and whether this is one a series or a standalone book ,now that youve given them the background information you can dive into the actual review ,share a synopsis of the plot so your reader gets a gist of what this story is about of course ,you have to leave out the climax or any emotional ups and downs because that is a journey the reader ,must go on themselves avoid giving any spoilers but you can allude to a shock factor by saying ,something vague like this story has an unexpected twist ,what a twist ,now many websites already share,book synopsis amazon goodreads barnes and noble all these websites summarize the plot of the book ,so what makes your stand out knowing how much you need to include depending on how you feel about ,the book a summary on this website is most likely what the also wants you to know about the book but ,you are not speaking for the author you are giving your own opinion use your best judgment see how ,much of the actual summary you need and how much of it should be your own thoughts now that you ,have provided the reader with a gist of the story its time for your evaluation of course this is ,the most crucial part of the review because anyone can summarize a book but what is your unique ,perspective let your readers know why you liked the book or didnt like the book share details ,about the pacing the vocabulary the dialogue you can even include quotes as long as they dont give ,any spoilers but dont make your evaluation purely subjective while you should absolutely ,weave your own personal take of a book into the review your evaluation shouldnt only be based on ,your personal opinion present your reactions and feelings toward the story while being objective ,when critiquing other elements of the book and now a little promo blog from our friends ,asideproduct.com can help with your homework let us know your deadline and number of pages and ,well do the rest correctly remember about promo code you will have 20 off for your first order ,follow the pinned comment and tap a link next click on the big red banner and the top of the ,page and enjoy your study high quality anonymity and the best price on the market essaypro.com ,nice ,the best way to do this is to make notes while reading the book record your thoughts ,ill do just that ,here are just a few questions to ask as you make your notes ,number one what genre does it fit into or is the book a mix of different genres ,number two what is the storys theme and how is this made evident to the reader number three ,how does the protagonist face challenges are they likable are they supposed to be likable ,number four how does the book provide its readers with information aka is there too much exposition ,number five does it have a satisfying n what emotions did you feel when you closed the book ,and finally number six how does this book compare to the authors previous works ,you can of course explore more elements than what i mentioned by this is an excellent place ,to start if you are reviewing a book for the first time beyond the content of the book you can also ,consider adding information about the awesome the inspiration for the book and the presentation of ,their content their nationality political affiliation education and personal history ,might all be influencing the story for example the hunger games series has unmistable political tones,what motivated the author to write such a book ,hunger games is a critic of government that is explored through themes of fear and revolution,it presents this information by showing you a shiny progressive capital with a dark history of ,exploitation violence and capitalism as incredible as the story of the hunger games is ,its anticipation is equally fascinating and was sharing with the audience ,there it is,fire in the house ,when the author Suzanne Collins was flipping through channels on tv she came ,across a reality show she switched the channel and saw actual footage of the invasion of iraq ,the two themes blurred in her mind and the idea for the book was formed thats an interesting ,bit of information to add to a review because knowing the conception of the idea also builds ,intrigue in your audience like what could the result of these two completely different ,and disconnected themes look like writing reviews for non-fiction books is a little bit different ,you can follow the overall structure but you dont have to worry about given spoilers when writing ,a book review for a non-fictional piece of work your primary job is discussing the problems the ,book addresses and whether or not it does a good job of solving them ,what experience does the author have in the field?, is the book actually helpful? ,cover the key takeaways from the book ,and state how clearly and effectively the author is able to communicate their points ,once you have your evaluation its time to actually give your recommendation ,after sharing your praises and critics let your audience know if its worth the read or not,also address why you think they should read it or avoid it for example ,did you dislike the plot because of some inconsistencies but enjoy the characters ,is this book in the series less exciting than the previous ones, but important because of some critical pieces of information ,make your stance clear so people arent left questioning whether they should buy the book ,you dont have to expressly say i recommend this book you can say that by highlighting ,certain opinions for example your final paragraph could mention how you like the unexpected ending ,and wishes you could read it for the first time again just to feel that surprise again ,that alone will encourage readers to buy the book because they want to know what you experienced,and finally tied all up with a rating ,some review sites provide star rating which help ,people decide quicker if you are r
