How to Write a Book Report

How to Write a Book Report How to Write a Book Report School reports demonstrate one’s ability to present information in a clear, definitive and concise way. You, perhaps, think that such kind of essays are quite pointless and do not add anything to your knowledge or skills. This is not true: in our era of internet technologies we are becoming very careless about presenting a piece of information adequately and without distortions. Instead of describing the plot of a movie, for instance, we prefer expressing our personal opinion on it. The same is with books: our descriptions of the books we have read render only a small part of the books’ content. Thus, it happens that when a school student hears the phrase â€Å"book report†, he/she associates it with writing personal opinion or description of a very interesting situation from the book, and that’s all. However, writing a book report indicates good skills to understand the essence of a book and its message, and to present them properly and adequately. How to write a book report – essential tips Understand your task A task has its goal and context. You cannot accomplish it without realizing what is required from you. In such sense, a short conversation with your teacher is never needless. Ask him/her what you should do, in formal (regarding the structure and length of the essay) and substantial (regarding its contents) sense. Don’t be shy and talk freely with your teacher. Prepare yourself You should do this preparation by reading not only the particular book, but also some critical analyses on it. Criticism is very important when you are not familiar with the author’s biography, style, personal beliefs and interests, and so forth. However, you should not go too far in reading secondary literature, as it would enforce the critics’ opinions on your mind. Another flaw of students is to read secondary literature instead of the book in question. This is reasonable, if we take it for granted that it is difficult to read a 500-page book. But then, what is the sense to write a book report at all? You can rather write a report on the secondary literature available. Grasp the message Every work of art has to tell something to its audience. There is no such thing like art without meaning (even contemporary art has a message for us). Different writers have various ways for telling the message; one way is to manifest it through characters’ actions and interactions; second way is through the narrator (who could explain what is happening and why); third way is through writing an afterword. This, let’s say it again, depends on the personal style of every author. Messages are usually very abstract. They concern social (alienation), economical (poverty), political issues (war), or explore existential topics (the meaning of life, love, friendship, loneliness). There may be a series of â€Å"small† messages, and one â€Å"big† message which serves as a basis for the whole book. Brevity is the soul of wit Do not describe too much. Your task is to write a report. Traditionally, school reports are a few pages long. The key is the proper structure of the essay, and particularly, the correlation between its parts. We recommend you the following: 1. Introduction: three or four sentences regarding the topic will do. 2. Main part: information about the author: one short paragraph; plot description: two or three paragraphs. It should not exceed one-fourth of the whole text of the report; characters: take two or three characters as points of departure. Tell about their interactions this may take up to four paragraphs; message: try to connect it logically with the previous point. The length of this part may take several paragraphs (again not more than one-fourth of the report), including references to some critical analyses. Here you can also use short quotes from the book in order to prove that your interpretation is correct. 3. Conclusion: you can recapitulate the main topic of the book and its message. The problem how to write a book report seems to be solved when you have enough knowledge about the book and the author in question. Just be careful with your style of writing and structure of the essay. Revise it carefully and then hand it over to your teacher.

