Term Papers and College Research Paper Writing

Writing book reports is one of the first writing assignments you receive in elementary school. A more advanced form of a book report is a book review. College and academic writing require book reviews more than simple book reports because a book review requires a more advanced and thorough examination of the book. In this post, we will look at the differences between book reports and book reviews using John Krakaur’s book Into the Wild.

Both a book report and a book review begin in the same way. You must introduce the book, the author and give a brief overview of what the topic/subject/plot of the book is. However, in a book report, you simply end the first paragraph there. In a book review, you should include a thesis statement, at the end of your first paragraph, that gives a clear focus to the main ideas of the rest of your book review. For example, my book report on Into the Wild focuses on the plot of the book and would end with “Chris McCandless ventured out into the Alaskan wilderness but never made it home again, as he was found dead in an abandoned bus several months after he began his journey.” On the other hand, my book review on Into the Wild would have a thesis statement such as, “John Krakauer wrote Into the Wild as an exploration into the life and motivations of the brave young adventurer, Chris McCandless, and provides an excellent examination on the psychology and spirit of those that choose to embark on dangerous and life-threatening challenges to mother nature”.

The body of a book report is a simple retelling of the book’s plot or story line. A book review takes apart the key elements of your thesis statement and explains them piece by piece. A book review must also examine the author’s style of writing, intent and whether or not they were bias in their authorship. And finally, the body of a book review should conclude with your own take on the topic/subject and how the author approached it. It is beneficial to include whether or not you recommend the book for academic study or if further research on the topic needs to be done.

The conclusion of a book report should summarize the book. The main difference between a book report conclusion and a book review conclusion is that personal opinion is acceptable in a book review but not a book report. In summary, the key difference between the two genres of writing is that a book report merely “reports” or retells the book and a book review  or gives your “review” of the value of the book.