More: cloud cuckoo land review
How to Write Better Book Reviews (in 2 Steps)
hey guys gina here and in todays video,im gonna share with you how i write my,book reviews now ive been writing book,reviews for a little while now and in,that time ive developed some techniques,and some tips that will help you write,better reviews and faster too so this,doesnt matter if you want to write,reviews just for the fun of it or you,want to keep track of what you thought,about certain books you want to start,writing reviews,or if you want to write reviews to get,advanced copies or review copies from,publishers or you want to keep track of,everything in a blog or something this,video will work for you no matter what,im going to cover everything from how i,take my book reading notes and then how,i transform those notes into a review in,a pretty quick turnaround,step number one,take notes while youre reading your,book,this is the most important and strategic,thing you can do when you want to start,writing book reviews and thats to take,notes while youre reading and now i,know i know it sounds like it will,disturb the reasoning process and you,wont be able to get into the book and,enjoy it as much or feel as immersed if,you keep having to stop to take notes,but you have to trust me this is not the,case at all your notes will be quick and,theyll be incredibly helpful later on,the purpose of taking notes while youre,reading is so that you can actually,remember the thoughts you had while you,were reading at the end of the reading,process,this means that you can take notes on,specific things that happened and your,thoughts in that immediate moment and,then youll be able to reference them,later in the review,the difference between this and then,writing notes at the end of the book is,that i dont know about you but if ive,been reading a book for a week-long,period im not going to remember exactly,what i thought in the specific moments,throughout the book im only going to,remember what i thought at the end of,the book which isnt an accurate,representation of how i felt about the,book as a whole because sometimes books,end badly or sometimes they end really,well and it can completely change how,you feel about the book the entire way,through this way you have a well-rounded,thought process as youre taking notes,throughout the process rather than just,taking notes at the end,so lets take some notes but what does,this mean and how do you do it well,lets keep things simple for me i like,to keep a notepad on my phone which,allows me to drop down my thoughts,whenever i need to,if you prefer paper you can do it that,way instead i recommend not making your,notes in the book though can you imagine,having to flick through the book pages,again after reading just to find your,notes and then having to type them all,up annoying and takes extra time you,might not realistically have the benefit,i found with writing notes on my phone,is i can sync it up with my computer and,then the notes on my phone and the notes,on my computer are exactly the same and,i can simply copy and paste and,transform that into a review but well,get to that later okay so when making,these notes what exactly do you write,well this is the beauty of it because,while youre reading all you need to do,is write down the thoughts you had in,that moment on your phone its as simple,as that for me this is usually things,like if i like the way the characters,are written my opinions on the plot,things like the magic system the style,of writing and more these notes dont,have to be written well either they can,be incredibly rough and literally just,your thoughts in that moment so that you,can get back to reading theres also no,such thing as too many notes in the past,i have written reviews where i have not,had enough notes and ive also written,reviews where ive had too many and they,just didnt make it into the review,that is fine its better to have too,many than not enough the best way to,learn how to write these notes or get,used to doing it is to simply do it the,more you start to write these notes as,youre reading these books the better,youll become at it and the more youll,be able to pick out things that would,work well in your end review,and things that matter and other things,that dont,also dont forget when youve finished,reading your book to write down your,finishing thoughts in that note as well,especially if you have to wait a little,while before you actually write the,review its better to get your immediate,thoughts down in that notepad,okay so the second step in this book,review process is to take those notes,and translate them into a review,so lets presume you have a note full of,raw and unfiltered thoughts on your,phone,now