How to Write Narrative Paragraphs in English

How to Write Narrative Paragraphs in English Narrative paragraphs are often used to describe what a person does over a period of time. Read this example narrative paragraph, notice how words like later are used to connect what happens. Yesterday evening I got home from work at 6 oclock. My wife had painstakingly prepared a delicious  dinner which we ate immediately. After I had cleaned up the kitchen, we watched TV show which had been recommended by my friend. Then, we got dolled up for a night on the town. Our friends arrived at about 9 oclock and we chatted for a while. Later, we decided to visit a local jazz club and listen to some bebop for a while. The mad musicians really blew their horns. We really enjoyed ourselves and stayed late only leaving after the band had played their final audacious set.   Tips on Tenses Use the  simple past for succession of events: Narrate with the simple past tense when events follow each other. here are some examples. Notice that each event occurs in succession. I got up and went to the kitchen. I opened the door and looked into the fridge.She arrived in Dallas, took a cab, and checked in to her hotel. Next, she had some dinner in a restaurant. Finally, she visited a colleague before she went to bed. Use the  past continuous for interrupted actions: To express that an action is interrupted, use the past continuous to describe what was happening when there was an interruption. Use the past simple with the action that interrupts what was happening. Finally, as we were discussing the issue, the teacher walked into the classroom. Obviously, we stopped talking immediately.Sharon was working in the garden when the telephone rang. Use the  past perfect for previous actions: To express something that was finished before another event in the past, use the past perfect. This is especially useful when providing an explanation for what happened. We decided to go out and celebrate because we had just finished remodeling our home.Janet didnt join us for dinner as she had already eaten. Use the  past perfect continuous for the length of actions: The past perfect continuous is used to express how long something had been happening up to a point in time in the past. We had been hiking for more than ten hours and it was time to call it a day.She had been nagging him for months to get a better job when he finally was hired. Linking Language Starting sentences with a time expression: Start sentences with linking phrases such as Then, Next, Finally, Before that, etc. to connect sentences and show time relationships in your narrative writing.   First, we flew to New York on our great adventure. After New York, we moved on to Philadelphia. Then, it was on to Florida for some scuba diving.After breakfast, I spent a few hours reading the newspaper. Next, I played softball with my son.   Use time clauses to show relationships in time: Use before, after, as soon as, etc. to introduce a time clause. Pay special attention to the use of tenses with time clauses. Begin a sentence with a time clause, but use a comma before the main clause. OR Begin with the main clause and end with the time clause using no comma. After we had finished our homework, we watched a funny movie.They attended a meeting as soon as they arrived in Chicago.   Descriptive Language   When writing a narration, its a good idea to include descriptive language to help readers get a feeling for what happened. Here are some suggestions on how to make your writing more descriptive. Use adjectives to modify nouns. Nothing is more boring than a sentence such as  We went to the store.  Its easy to modify  store  to be more precise as well as descriptive.  We went to a big box electronics store  is much more interesting.   They bought a car. - They bought a used red Italian car.She planted a tree. - She planted a young oak tree. Use prepositional phrases such as in the corner  and  across from the bank  to give an idea of where something happens, as well as the relationships between objects. After we arrived, we were shown to our table at the back of the restaurant.The car was parked around the corner on the other side of the street.   Use relative clauses to further describe and provide information about important details in your narration. After that, we enjoyed a tasty glass of wine which was grown locally.Next, we took the car which we had rented in Los Angeles and drove to San Francisco.   Written Exercise - Using Past Verbs and Prepositions Write out the following sentences on to a piece of paper to form a paragraph based on the narrative paragraph above. Conjugate each verb in the past and provide the correct prepositions. Yesterday evening Jack _____ (get) home _____ (preposition) half past five.He immediately _____ (make) himself a cup _____ (preposition) coffee and _____ (sit down) to read a book.He _____ (read) the book _____ (preposition) half past seven.Then, he _____ (make) dinner and _____ (get ready) to go out with his friends.When his friends _____ (arrive), they _____ (decide) to go out to see a film.He _____ (stay out) until midnight with his friends.Finally, he _____ (fall) asleep _____ (preposition) about one oclock. Written Exercise - Making Your Writing More Interesting Rewrite the following sentences using descriptive language to spice up your writing.   After that, the man went home.  Later, we drove to a restaurant.  He had finished the report before I gave the presentation.  The children attended the class.My friends asked for help.   Adding Linking Language Exercise Now that you have a good feeling for the form of a narrative paragraph. Fill in the gaps in this paragraph providing appropriate linking language to complete the paragraph. _________ I drove my rusty old car to visit my best friend. _______ I arrived, he had done his best to prepare a tasty meal. ________, we took a long walk through the park next to his home. __________ we had been out for more than an hour, my friend asked me if I could keep a secret. _________, I swore not to tell anyone anything. _________ he recounted a wild tale of a crazy night out on the town __________. ________, he told me he had met the woman of his dreams and that they were to get married ___________. Imagine my surprise!