Assignment writing in college comes in different forms and sizes, and the students have to master them especially if they are part of a bigger exam. Writing skills are crucial for some of these assignments because they demonstrate a student’s ability to discuss topical issues on different things. When it comes to reviews, students have to deal with several of them. Writing such a paper would require adequate preparation. Writing a custom book review is one of the things that a student has to know what is involved and how to go about it.
When it comes to writing a book review, you have to transcend the provision of a summary and embrace a critical discussion of the book so as to get the idea of what to expect in that work. Whether or not the custom book review is an assignment or a publication, it is crucial to give a perfect, analytical reading couple with a strong personal touch. A useful custom book review must describe what is on the page, analyze how the book tried to achieve its purpose and express any reactions and arguments from a unique point of view.
It all starts with proper preparation before writing an excellent custom book review. Let us look at the best tips for you:
You have to read the book repeatedly because that way, you can view aspects of the story, the setting, and the characters in a new perspective. You can write down your notes on a laptop or a notebook. Feel free to use a voice recorder to capture any thoughts or impressions you have on the book as you continue reading. The notes do not have to be organized as such; what you need is brainstorming on any of the impressions you may have on the book. You can try summarizing the major sections of the book under review to understand its structure.
You have to consider whether the book fits in the genre or field of study, or not. If necessary, you can use outside sources to familiarize yourself with the field of study of the book. For instance, if your custom book review anchors on a non-fiction book concerning development polio vaccine in the ‘50s, you can read other books that deal with the same scientific issue or period of scientific development.
Every book has a theme or the overall message that the author wants the reader to get and understand. The theme can also be the fundamental and universal ideas that can be expressed in a hook. You may find authors expressing multiple themes especially in the works of fiction. The themes are essential in supporting the argument made by the hook. You need to be attentive to the preface, the quotes, or references in the introduction of the book. This content will likely shed more light on the major themes of the book as well as perspective.
For you to get or determine the major themes of the book for your custom book review is, to sum up, the book in a single word or sentence.
As you prepare to write your custom book review, you have to ascertain if the author’s style suits the stage audience of the book. Bear in mind that the genre is a category of writing and style in which a subject is performed or expressed. As such, depending on the style used, the author is able to convey various perspective s to the intended audience.
Identify the areas covered or not covered and let the reader know why. You also need to locate the gaps within the time frame or the character development in fiction. More so, the coverage and analysis in non-fiction are essential when you want to think critically. Most importantly, notice the well-developed elements of the book because it will help you in creating good points for your custom book review.
You can consider elements like book layout, typography, binding and so on because they can provide framing and context of the work. If the author has provided secondary materials like drawings, charts, maps ad he like, take into account how they support or contribute to the themes and arguments of the book.
As you prepare for the process for writing a book review, you need to sincere the literary devices in the book. If it is a work of fiction, think of how the structure of the plot develops in the story. You can take notes of the characters, setting, plot, symbols, tone or mood and how they relate to the general theme of the book.
Ascertain if the book brings in new knowledge to the genre. Is the author trying to challenge not expand the modus operandi of the genre. As such, you have to consider how the book achieves this and how it may affect the intended target audience’s reception of the book.
You need to assess whether the author was successful in carrying out the overall purpose of the book and if the ending was satisfying. You also need to know if you would recommend the book to anyone.
Now that you have the tips of how you can prepare for an excellent custom book review, you need to delve in the process of coming up with the first draft of your paper.
This is how you start writing a book review.
Most of the book reviews kick off with a heading that incorporates the bibliographic information concerning the book. If you have not been required to have a specific format of the heading by your professor or editor, you can use the standard heading of the title, author, and place of publication: publisher, date of publication, and several pages.
Your custom book review must start with a good introduction that will grab the attention of the audience and keep them glued to the rest of the review. The introduction should also inform the reader hat the custom book review is going to be about. The introduction of your custom book review ought to have relevant details like the background of the author and if necessary, their previous work in the genre. Feel free to indicate the major themes that your custom book review will discuss so that the reader knows them since they are an indication of your take on the work.
You can have several openings when writing a book review, and they include a historical moment, an anecdote, a surprising statement, or declarative statements. You can use any of those depending on your preference. However, you need to ensure that they directly relate t your critical; response to the author’s work and they should be short and to the point.
Also read: The Undisputed Tips Applicable when Writing Creative Essays
If you are not sure of how you can begin your custom book review, you can try to write the introduction last. It may be easy to organize all your supporting points as well as your critical position and then write the introduction last. This way you are sure that the introduction is in tandem with the body of the custom book review.
After you have formulated the heading for your custom book review as well as the introduction for the same, you can now move on to summarize the themes of the book as well as the main points. Your summary ought to be short, to the point and informative. You can use quotes or paraphrasing from the book to support your summary. All quotes and paraphrases in your custom book review ought to be properly cited to avoid plagiarism. Be aware of summaries that begin with phrases like “This essay is about..” “This book is the story…” and so on. Instead, you can focus on formulating a description of the book’s setting, narrative voice, and plot within a critical analysis. Refrain from regurgitating the premise of the book.
Most importantly, refrain from giving spoilers of the book especially the ending in your summary. Do not go into details about the events in the middle of the book onwards. However, if the book is part of a series, you need to mention this to your audience and situate the book within the series.
After summarizing the book and discussing the main themes and aspects, you can now focus on the critical analysis part of your custom book review. This is the driving force of your review, and as such, you need to be as direct as you can. The answers that you brainstormed during the preparation stage come in handy at this point. You need to address how well the book achieves its purpose, how it compares to other books on the same subject, specific points that were not convincing enough or lacked proper development and the personal experiences, if any, that relates to the subject of the book.
Always use a properly cited supporting quotes and passages from the book as evidence for you critical discussion. This reinforces your perspective with a credible source as well as giving the reader a sense of the writing style and narrative of the voice book.
The common rule here is that the first one-half to two-thirds of the review ought to summarize the main ideas of the author and at least one third ought to evaluate the book.
You need to come up with a concluding paragraph for your custom book review that sums up the analysis of the book. If you have argued your critical position excellently, the conclusion ought to fall naturally. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the book and discuss whether you would recommend it to others. If so, who is the ideal audience for the book? In your introduction, you are not supposed to introduce any new material, idea or discussion that was not examined in your introduction as well as the body of your custom book review. Feel free to give the book a numerical score, a thumbs up or thumbs down or even a starred rating.
After you have finished writing a book review, you need to ensure that I free from any mistakes. You need to:
Your first take on a custom book review may not be as perfect as you would expect and as such, you need to revise and adjust that draft. After you have finished writing, you can take a day or two from work before coming back with a fresh perspective. Use spellcheck to fine-tune any spelling or grammar mistakes therein. More so, double check all the quotes and references to ensure they are within the required parameters.
You can let your friend or anyone you trust to read through your custom book review. For one, it is hard to write, edit, and critique your work, and as such, a fresh pair of eyes would be the comprehensive source of good feedback. Use the feedback that you get from such a person to fine-tune our work more.
After you have done all the necessary revisions on your custom book review, you can create the final copy of the work. Go through it once more from the introduction to the conclusion to be certain that there are no errors. Afterward, submit your work to your professor or instructor.
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