lets translate that into a review i,do this in google docs because then that,means that i have the google doc file on,my computer as well as my phone for,later use so lets presume youre doing,exactly the same on the right hand side,of the screen youll see a little yellow,square with a light bulb in this is the,note-taking app i use called keep i have,a google phone so this is already,integrated and set up if you dont you,can simply access your notes either by,sending them to yourself in an email or,something,or opening up the online version of your,app program once i click this i can see,all my note files,as you can see i have one note file for,each book im reading so all i do is put,the book title start and finish date,and star rating in my google doc and,then copy and paste my notes right in as,you can see theyre a bit of an,unorganized mess but there are some real,valuable thoughts in there my next task,is to organize these notes into,like-minded thoughts and decide if i,want to emphasize some points over,others once ive organized my thoughts,ill start to rewrite sections and,summarize a little better this is the,step that could take a little time if,your notes are really rough but as you,start to take notes more regularly,youll get much better at taking your,notes and sometimes you dont even have,to edit them at all in general i like to,try and be as fair as i can while,writing my notes i have no filter my,thoughts are raw and i kind of like it,that way but when im writing a review i,try to keep the author in mind,my job isnt to write a negative review,its to write a fair and professional,one,that can highlight things about the book,i didnt like,theres a difference so if my notes,contain anything that doesnt seem,professional or overly fair then ill,translate it into something that does,the meaning is still there but my,thoughts are now more balanced if that,makes sense,you still need to offer your opinion but,you dont need to slam the author but,let me just say that youll start to,notice when youre writing your notes,and then translating them into reviews,that its much easier to write negative,things about books than it is positive,things i struggled for years with trying,to determine why i liked a book,like the specific things that were good,about it its much harder to put that,together because our brains are,hardwired to see the negative in things,so make sure you take that into account,and if your review seems overly negative,make sure to think about the things that,you actually liked about the book at the,same time the beginning of the review is,really important and this is where what,youre going to do with the review or,where youre going to post it will come,into play if youre posting it on your,blog then its important to do a one to,two paragraph summary of the book,spoiler free of course but if youre,posting it on somewhere like goodreads,or maybe even amazon theres not really,any need to write a summary because,people can just scroll up to the top of,the page and see that summary there,so you can add it if you want but i,dont think its overall necessary and,if you instead write a really good,opening hook to your review people are,more likely to keep reading i like to,write my reviews with a one to two,sentence almost summary of the review,itself or a hook to s
How To Write A Book Review 2020
American author Stephen King is world famous for his writing.,Hes published almost 60 books, countless short stories, and a lot of other material.,He’s also a huge fan of reading.,He once said that if you dont read a lot, you simply dont have the tools to write well.,Today, well be talking about how to do a book review, and well use one of Stephen,Kings best known novels to give you practical tips and examples,of what to do and what not to do when reviewing a book.,Stay tuned to find out which of his works we’ll be looking at.,Hey guys, Mark with EssayPro, and as part of our new video line up on book reviews,,were going to teach you how to write a book review in five simple steps.,Well discuss the definition of a book review first,,and then get into actually writing one.,After watching the video, you will be able to pick up any book, critique it, and review,it as if youve been doing it your whole life.,But, before we get started, remember that we publish content every week.,Dont forget to subscribe to our channel, check out our videos on how to be a better,writer, AND click the notification bell so you never miss the useful things EssayPro,makes for you.,Reading a book is easy.,But, reviewing a book is a completely different story.,To review a book, and appreciate why its characters do what they do, you must have a very thorough,understanding of plot, and why it developed the way it did.,Here at EssayPro, we came up with a five-step process,that you can use to review your favourite book.,This review technique will work for any book, so for the purpose of framing this video and,to make it practical for you guys, were going to use Stephen Kings Salems Lot.,Lets get to it.,Step 1 – Summary.,Fiction books tell a story through the eyes of one, or many characters.,Sprawling fantasies like the Harry Potter books, for instance, have dozens of characters,in them.,More minimalist works, like Kafkas Metamorphosis or Richard Mathesons I Am Legend have just,one or two.,What these characters do becomes the books plot.,Now, a good way to start your book review is by summarizing the books story and its,main plot points.,You do not need to go into much detail.,Reminder: Details do not belong in summaries.,What youre doing here is outlining the books story, its characters, and major conflict,so that readers have a good idea of what to expect.,One word stands out here: Conflict.,Lets analyze this concept a little deeper.,Conflict refers to the struggles and challenges that stand in the way of characters to achieve,their goals.,These challenges drive the story forward as characters fight to overcome them.,Simply put, conflict in a story is like a tug-of-war between two opposing forces.,Without conflict, there is no story.,The central theme in Salems Lot is the age-old conflict between good and evil, personified,by Ben Mears and the vampire Barlow respectively.,These two opposing forces engage in deadly conflict throughout the story.,Ben Mears and other characters want to save the town of Salems Lot from being overrun,by Barlow and his vampires.,Mearss love interest, Susan Norton, adds an extra layer of conflict to the plot.,Your summary must reflect the central conflict of the book youre reviewing.,In the case of Salems Lot, the conflict is good versus evil.,Light against dark.,Include the main characters, too.,In our example, the summary should mention, at the very least, Ben Mears, the vampire,Barlow, Susan Norton, and perhaps Barlows human familiar, Straker.,Theres a whole lot of cast of secondary characters that are important to the plot at one point,or another, but the central cast is right there.,Now, there is something crucial that we must mention at this point.,Make sure that your summary does not contain any spoilers!,While you should comment on plot points, do not mention plot twists like deaths or characters,or any other major events that affect the outcome of the story.,Audiences take spoilers very seriously, so be careful to avoid them.,So, in your summary:,DO mention the storys conflict; DO include the main characters;,DO outline the important plot points; DO NOT delve into details, as details do not,belong in summaries; DO NOT, under any circumstances, include spoilers.,Step 2 – Overview.,Reading a book requires a certain degree of emotional involvement.,The story is bound to make you feel something.,Whether it is fear, shock, happiness, hope, or perhaps disappointment, the reader is likely,to turn the page and be left with a feeling.,If thats the case, the writer accomplished what a writer is meant to accomplish:,To produce emotions through a story.,Keep those emotions in mind when you create your overview.,Express how the story made you feel, and tie in your personal appreciation about the story,itself.,You could ask yourself, does the story make sense?,Are the characters well defined, and is there a logic to their motivations?,What moves the story forward?,Is the ending really the ending, or could there be more to it?,The story you read should have given you the answers to all these questions, and so your,overview should be a personal recollection and opinion of what happened;,and what might have happened, had the characters behaved differently.,Now, while the summary is objective, since youre talking about what actually happens,in the story, an overview is subjective.,The overview is about what you felt, and what you feel would have enhanced your enjoyment,of the book in question.,The overview is likely to contain a lot of conditional sentences written in the first,person:,The story WOULD have been more enjoyable for me if…,,it WOULD have made more sense for this character to…,,I WOULD have liked the end to be…, and so on.,Remember, this is an overview.,It should be as brief as it can be, while mentioning all the feelings and ideas that,the story inspired in you.,For your overview:,DO express the feelings that the story inspired in you;,DO include your own views about what would have made the story more enjoyable to you;,DO use the first person; DONT write an overly long overview.,Keep it brief.,Step 3 – Strengths and Weaknesses.,Did you ever read a book and think, wow, the writing was poor.,Or the opposite, you were amazed at the writers linguistic craft.,Every book has its strong and weak points.,These may be the characterization, plot logic, themes, or the way it was written.,You may notice a lot of repetition, the inclusion of too many adverbs, an overabundance of fancy,words (that is, words which would not usually be heard or spoken in conversation), too much,dialogue or lack of it, and so on.,Another well known horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft,,was guilty of at least two of these attributes.,His prose is too over-elaborate, often using arcane and obscure scholarly terms, and there,was hardly any dialogue at all in his tales.,This type of descriptive narrative can become boring very quickly, and there is little to,no characterisation, since the characters hardly ever talk.,Be objective when you reflect the books strengths and weaknesses; use quotes from the book to,illustrate your points.,Salems Lot has a lot of adverbs peppered all over the text.,Pick one or two quotes to make your point.,We at Essaypro recommend that you use the first person when you write about a books,strengths and weaknesses.,Use sentences like “I think that one of Salems Lots strongest points is,” or,“One of the worst aspects of the story is.”,Try to talk about weak points first, and then the stronger aspects after.,This way, the audience will remember the stronger points better.,When describing the books strong and weak points:,DO be objective; DO use quotes to illustrate the text;,DO use the first person; DO talk about weak points first, then the strong ones;,DONT use too many quotes.,Remember, quotes are someone elses work.,You want to highlight your own work.,Step 4 – Closing summary.,A closing summary is the icing on the cake.,Use it to tie all your previous p
Guide to Academic Book Reviews
hi this is David Cook Im the program,director for the MA in leadership,because the skill of being able to write,an academic book review is so important,for this program I wanted to provide for,you a brief video that will help explain,what these look like how to do them this,may be your first time of ever doing an,academic style book review and we want,to insist to show you what that looks,like so lets dive in you should have,been given this by your professor at,some point if they are going to have you,write a book review youll see here at,the top that we need a bibliographic,entry of the work in APA format really,sections 2 & 3 are the heart of this,document in section 2 we want you to be,able to summarize the contents of the,book what were looking at for here is,not so much a play-by-play of every,single argument or important concept in,the in the book book really we want to,get the big picture the best practice in,this section is to be able to try to,summarize the main thrust of the work in,the very first sentence or maybe the,first two sentences what were looking,for in this in this section is really,maybe a one or two paragraph summary of,the big ideas from this book that are,important that if you walk away from,this book you need to have known these,pivotal ideas going down a bit we talked,about the critical evaluation of the,work and this is really the most,important part of any book review and,should be the longest section of the,other review here youre trying to make,an argument yourself on whether this,book has merits what are its weaknesses,what are the things that make this book,unique what is makes it compelling or is,there something thats novel about this,book were trying to have you make an,argument from why this book should be,read by a leader who is in a particular,context maybe ministry business,government whatever it may be youre,trying to make an argument for why a,person should or should not read this,book and,but what things are most compelling or,are the weak points of the book so,youll see theyre questions to ask,yourselves things to try to get you,started in this process but I thought,that what might be helpful is to show,you a book review to try try to go,through it together to help you see what,this looks like in action so were going,to pull up another document here this is,a review of James McGregor Barnes,both leadership this is a really a,seminal work that you will read at some,point Im sure during this program and,this is a review of that youll see here,that this is actually probably a little,bit longer than some of the book reviews,that youll probably be doing in our mal,program but I think it will give you a,little bit of an idea of what it what it,could look like so for instance here you,see that there is a summary of the,contents thats really one of our most,important sections as we get started in,the review youll see that in the very,first sentence the author here tries to,explain what Burns is trying to do with,the book so well read it here the main,purpose of this book as Burns explains,is to distinguish leadership from mere,brute power and exam with a distinction,between what he terms transactional,leaders and transformational leaders the,rest of this summary of contents is,really trying to unpack that idea as you,can see the author of this review tried,to be able to show you in one sentence,what the gist of this book is the gist,is that James McGregor Burns is trying,to make a very new argument about the,fact that there are these leaders who,merely exist to transact business so to,speak with their followers they do,things to try to get responses that they,want out of their followers and then on,the flip side there are these,transformational leaders who truly try,to transform their followers to bring,them to new levels of moral Heights to,be able to do good for society to not,just be able to have a quid pro quo Ill,scratch your back,you scratch mine but really to work,together towards a common good a,societal good so thats what this book,is really about and thats what this,summary of contents is trying to show,you but again we we the important thing,here is that we do not try to cover,every little point in the book were,trying to give a big picture of what,this book is about going down here I,wanted to spend some time on the,critical evaluation its here mostly on,the second page what I wanted to show,you here is that were going to go,through several different parts of this,evaluation what what it does to try to,be able to show that this is a novel,work that its got strengths but also,that it has weaknesses its very,important that you look with a critical,eye and not just what is good about a,book this is obviously a seminal work,that so many people cite and feels an,important work but every work has its,its weaknesses as well so we want you to,look with the critical eye what those,weaknesses might be so for instance in,the first paragraph here we talked about,the fact that it is isnt work and that,it has value and what is groundbreaking,about that work you can see here that,whole first paragraph is is geared,towards what makes it a groundbreaking,work then we dive into something that,most reviewers kind of miss in this work,this this author argues that the the,books explanation of transactional,leadership and its benefits is really a,pivotal part of the work that many,people miss as they read it and I would,agree with that and then we dive in into,the kind of critical evaluation of the,book in these last few paragraphs,especially the the last paragraph you,can see that it says this this work as,groundbreaking as it is still has its,faults and the author of this review,tries to dive into what he feels like,are the are the faults in the work now,now this this review has a few,statements that it may,where it doesnt really back them up it,doesnt give examples of what what they,mean in terms of why he loses his,readers in the book it doesnt give,examples of how he does that or why he,misses the boat so to speak but it gives,you an idea that this author was,critically looking at the book they were,trying to figure out okay here here is,why this is groundbreaking and here is,why it is important but here it also,maybe some things that the author could,have done to make this work even better,so I hope that gives you an idea of what,this this book review is all about and,what your reviews should look like in,some cases so we want you to dig in,think through not just a description of,the contents but to really critically,evaluate what is is the best and the,worst out of this book that Im,reviewing why should I read it why,should others read it and what how could,it be made better how could it be,something that is can be improved upon,for the future so I hope that this is,helpful for you please start to your,professor as you do these book reviews,they can be a wealth of knowledge and,information for you and they can,certainly help guide you in this process
Writing tutorial: How to write a book review in 15 minutes (with example!)
in todays tutorial im going to write a,book review and ive chosen this the,hate u give which is a rather,interesting book to write a book review,about and youll know why later,[Music],so as usual the first thing we need to,do is create our outline and to do this,we need to capture some things i think,are important to write in our review so,heres my word document again and im,going to write down a few things i think,we should include in our outline,so lets start with the thing thats the,easiest to do and thats a summary and,the summary is basically going to cover,the most important things of the book,again we dont have to write an entire,summary we dont have to give all the,details from the book thats not a book,review thats a book report and thats,something else were only going to give,some basic ideas from the book now very,important i want to use 500 words more,or less if you have more words and you,have more space to include other things,then you can put more interesting things,in your summary as well but since we,only have 500 words we cant do that,so what im going to do is im going to,focus on the most important things from,the h2 gif and actually thats only the,beginning of the book,now if you know the hate you give and,youve read the book or youve watched,the film you know that its all about,the death of khalil and i think thats,very important and that we that should,simply be mentioned in our summary i,think if we leave that out we dont,capture the essence of the book so lets,start by writing that we want to include,the death of khalil i also want to,include some information about star and,i definitely want to talk about the fact,that she is a regular teenager,i also want to mention the investigation,into khalils death and i want to,mention that she has to appear in front,of a grand jury to decide whether this,police officer will be persecuted or,that he will go free,finally i also want to say something,about this justice for khalil movement,i think thats also something we should,include in our summary but we need to,keep in mind that were only doing about,100 to 150 words for our summary,because we only have 500 words for a,review,next we want to include our positive,argument lets start with something,positive now there are many things we,can say about the hue gifts and let me,know in the comments what you thought if,youve read the hates you give,but my positive thing is that i think,the book is very relatable for teenagers,this is also one of the downfalls of the,book that ive read online its,definitely something for teenagers for,young adults its not something for,the high-skilled literary analyst,who wants to read very difficult work,but thats okay my positive argument is,that its definitely a very good book,for teenagers because its relatable now,as im creating my outline i definitely,want to take paragraph structure into,consideration and this is the part where,i want to do that now you probably know,that a paragraph follows a topic,sentence we have level two sentences,level three four and five sentences,which each have their own role in the,paragraph now you want to include some,sort of structure in your outline and,well see later on why this is very,useful because the better our outline is,and the more structured it is the easier,it will become to write our final review,so im going to do the same and im,going to indicate which level each,sentence is if you want to know more,about paragraph structure check out my,video which is linked in the description,my topic sentence is that the book is,very relatable for teens my level 2,sentence is that teens and young adults,can easily relate to star because she,also goes through things regular teens,go through then we want to include our,level three sentences and level three,sentences build on the topic sentence,and they give examples,of the thing that im talking about in,my topic sentence so in this case i need,to give examples,of why this book is relatable for teens,what in the book the star experience,that other teens can also relate to,finally ill add a level 4 sentence,which aims to kind of link everything,together to the topic sentence and if we,follow this structure youll definitely,have a good and well-structured,paragraph which is what we want so next,we can move on to our negative points,what dont we like about this book now,heres a quick disclaimer i understand,that this book covers a difficult topic,and im aware of the sensitivity of this,topic for the sake of the example im,going to say that this book has no,neutral point of view this its very it,has a very hard contrast which means,that i think there are many stereotypes,and there are things that are a bit too,black and white no pun intended of,course,in this book so my topic sentence is,going to be that the book does not have,a gray area and this means that you know,theres a very hard contrast so thats,going to be my topic sentence my level 2,sentence is going to be that the book,leaves little room for a neutral point,of view,im going to give two examples as level,3 sentences like how everybody hates 115,or they fully empathize with him,im also going to say that all black,people live in the hood in this book for,some reason and theres only one,exception and that maverick hates uncle,carlos for doing this then in my,conclusion im going to say there are,some good points and some negative,points about the book but im still,going to recommend it,for teenagers and young adults although,i do think that we need to include some,background information as well,so after weve written our outline we,can now move on to writing our actual,review so what im going to do is im,going to copy our outline and paste it,on a new page and then im going to use,that as the groundwork or blueprint of,my review,so remember were not going to start,with our,introduction what we could do is we,could include a thesis statement and the,thesis statement can be very short and,simple and it can be something as simple,and as easy as the aim of this review,is to review and,analyze,the hate you give,by angie thomas,in your introduction of your review you,definitely want to include the name of,the book and the author so that you,dont have to do that at other points in,your review now we can move on to,writing our in our summary and these are,the points i want to include in my,summary and this is what ive done with,my summary and as i said while i was,planning my review,i want to include and i have to include,khalils death which is something that i,did and i definitely think its,justified to have such a large number of,words spent on khalils death and then i,briefly mentioned the rest of the book,that we follow star during the,investigation the appeal at the grand,jury and protest aimed at demanding,justice for khalil so when were,creating our positive arguments were,first going to start by changing the,headline and im going to say that the,book is relatable so i said that its,relatable for its target audience then i,can simply connect all the parts of this,paragraph together to make sure that i,have a rounded paragraph but its still,structured,so i can remove all the indicators of,the levels,and connect them by simply removing all,these new lines,now we do have some structure here but,it doesnt flow very well now we have,some sort of enumeration here which is,not very,pleasant to read so im going to add a,few things and change some things around,to make sure that we get a paragraph,that flows well,so ive made a few changes to this,paragraph and ive added some,information to make sure the paragraph,flows well and as you can see its a bit,longer than when we started,so ive added that,the book is suitable for teens because,it contains some relatable teenager,problems which is what we said right,they can relate to this,novel because it has things that these,other teenagers who are reading the book,can also relate to,um,so i mentioned what they what these,things are so i